Setting the scene
Lamb Weston was developing a new concept for an on-the-go convenience food product and Mustard worked with them to determine demand and inform further developments.
The context
Lamb Weston is one of the world’s largest potato products brands and they were in the process of developing a genuinely innovative potato product focused on the on-the-go market.
To help determine whether there was a UK market for the concept and inform relevant product improvements and the future brand strategy, Mustard was commissioned to engage with consumers of on-the-go products to understand more about their attitudes and behaviour and also test the concept product in terms of taste and appearance.
The approach
With a need to combine qualitative testing aspects alongside robust quantitative measures, we completed Hall Tests with relevant individuals in Manchester and London.
We initially completed semi-structured interviews with individuals to find out more about their on-the-go / convenience eating attitudes and behaviour, evaluating aspects such as frequency, triggers, preferences and occasions.
These individuals were then invited to try the actual product concept and we explored their opinions in terms of physical appearance, texture, taste and flavour varieties, highlighting key areas for improvement. Finally we determined levels of purchase intention at a range of price points to gauge sensitivity, size the potential market and ultimately understand the commercial viability of the product.
The results
Mustard presented findings to the Lamb Weston development team in the Netherlands, challenging the launch of the product and proposition in its existing form and highlighting the key changes which would be required to enhance the viability. These findings were not presented in isolation, with Mustard drawing upon a host of open source data resources to contextualise recommendations and bring greater weight and validity to the recommendations.
Understanding the market opportunity, Lamb Weston used this research to develop the product and proposition in an alternative way to ensure that it was a more appropriate fit for the UK market and target relevant supply partners.
The response
“Mustard’s consultative approach was well appreciated, together with the incorporation of supplementary market data made it a pleasure to deal with them”
Market Intelligence, Lamb Weston
