Concept testing
I have a tendency each time I examine a food marketing research technique to
think," this is one of the most important techniques in food marketing research."
And I just did it again. But the truth is concept testing is one of the most important
techniques in food marketing research. Their number reasons why would say this.
First of all concept testing is usually done in the very early stages of the research
process. It tends to be less expensive than testing that takes place with prototypes
were actual products. It gives us a chance to look at a wide variety of ideas and to
get responses from consumers early in the development process. But like all the
techniques and marketing research it has to be done correctly in order to get the
real value.
With many of the techniques we talk about or will talk about there is not
necessarily one right way. Different food marketing researchers have different
approaches the concept testing and in a all work but there are some common
elements that are present in all the successful methods which you should be aware
of, in the matter how you do concept testing should be sure to integrate these key
ingredients.
There are a number
crucial steps in concept testing.
The first step is determining
and writing the concepts. The second step is the determined how to measure the
responses. The third step is how ask people questions in order to have them
provide information that you can measure. Let's look at each step separately
What is a concept
Before we begin to explain techniques in concept testing one should be completely
aware of what exactly a " concept" is.
But before one considers a concept, we
should define what we mean by a product.
Again if you look up the definition of
product in many of the traditional marketing textbooks you'll find that most are
defined in terms of physical attributes and extra benefits that are associated with
the product …the augmented product.
For example a can of pineapple is a
product but if it is sliced it is augmented.
If you think of chicken, a pre-cooked
with various herbs etc would be the augmented product.
One last example,
chicken noodle soup might be the product, and chicken noodle soup and a
microwavable container would be the augmented product.
There's no cut in stone definition of what a product is, and anyone reading this
book should not be flustered trying to decide if something is the product or the
augmented product but it helps to distinguish the physical attributes of a product
versus all the other things that can be added to a product that provides benefit to
the users and for which they're willing to pay for.
So a product concept idea s usually thought of as the entire offering being made to
a consumer as opposed to just the physical attributes. In fact the term ‘Idea’ when
used in the new product development content, typically refers to a concise and
text-based description of a potential product or service. ideas are usually the first
version of a new product,
