17 Feb 2021

There are many possibilities for integrating ingredient brands into PPE in the marketplace. With ever-increasing demands on safety, customers are looking for brands that take a stance. 

However, with increasing opportunities, some prioritization might be needed. In doing so, it is important to recognize the power of a simple idea and a simple solution that requires little friction when implementing the feature.

ISPO 2021 - Digitalization and Sports Tech

They all are simple to use for all stakeholders and its user experience is absolutely outstanding

What tech products and digital services have conquered the world regardless of industry, and what do they have in common? - They all are simple to use for all stakeholders and its user experience is absolutely outstanding.

This year at ISPO 2021, the world’s biggest outdoor trade show, the overarching theme was digitalization and sports tech. Nowadays, many equipment producers in the outdoor segment are searching for new ways of elevating their products to become smarter. 

For certain product categories, that means finding the next equipment features that would increase the value of the products and which customers want to pay extra for. How do they find that feature, or ingredient brand to go with? Based on their surveys, the most important strategy is to look for the features that keep it simple - for all stakeholders involved. What do they mean by that?

Simplicity for Brands/Equipment Producers

In order for a technology to be truly valuable in the sports equipment industry, it needs to be simple for equipment brands to integrate. Reworking supply chains or production lines is certainly possible, but it’s notoriously complex and expensive.

This all shows up on the bill of materials. If a feature is simple to integrate, it can easily slot into existing product lines and thereby existing products which enables a very fast expansion rate of that ingredient brand. To give an example, that is what Twiceme does as they strive to build a global standard of vital information.

Simplicity for End-users

There are as few unnecessary and time-consuming steps as possible to the start-up process

In general, humans base most of their judgments on their first impressions. Therefore, the initial customer’s journey is key to seamlessly onboarding them if a new feature has been integrated into the gear. There are as few unnecessary and time-consuming steps as possible to the start-up process. 

An intuitive hangtag following the equipment and the avoidance of painstaking sign-ups are ways to mitigate these obstacles. Furthermore, if it is a digital feature, please don’t force the end-user to continuously charge it every other day. From their interviews with end-users, it’s clear that such essential steps in the user experience take away the joy of a digital feature into the gear.

Conclusion

There are many possibilities for different features or ingredient brands in the marketplace. Everything that increases safety is a good idea. But they all need to prioritize. In doing so it is important to recognize the power of a simple idea and simple solution that requires little friction for implementation.

Changes to equipment production lines have long been slow and synonymous with heavy investments, but as they move toward the possibility of easier implementations, simple solutions can now be prioritized.

At Twiceme, they aim to help people have safer adventures and working environments in the simplest way possible. In following the path of least resistance, they can quickly build a global standard that collects the strongest brands and professional rescuers in one community.