So the stars have aligned and you are ready to launch that new food brand that you’ve been developing for the last 6 months. You have the funding, you have found the right manufacturer with the right licenses and you have a national listing. What could possibly go wrong?

1. Consumers don’t want it: Now you are thinking about the sampling sessions you/your agency held when everyone loved your product and brand. Well, it turns out that unless the product is that bad, your sample group will tell you what you want to hear. After all, you are paying them to be part of the group and they feel obligated to give you the answers you want to hear. Consider speaking to random people at your corner grocers outside of their stores to get honest feedback about your product. Or speak to your kids, they’ll be honest!

2. Cultural nuances: Brand names, packaging and the right ingredients are so critical to the success of your food product. They can make or break your brand if not done right. Did you get enough feedback from your target consumers in the target market? Did you check whether the ingredients raise any red flags for your consumer group? What about the brand name? Does your brand name mean anything different to your target consumers than to you? More on this subject in a later post.

3. Pricing is all wrong for the customer segment: Your brand/product is targeting a very specific segment of consumers. It could either be too expensive for the consumer to buy or too cheap for the target segment. Keep in mind that for certain products, price also acts as a signal for quality. So when you work up the pricing, take into account what your consumers should be paying for it. Do your homework and look into what competition is doing and what similar products or even complementary products are priced at for those consumer segments. Then work back the numbers to your selling price to the customer, taking into account retailer/customer margin, warehousing costs, logistics costs and any additional costs the retailer/customer needs to bear. 

Stay tuned for more next week!