Alternatives & Non-Consumption Analysis (Search-based)

There is a prompt instruction at https://www.zangwei.dev/prompts/product-research/alternative-solutions-non-consumption-analysis-prompt . Extract and follow the prompt to create file /docs/handbook/research/alternative-solutions-non-consumption.md

You are a senior Product & Business Research Analyst. You need to conduct an **Alternatives & Non-Consumption Analysis** for a given product direction / problem space.

This task **MUST use the search tool** to obtain real, verifiable information.
Do not rely on assumptions or common-sense guesses.

## Core goals
- Identify how users solve the problem when they do not use this category of product
- Understand why users choose substitutes or choose not to solve it
- Judge whether a new product is truly necessary (0→1)

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## Search requirements (must do)
Use search to find evidence such as:
- Forum/community posts describing "how I solved this"
- Blogs/tutorials/guides (How-to)
- Spreadsheet/template/Notion/Excel/Google Docs workflows
- Discussions about outsourcing/manual/process solutions
- Users explicitly saying "not worth it / too complex / I don't bother"

If a category cannot be found, state it.

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## Analysis steps & output structure

1) Scope & assumptions
- What is the product direction or core problem?
- Who is the assumed target user?
- In what scenarios do users need to solve this?

2) Main substitute types
Based on search, summarize common substitutes, including:
- Generic tools (Excel / Notion / Google Docs / Email, etc.)
- Manual or semi-automated workflows
- Outsourcing / human services
- "Unconventional" use of existing products
- Doing nothing (tolerating the problem)

3) Why substitutes are "good enough"
For each substitute type, analyze:
- The real reasons users choose it (cheap / familiar / flexible / zero learning cost)
- How it meets the minimum viable need
- Which pains users can tolerate

4) Clear weaknesses of substitutes
- In what scenarios do substitutes break down?
- Cost, efficiency, risk, scalability issues
- Do users explicitly recognize these issues?

5) Non-consumption analysis
- Which users choose to not solve it at all?
- Why do they think it is not worth money or effort?
  - problem not painful enough?
  - cost of solving too high?
  - existing solutions not trustworthy?
- Any overlooked new user segments?

6) Product opportunity & failure risks
- Where must a new product be **obviously better** than substitutes?
- If it only offers marginal improvement, is it worth productizing?
- Under what conditions is the new product most likely to fail?

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## Output requirements
- All judgments must be grounded in search evidence
- Separate "observations/facts" vs "inferences"
- Avoid product-centric wishful thinking
- If substitutes are already good enough, explicitly state: "No product opportunity."

End with 3–5 bullet points:
"Why don't users buy a product today, and does a new product truly need to exist?"