Juicero- Revolutionary Juicer or Failed Product Design?
One of my girlfriends was doing a 3-day juice cleanse program before a music festival circa 2012. It was during the massive trend toward cold-press juicing; almost everyone I knew has at least one type of juicer at home. “Juicing” equaled a healthy lifestyle, 9 out of 10 magazine covers at the grocery store check out lines were about juicing. No, I am not exaggerating. This was in Los Angeles where almost everyone has (or intends to have) sun-kissed skin and toned bodies.
What if you don’t have the time or are too lazy to juice? Are you doomed to be an unhealthy person and unable to join the office chit-chat? Don’t worry, you can get a small bottle of cold-pressed juice for $6 at “Pressed Juicery” or, purchase a “Juicero” and make your own hassle-free juice at home.
Revolutionary juicer or a failed product design?
Juicero was founded in 2013 by Doug Evans until the former president of Coca-Cola North America Jeff Dunn took over in 2016. Its mission is to make juicing easy, fast, and somehow connected to technology. Designed by Apple’s Jony Ive and Yves Béhar. Its sleek look makes it more than acceptable on your kitchen counter. The pouches contain prechopped fruits and vegetables; no preparation or clean up needed. Even better, the appliance is Wi-Fi connected, telling the user the nutritional value of what they’re drinking. It can also order another pouch for the user once one has been pressed and used. It has celebrity endorsements from Dr. Oz and Gwyneth Paltrow. As you might know, the marketing part had a good start. So, what’s the price for this smart juicer that basically does everything for you except pressing the button? $700. It was later reduced to $400 to expand its potential market, but even that still seemed like a lot for most.
Juicero raised nearly $100 million in venture capital and launched in March 2016. Big name investors including Campbell Soup, Google Ventures, Artis Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins were all part of this revolutionary magical juicer. So let’s look at the investors' perspectives. The subscription plan combines a one-time sale with continuous purchase. Ongoing profit, check. There wasn’t any juicer on the market that allowed you to skip the trip to the grocery store and avoid the hassle of cutting fruits and veggies by just pressing a button. Convenience, check. Juicero’s pouches are from a farm straight to your house, with no grocery store in between; hence it’s fresher than most other juices. Quality, check. It’s Wi-Fi connected for ease of nutritional value lookup and product reorders. Technology, check. Juicero’s modern look makes a statement on your kitchen counter. Aesthetic, check, check, and check.
Then what happened to Juicero? What led to its epic fail?
In April 2017, Bloomberg journalists published a Youtube video of them testing the machine and discovered that they could press juice with their own hands at a similar speed, and obtain the same amount of juice as the whopping $700 machine.
Of course, the video went viral. Human nature makes us more interested in someone’s failure than success. On September 1, 2017, the company announced that it was suspending sales of the juicer and packets, repurchasing the juicer from its customers, and searching for a buyer for the company and its intellectual property. The product was on the market for 16 months.
From a product design aspect, while it was innovative, it lacked thorough design thinking before the product launched. This kind of obvious problem should have been identified at experience validation and technical validation during the design process.
What about the consumer’s perspective? The Juicero team did a good job in identifying the consumer’s needs but failed at engaging and immersing themselves in the consumer’s experience. Juicero’s high price point definitely limits itself to a tiny niche. The disposable pouches also might not be favored by environmentally-conscious consumers.
While many people hold higher expectations for Silicon Valley’s start-ups, Juicero sure did turn some people’s “FOMO’ into “JOMO”.