A quick walk through the aisles of your local supermarket will be enough to confirm just how competitive the modern day food marketplace is.

With a growing list of products and brands vying for consumer attention, correctly conducted food market research is critical to success within the food product development process nowadays.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as food product development objectives now normally include:
Acquiring new customers
Profits increase
Market share increase
Geographic market expansion

With the above objectives in mind, it’s clear just how important relevant and insightful food market research is, within the process. Let’s consider the different elements being analysed during this process.

Food Product Development

Within food product development market research, asking and answering key questions is critical to success. It’s highly beneficial to consider:

Product purpose
Potential customers
Existing customer segments
Product benefits (are they easy to understand?)
User needs
Current buying behaviours
Unfulfilled buyer wants/needs
Likelihood of purchase

Market research within food product development can also help to address other key areas within the product launch process including pricing, promotion, distribution, and future growth/maturity phases.

One of the most visible of these elements is promotion, and proper market research can aid the likes of packaging design, advertising campaigns and more. A variety of methods, including the likes of focus groups, diary studies and questionnaires, can be used to identify key trends here.

Food market research will also help to inform pricing and placement strategies. By knowing where your potential customer expects to see (and be able to buy) your product, and the price they’re willing to pay, a successful launch is much more likely.

Food Market Research Beyond Launch

Beyond the launch of a new food product, food market research can also be used throughout the lifespan of a product and inform and support growth and maturity phases.

As the food marketplace changes, so too will consumer thoughts on pricing, placement, promotional devices, and more. This shift, alongside insightful research, can uncover new opportunities for future product development.