| Part
2, Chapter 5
The consumer in product development
5.2.4 Food stereotypes
Food stereotypes, expectations and liking/disliking, are very important personal factors in food choice. Imagine the surprise on an aircraft when a snack of yoghurt, fresh fruit and muesli is served - it seems wrong because the stereotype for air travel food is 'not fresh and over-processed'.
Is your product a stereotype? The important thing in new product development is to break the stereotype and tell the consumer the new product is different, just as British Airways did with its new healthy menu.
Consumers also have an expectation of the food. If the actual food is in the direction of their expectation, then the expectation is reinforced for the next time they consider the food - if they expect it to be very sweet which they dislike, and it is very sweet, then they will dislike it more. If they expect the drink to be refreshing and it is, then this will reinforce their expectation for the future. Information is important in expectation - when soups are branded for sensory testing, consumers will have expectations for different brands and their scores will vary from their scores if the soups were not identified. These expectations are an important consideration in product development, and emphasis in developing the total product concept is a basis for product design.
And of course there is the basic liking/disliking of products - people have their preferences and it has long been a part of food product development to identify the likes/dislikes of the target consumers.
 Think
Break
A dairy company has developed a line of new nutriceutical products, a range of biologically active dairy-based drinks, and wishes to market through supermarkets, where it is already selling dairy products.
1. Discuss the consumer needs and problems that could be met by these
new products.
2. Discuss what prior experience and previous practice would lead to easy
acceptance of the new products.
3. What are the types of socio-economic conditions and also social norms
that would help the consumers to accept these products?
4. From the knowledge that you have found in 1, 2 and 3, describe the
consumers
for these products - their food expectations and
liking/disliking. Also discuss
the
food stereotypes that they could have
for yoghurts and how the new products
relate
to these stereotypes.
5. Discuss how you would design the packaging and the in-store promotion
to
give a total product concept for the new products so that the
consumers have
the knowledge to trial the products.
6. Where would you position the new products in the supermarket and
display them to make the consumers aware of the products? |
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consumer in product development > Food stereotypes
5.3
Consumers' avoidance and acceptance of new products
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