Design and Development

A smarter model

The standard model for how a product gets to an end consumer is a giant game of telephone.

Retailers do customer research to determine what the customers want. Retailers then reach out to importers, saying “I want something like (this)”. Importers talk to factories across the world to try and make something like the product. Factories then turn to suppliers for needed materials. In the end, what comes to the consumer can be very different from what they wanted because there are so many opportunities for misunderstanding and compromise. 

At Sprout, we try to connect both ends as closely as possible. We sell and talk directly to customers, so we are as close to them as retailers are, but we’re also as close to the suppliers as factories. We understand what the customer needs and supplier constraints are, and work to create solutions where constraints are minimized and customer needs are maximized. We’ve seen that when there is a nuanced understanding of these needs and constraints, clever solutions can be understood and implemented.