Consumer Survey Case for Gummies New Products

Morinaga (Taiwan) Co. had developed 3 new products in Japan and would like to know whether the consumers in Taiwan accept or not. Morinaga have obtained very good reputation in Taiwan for their gummies. The RD team had creatively put filling for new gummies with different texture properties as well as different flavorings for the 3 new products. So, they actually got 3 different variables in the test here. We also believe that the product concept of with filling should be tested with consumers as well. The project was conducted for the 3 new products and 1 product on the market currently (as the reference).

A pretest was done for the proper attributes on both hedonic scale and just about right scale. Three attributes, namely, elasticity, graininess, chewiness, were developed via FGD process. The consumer group for gummies are at certain ages, ranging from 18 years old to 44 years old. The data from thirty-five consumers are collected.

Data analysis was conducted via MakeSense® software for bimodal distribution detection first. The results showed that all 3 new products were found bimodal distribution for overall liking while only the reference one was under normal distribution. This indicates that some consumers (subgroup) like each new product while some consumers (subgroup) do not like each new product. These subgroups are different for different new products. You will need to study these subgroups in more depth to decide the launching of these 3 new products. The data from the just about right scale showed that different subgroups like the gummy may be due to the flavors or due to elasticity or due to chewiness or even the graininess.

Data was also analyzed by PLS model (via Unscrambler) and very interesting results were shown for the consigner. New product 1 and 2 are similar while the new product 3 is quite unique and they are all different from the reference.

The results remind the marketing team in Morinaga (Taiwan) to assess the new product introduction process again.