Improving the Food Development Process through Market Research

Posted by alice hall on January 14th, 2020

New food product development requires comprehensive planning and in-depth studies.

Long term objectives for food product development can range from an expansion into a new geographical area, the attraction of new customers, improving the bottom line, or boosting market share.

The success rate of food development can be significantly increased through the use of food market research. With the help of a food market research company, new food concepts can be developed, new product lines can be added and existing products can be modified.

Most food market research focuses on modifying existing products because new concepts are rare and are more risky.

Development of new food products

Before launching a product, food market research can help in many aspects of developing new foods. These include identifying market needs to showing whether a new product is likely to meet those needs.

Aspects to consider in food research include:

• What are the product goals?

• What customer segments make up the market?

• What needs do potential customers have?

• What products are potential customers using at the moment to meet their needs?

The answers to all these questions must be found, but in a way that does not create bias. Market research bias leads to false information which can have a disastrous effect when developing new products.

As well as developing new foods, aspects like packaging, advertising, in-store sales, coupon and discount options also need to be considered and designed.

Food market research is also useful for pricing strategies. This can be used to work out the appropriate price for new products.

Food research can be used to show how and where potential customers may buy a product.

Food market research can be used throughout the lifetime of the product. Areas such as pricing, customer satisfaction, product ratings, comparison with strengths and weaknesses of competitive products must be analysed. This type of market research can open up potential opportunities for further product development.