How do you locate and test the high-end products?
Background of the project
As the world's top Chinese sauce brand, Lee Kum Kee occupies an important position in retail and catering channels. The high-end series of soy sauce products is also a profit growth point that industry competitors compete for. In order to continue to promote the high-end brand strategy, Lee Kum Kee plans to launch a new high-end soy sauce product (200ml fresh-keeping bottle) focusing on "zero additives, rich flavor and freshness, double barrier preservation", which is planned to be launched in boutique supermarket channels. Our company conducts qualitative research through multi-city symposiums to accurately grasp consumers' perceptions, usage habits and purchase motivations of high-end soy sauce, evaluate the acceptance of new product concepts, and optimize product positioning and communication strategies to provide decision-making support for the successful launch of new products.
Phase I: Research design and preliminary insights
Focused consumers in-depth insight and high-end sauce market trend analysis, systematically combing consumer behaviour, preferences and potential demand, laying the foundation for new product positioning and communication strategies.
1. Research methodology and sample design:The project adopts the form of symposiums and is carried out in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. There are 4 groups in each city, with 6 people in each group, and a total of 72 consumers participated. The samples cover different channels (boutique supermarkets vs traditional supermarkets) and home chefs/purchasing decision-makers who use soy sauce more frequently.
2. Research content and preliminary results:
- Consumer use and purchase of sauce
1) There are two to three types of soy sauce in the home, with raw and old-spills, and a growing number of sub-groups such as steamed fish and red sauce.
2) The purchase channels are dominated by sub-line supermarkets, which are more favoured by high-end soy sauce consumers.
3) The most important concerns in the selection of soy sauce are: brand credibility, composition security, sauce grade, taste and application.
- Consumer storage habits and conservation awareness
1) Most consumers store sauce on the side of cupboards or stoves and have a weak awareness of cold storage.
2)“The concept of locking “is of limited appeal and needs to be communicated in combination with practical pain.
- Definition of high-end sauce
High-end soy sauce should have: good packaging (glass bottles, small specifications), unique process (head-channel preparation), and a clear use scene.
Phase II: Core issues and outcome outputs
- Core issues
1) Three new concepts, which are more relevant to the needs and expectations of consumers?
2) How to design names, price systems and positioning core functions for new products to match market demand and branding strategies?
3) What brand communication, packaging design strategies can effectively reinforce and enhance high-end image perceptions of brands?
- Main conclusions and recommendations
- Conceptual assessment
Concept I (family health): More popular with traditional supermarket consumers, the main health claim is “0 plus, special quality, fit for the whole family”, but numeric expression (e.g., salt reduction XX per cent) needs to be strengthened.
Concept II (innovation packaging): The resonance is better in the product supermarket, where unique double-lock design and Japanese patent technology attract fresh purchases, but need to be complemented by practical selling points such as “control of usage”.
Concept III (food selection): small audience, low relevance, not recommended as a dominant concept.
- Naming and pricing proposals
Named: The use of "sauce" or "sauce" is recommended, which is simple and high-quality, and is easily associated with health, cooling, etc.
Pricing: $26.5 is acceptable at the supermarket, subject to the “cheap sense” of PET packaging and security concerns.
- Function and scene positioning
It's not a good substitute for a daily smoke.Specific sceneIt's like cooling, cuisine, Japanese cooking.
It is recommended that the functional points of “salt control, zero additions, locks” be strengthened, and that experience be enhanced through displays in the shop, trial meals by promoters, etc.
- Brand upgrading direction
The new product will help raise Lee Jin's profile.High-end, innovative, youngDirection of brand image.
It is proposed to strengthen packaging design (e.g., transparent windows, small caliber bottled mouths), material safety communication, and to increase exposure through art sponsorship and online advertising.
