5.6.3 Product concept definition and optimisation

The product concept is built up in stages - attributes identification and screening, attributes measurement, complete product concept, product concept evaluation. Saguy and Moskowitz (1999) said 'Innovative products possess spatial and temporal limits' and what is attempted in product concept development is to outline these limits and in the product design specifications to give them quantitative values. Development of the product concept and the product design specifications are outlined in Fig. 5.10, showing the consumers after their acceptance of a new product description, identifying the product attributes important to them in the product.

Fig. 5.10 Attributes in product concept and product design specifications.

The product designers with consumers and analytical technologists build up metrics, that is quantitative measurements of the product attributes, as the basis for the product design specifications. Often, these activities are not sequential from consumers to food technologists but they are cycling backwards and forwards between the three groups, as the concepts of the product characteristics identified by the consumers gradually become the physical and chemical testing of the food technologists.

The consumers who take part in developing the product concept are category users or, if it is an innovation, the predicted category users. The consumer focus group is invaluable for building up the product concept. Usually 30-60 but sometimes up to 200 consumers take part in small discussion groups of six to eight people. The discussions are usually free ranging so that the consumers can discuss their own attitudes and behaviour towards the products and identify their needs in the product. The consumers are using as models the company's present products, competing products and early product prototypes.

In identifying product attributes for the product concept, it is important to discover from the consumers everything they recognise in the product so as to discover all the product attributes. The consumers combine what they identify as similar attributes into one attribute; then they develop a description of this attribute. The attributes are grouped by the consumers into core values, functional attributes and unimportant attributes. The core values are what consumers wish to feel/achieve when they buy/eat the food and after the food is eaten, for example feeling healthy, happy, not hungry. The functional attributes are the qualities of the product needed for use. The essential attributes, the 'benefits' that consumers identify to differentiate the products and also the 'risks' that they identify with the product, are recognised. Included are all the different types of attributes - basic product, package, use, psychological, social, cultural and environmental.

Think Break A simple product description given to a focus group of women with children was: A new fruit salad topping is to be produced, using fruit, and containing no synthetic flavours and colours. It is to be used like other toppings on ice cream and other desserts. The focus group identified some important product attributes: · Target consumers: bought by families, used by children. · Functional: packed in 300ml 'squeeze', plastic container, same viscosity   as present toppings on market, used on ice cream, pancakes, etc. · Values: natural, real fruit, low calories. · Economics: price £1-1.50 for 300ml. 1. Study the product attributes identified by the focus group. Can any of     these attributes be combined? What other product attributes can you     identify in the new product? Are they unimportant or could they have     significance to the mother, the company, the retailer? 2. This type of product is eaten mainly by children. What product attributes     would be important to children? If possible discuss this with a child who     eats this type of product. 3. Develop a product idea(s) from all the information. 4. Write a product idea concept to be given to new focus groups. This time     there will be separate focus groups for mothers and children. How would     you organise the focus groupsto give more detailed attribute information     for the development of the final product concepts?

It is important that the consumers examine the attributes together, as they often interact with each other in the product. Consumers may not be able to describe new products, especially radical innovations that they have never seen, but they can compare different combinations of product attributes and select what suits them. The next step in the development of the product concept is to test different combinations of the identified attributes. The attributes are brought together as a variety of combinations in separate product concepts and assessed for acceptance (or purchase intent) by the consumers. The different product concepts can also be compared with competing products to see how they perform competitively. Using statistical modelling such as conjoint analysis, the product designer can identify the crucial attributes, recombine them (adding any new attributes that the consumers have identified as missing) and gradually optimise the product concept. Concept screening not only helps to select the best concept and determine the contribution of individual attributes, but also shows how concepts can be restructured.

The multi-attribute approach for product concept generation and evaluation has led to a systematic method instead of the old 'try it and taste' method. It has increased the basic knowledge of food products, and their relationships to each other both on product platforms and positions in the market. It has identified the common attributes related to types of products, and also the differences between specific products. The use of statistical techniques with their associated computer software has given a quantitative base for product and attribute identification. The techniques include factor analysis, clustering methods, multidimensional scaling (MDS), conjoint analysis (Shocker and Srinvasan, 1979; Martens et al., 1983; Green et al., 1988), and in sensory studies, descriptive sensory analysis and principal components analysis (Gacula, 1997; Meilgaard et al., 1999). These methods have been widely used in the food industry (Schutz, 1988; Moskowitz, 1994; Saguy and Moskowitz, 1999).

Multivariate analysis is used in grouping attributes. Ninety-two New Zealand consumers compared 45 meat cuts, including beef, lamb, hogget, mutton, pork, ham, bacon, sausage products, offal cuts and white meats using 18 product attributes that had been identified by consumers. Wilkinson (1985) grouped the attributes, using factor analysis, into three main groups - on buying, on cooking and on eating. The consumers regarded each meat cut as having a unique 'blend of appeals' under these three general groups shown in Table 5.11.


Table 5.11 Grouping of product attributes for meat quality

Meat quality On buying On cooking and serving On eating Stringiness Spicing requirements Convenience of meat Wastage Bone content of meat Fat content of meat Tenderness of meat Juiciness of meat Prestige value Number of dishes Cooking time Expense of meat Acceptability of flavour Acceptability of colour Value for money Preparation time Flavour strength Nutritional value

Source: After Wilkinson, 1985.


He concluded that the individual product profiles he developed for the 45 meat cuts using these attributes had very important implications for new meat product development. To produce a more desirable mutton cut, one objective could be to improve the negative aspects of mutton while not affecting the attributes that identify the product as a mutton cut. To produce a beef-like product from mutton, the new mutton product would have to mimic the specific attributes of beef if the consumers are to be convinced that the new product, based on mutton, is indeed like beef.

MDS and clustering techniques can be used to place the product concepts with products already on the market, to confirm the positioning of the product concepts with the competing products. Anderson (1974) in developing a quantitative model for the design of nutritious and acceptable foods in Thailand, used MDS to compare dairy products with Thai food raw materials in Fig. 5.11.

Fig. 5.11 MDS for Thai raw materials and dairy products (Source: From Anderson, 1974).
(- click to enlarge)

Groupings of vegetables, meat and fish and dairy products with coconut cream and sugar can be seen. The position of an ideal product can also be determined using MDS.

Principal components analysis can reduce the number of attributes, as it identifies the smallest number of latent variables, called 'principal components' that explain the greatest amount of observed variability in products. It can show the relationships of the products to each other and also the associations among the attributes. In testing a number of orange drinks, the original attributes were sweetness, pulpiness, colour, thickness, natural colour, sourness, bitterness and after-taste, and these were represented by two principal components. The branded orange drinks were in roughly four groups, with four orange drinks grouped around the ideal (Cooper et al., 1989).

As the product attributes are identified and the product concepts developed, there may be a need for further evaluation, a comparison of the final product concepts. For the specific product concepts, there should be a comparison by the consumers with:

     ideal product on attributes;

     competing products on attributes;

     competing products on buying predictions at different prices;

     competing products on relative positions in the market.

There could be a need for more detailed analysis of the product concept for the feasibility study, with predicted sales volume, sales revenue, market share, probabilities of product success and market success. For the general food type these can be predicted through reference to statistics of food distribution, sales records and supermarket data. For example the sales of a product that has been accepted by consumers, and has been on the market for some years, may be used to predict the sales of a new product with similar properties. Consumer diary records and pantry surveys may also be used to predict consumer acceptance of new products. But there can be a need for a consumer survey on the new product concept, particularly for the innovative product with no related products on the market. Predictions of market behaviour are made under a range of possible future environments predicted from trends in consumer and social changes.

The product concept is then detailed for the product design specifications and the product design. The sections in the product design concept (Earle and Earle, 1999) are shown in Table 5.12.


Table 5.12 The product concept for design

Product - category, image Consumers' market segment(s) Behaviour of consumer with product - buying, preparing/serving,     eating, disposal Consumers' perceptions of the product type and new product Consumers' positioning of the product in the market Consumer-identified product attributes Consumer-identified product values, benefits, functional attributes Packaging - colour, symbol, style, information Pricing, value for money - consumer pricing, competitive prices,     price position Availability - distribution and retailing for consumer Consumer concerns about raw materials, production and processing

Source: After Earle and Earle, 1999.