Launching a new product or service line is always exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. While it’s tempting to focus solely on the big picture, it is important to hone in on the result too. With the pandemic repercussions swamping up, retail outlets and brands face a daunting multitude of short-term challenges around safety, supply chain, customer demand and food product development. There requires a lot of initial planning to help ensure you’re on the right track as a food product developer.
Take Coca-Cola, for example. Its marketing strategy has diverged away from the beverage’s features and focused on establishing an emotional connection with “Open happiness” and “Taste the feeling”. The failure of a new product or service can vary from poor modus operandi of food product development to failure in advertising and marketing. Luckily there are some simple ways to increase the odds your product will avoid a similar fate.
Table Of Contents
Identify and Generate
New food product development is expensive and time-consuming. If no consumer wants or needs the product, your product is bound to fail. The commencing point in the expedition of food product development should be to analyze the needs of current and potential consumers, their expectations with what the adversary brand is offering, potential customer consumption habits and technical possibilities for improving existing products. Management team with ample experience and strategic vision, understanding consumers needs and the suppliers are the key to this process. Define goals and deadlines, document and analyze the data of current market fluctuations.
Proactive Upcycling Approach
Upcycling reduces food waste by transforming under-utilized, no-perfect and waste stream ingredients into high quality and value-added products. The utilization of upcycled ingredients allows food development companies to avoid unnecessary waste of food ingredients. In order to overcome challenges: batch variations, consumer misunderstanding, etc., upcycled food and beverage companies have formed the Upcycled Food Association, patronizing the formulation of an “Upcycled Certification” standard and promoting the process of upcycled food product development.
Digital Transition
Even before the pandemic, the food industry experienced the renaissance of digitization. According to Neilson, the United States recorded 4% grocery sales online in 2019. With the pandemic rapidly accelerating and stay-at-home orders, e-commerce orders for essentials have become a survival tool for consumers. As a food development consultant, it is your responsibility to monitor the trends and fluctuations in the market and find ways to improve the unit economics of digital grocery. Furthermore, the digital experience does not lead to impulse buys or new product trials. Developing online means to recreate the traditional shopping behaviour will help your product prosper.
Analyzing Market behaviour
People who learned to cook while quarantined will continue to do so. Families that added streaming media subscriptions may choose to keep it. Many working individuals may permanently shift from working at an office to working from home or working remotely. These changes in pre-pandemic behaviours will fundamentally shift the demand for various goods and services. Plans for any major shift in the product development process or introduction of a new type of product should be undertaken with the philosophical framework and vision of the product.
Sustainability and Food Product development
The food industry and environmental sustainability do not always go hand in hand, specifically in product packaging. The potato chip bags, beverage plastic bottles and tin cans or toothpaste tubes are often not recyclable. For companies trying to woo sustainability-minded customers, this can be a big hurdle. WasteZero, a US-based waste reduction company, points out that even though fast-advancing technologies can boost environmentally friendly packaging, many companies continue to make packaging mistakes. Today, a brand that a consumer eats or wears reflects their ethical values and personal choice. Sustainability efforts and corporate transparency help attain existing consumer and potential target audience confidence.
Some consumers are lured by pleasure, while others are motivated by utilitarianism. Understand your customer’s needs and how your product can meet that news when launching a successful food brand.