Yogurt Market Research Articles

Explaining Price Variability in the Italian Yogurt Market: A Hedonic Analysis

ABSTRACTToday yogurt is produced and consumed worldwide, and its popularity has increased in recent years. In Italy, yogurt consumption grew by 43% in the period 2004–2008. This study is focused on the analysis of yogurt retail prices that show a great variability in the Italian market. In fact, our survey, carried out in a selected area of Italy during the last months of 2010, showed that yogurt retail prices range from 0.9 Euro/kg to 9.6 Euro/kg. We deemed the hedonic price model to be the most appropriate analytical tool for this investigation because it allows explaining how the price of yogurt varies depending on its main quality attributes. The study's results may be useful in better understanding the evolutionary dynamics of an important market, such as yogurt in Italy, and, second, in addressing the marketing strategies of yogurt manufacturers facing an expanding market that is also characterized by an increasing competitive pressure and a rapid change in consumer preferences. [EconLit Citations: Q110, D400, L660].

Targeting Rural Yoghurt Market: A Way Forward

This case describes the marketing practices at Mali, one of the new entrants to the crowded yoghurt market in Sri Lanka. Mali focuses on the rural yoghurt market—a significant market untapped by big players in the yoghurt market. Being a medium-scale enterprise, Nimal, the owner of the Mali, manages the marketing function of the company. So far he has succeeded in the rural market where he focuses on his marketing applications. However, he faces some issues, such as, to what extent he can survive with the existing marketing practices? How can the company address the changes taking place in the consumer behaviour of the rural market? What opportunities are available in the urban market where Mali is about to enter? What lessons can be learned from the applications of marketing practices in a typical rural market? And how the strategic bases of Mali can be affected in long term to get competitive edge in yoghurt market?

The fragile strength of a leading Polish yoghurt company (case study of Bakoma)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the case study of Bakoma, which is a leading Polish yoghurt‐producing company that has achieved a remarkable success, but now is facing serious challenges from multinationals. The authors aim to analyse its development model, marketing strategy, and competitive position.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the authors' own case study. They gathered the necessary information from company documents, both published and unpublished, as well as a series of in‐depth interviews with representatives of Bakoma and other key players in the Polish dairy market.FindingsThe authors found out a strong interdependence of the business and political spheres, especially during the initial phase of the Polish systemic transition. Secondly, foreign partners played a major role in the creation of the company (inflow of capital from an American businessman of Polish origin), acquiring access to technology licence (Onken), and capital investments and transfer of management skills (Danone). A major strength of the company is its innovative marketing strategy based on a perfect knowledge of the specificity of Polish consumer preferences. Nevertheless, the Polish yoghurt market as an important segment of the dairy market becomes gradually more and more dominated by multinational corporations, especially of French and German origin.Originality/valueThis paper provides original insights into the development and marketing strategies of a leading Polish yoghurt company facing strong competition from multinationals. The results may be useful to managers from Central and Eastern European dairy companies.

Functional foods as differentiated products: the Italian yogurt market

In spite of the growing consumers' interest for functional foods, the knowledge regarding the demand for these products and their profitability is limited. Adapting the LA/AIDS (Linear Approximated–Almost Ideal Demand System) model by means of Pinkse, Slade and Brett's distance metric method (2002), this article studies demand, substitution pattern, and profitability of conventional and functional alternatives inside the yogurt category in Italy. Results indicate that, in the yogurt market, functional alternatives' demand is often less elastic than that of their conventional counterparts, that brand loyalty plays a key role, and that the profitability of the functional alternatives is, on average, larger than that of conventional ones.

Some Like It Healthy: Demand for Functional and Conventional Yogurts in the Italian Market

AbstractAlthough the research investigating the market of functional foods proliferates, little empirical analysis has so far used actual market data. This study analyzes the demand for both conventional and functional alternatives sold in the Italian yogurt market using a scanner database of yogurt sales and a discrete choice (nested‐logit) demand model, assessing also the role of health‐related demographic characteristics as potential contributors to the market success of functional yogurts. The results show that, in the category analyzed, high prices deter the market success of some functional alternatives; this does not apply to drinkable ones, whose demand shows lower own‐price and larger cross‐price elasticities compared to the other functional alternatives. In addition, health‐related consumer characteristics play an important role in shaping the demand for both conventional and functional yogurts in Italy. In particular, an aging, increasingly health‐conscious population is likely to provide fertile ground for the success of functional yogurts in this market.

파스퇴르의 브랜드 스토리텔링 캠페인

This study analyzed the brand storytelling campaign of Pasteur drink-type yogurt `Quebyon`. The basic idea of research comes from how unique brand name is able to success in Korean yogurt market. Pasteur storytelling campaign has focused on the product`s branding and positioning. For analyzing the research, Brand Stewardship Model(BSM) which based on consumers` perspectives has been used. For successful storytelling campaign of Pasteur, strong brand name is needed. Pasteur has decided the brand name `Quebyon` which means good movement of the bowels in accordance with the research results. And the positioning has been decided `attack inside (the body) if it does not evacuate`. For powerful positioning, three criterions are decided. They are including harmony with the brand name, differentiation with competitors and easiness with memory. Finally, the Pasteur product dominates the Korean Bulgarian-style yogurt market. The success comes from the harmonizing of Quebyon yogurt`s branding and positioning. In other words, the branding and positioning strategies were working effectively to the consumers. In conclusion, this study has proved why branding and positioning strategies are so important in brand storytelling campaign.

Food labels: Do consumers perceive what semiotics want to convey?

In this research work, a multidisciplinary approach was applied to answer the question: do consumers perceive what semiotics want to convey? The idea behind was to determine if consumers’ expectations and associations raised by simulated yogurt labels, designed with different sign combinations frequently applied in commercial products, were in agreement with results from a semiotic analysis, and to check for cultural differences, comparing results from two Spanish-speaking countries (Spain and Uruguay). A survey of the plain yogurt market was performed, followed by a semiotic analysis of the gathered labels performed by a team of semiotics experts. Only the non-verbal elements such as images, visual structure, colors, typography and their combinations, were considered; so brand, price, nutritional information, composition, etc. were nor taken into consideration. The main messages conveyed by the labels were summarized and based on that, five yogurt model labels were designed and subsequently used as stimuli in a consumer study. An online consumer questionnaire, based on a word association task, was performed in both countries to understand the words, descriptions, associations, thoughts or feelings generated by the model labels. The approach was successful, and the results obtained showed that the main messages conveyed by the model labels were well understood in Spain and Uruguay; however some cultural differences in the perception of the messages could be highlighted.

Residual yoghurt whey for lactic acid production

Abstract The operation in global yoghurt market provokes frequently the reject and withdrawn of yoghurt derivates out of shelf life. Yoghurts that have past their ‘best before’ date constitute a waste that has to be environmentally treated. Its use as a source for lactic acid production by Lactobacillus casei is studied in this work, being also a proposal that can reduce the end-of-cycle impact of the residue. Production of yoghurt generates a residue highly supplemented with sugar and fruits syrups that can be metabolized to lactic acid, but no data are available in the literature about this potential transformation into a commercial valuable lactic acid. Bioconversion of total sugars around 44% was achieved in pH controlled batch fermentation after 34 h. Control of pH and yeast extract supplementation in the preculture stage have shown a remarkable enhancement of fermentation performance due to the reduction in the toxicity and the increase in nitrogen content. Successive bioconversions of lactose, glucose and sucrose have been shown, with a sugar consumption profile giving a hierarchical mode consumption in the order glucose > sucrose > lactose.

A method for building new marketing channels

PurposeThe aim is to describe the analysis conducted by a leading company in the dairy (yogurt and fermented milk) sector in Brazil regarding the decision to implement a door‐to‐door distribution channel, in which one of the authors was involved.Design/methodology/approachA brief overview of the marketing channels is presented and the descriptive case study method was used to present the main company information.FindingsThe paper describes the decision‐making process that was used to define how basic services like breaking bulks, product variety, special convenience and wait time should be performed in this case. It also emphasizes the main channel decisions, the channel objectives and the chosen door‐to‐door structure for the company described in the case study.Research limitations/implicationsEven though case analysis has a theoretical background, the decision process used here cannot be generalized, being only a guide for academics and practitioners about how company A addressed the direct marketing issue.Originality/valueThe paper presents specific analysis of the Brazilian yogurt market and use as theoretical background the strategic environmental analysis. As a real case, it can be useful for practitioners as reference for decision making, as well for teaching purposes for case studies with college and MBA students. Finally, the paper presents as main contribution a “method for developing new marketing channels”.

The Fresh'n Fruity Loves You campaign

This paper focuses on the “Fresh'n Fruity Loves You” marketing campaign by New Zealand Dairy Foods, conducted to maintain the company's high market share in New Zealand. The campaign was started partly because there were several players in the yoghurt market and competition was intense; and it was determined that New Zealanders were increasingly looking for convenient and healthy foods to eat.

Technological challenges for future probiotic foods

Abstract Modern consumers are increasingly interested in their personal health, and expect the food that they eat to be healthy or even capable of preventing illness. Gut health in general has shown to be the key sector for functional foods in Europe. The probiotic yoghurt market is well established but the key growth sector recently has been the probiotic drinks. The popularity of dose-delivery systems for probiotic drinks has also resulted in research efforts targeted to developing probiotic foods outside the dairy sector. New product categories, and thus novel and more difficult raw materials with regard to technology of probiotics, will certainly be the key research and development area for future functional food markets. The viability and stability of probiotics has been both a marketing and technological challenge for industrial producers. Probiotic foods should contain specific probiotic strains and maintain a suitable level of viable cells during the product's shelf life. Unless strict demands are set on probiotic product definition and labelling their regulatory definition will remain obscure. The technological demands placed on probiotic strains are great and new manufacturing process and formulation technologies may often be required for bacteria primarily selected for their functional health properties. Before probiotic strains can be delivered to consumers, they must first be able to be manufactured under industrial conditions, and then survive and retain their functionality during storage as frozen or freeze-dried cultures, and also in the food products into which they are finally formulated. The probiotic strains should also survive the gastrointestinal stress factors and maintain their functionality within the host. Additionally, they must be able to be incorporated into foods without producing off-flavours or textures—they should be viable but not growing. The packaging materials used and the conditions under which the products are stored are also important for the quality of products. Future technological prospects exist in innovations finding solutions for the stability and viability problems of probiotics in new food environments. Current research on novel probiotic formulations and microencapsulation technologies exploiting biological carrier and barrier materials and systems for enteric release provides promising results. Maintenance of low production costs will remain the challenge for future probiotic process and formulation technologies. Exploitation of food-grade raw materials such as native, and physically or enzymatically treated starches, is one example of future technology that has the potential to meet the challenge of broadening the range of food types into which probiotic ingredients can be successfully incorporated. Novel developments for control release systems in foods and pharmaceuticals will also provide new possibilities.

Structural Analysis of Manufacturer Pricing in the Presence of a Strategic Retailer

Consumer goods manufacturers usually sell their brands to consumers through common independent retailers. Theoretical research on such channel structures has analyzed the optimal behavior of channel members under alternative assumptions of manufacturer-retailer interaction (Vertical Strategic Interaction). Research in Empirical Industrial Organization has focused on analyzing the competitive interactions between manufacturers (Horizontal Strategic Interaction). Decision support systems have made various assumptions about retailer-pricing rules (e.g., constant markup, category-profit-maximization). The appropriateness of such assumptions about strategic behavior for any specific market, however, is an empirical question. This paper therefore empirically infers (1) the Vertical Strategic Interaction (VSI) between manufacturers and retailer, (2) the Horizontal Strategic Interaction (HSI) between manufacturers simultaneously with the VSI, and (3) the pricing rule used by a retailer. The approach is particularly appealing because it can be used with widely available scanner data, where there is no information on wholesale prices. Researchers usually have no access to wholesale prices. Even manufacturers, who have access to their own wholesale prices, usually have limited information on competitors' wholesale prices. In the absence of wholesale prices, we derive formulae for wholesale prices using game-theoretic solution techniques under the specific assumptions of vertical and horizontal strategic interaction and retailer-pricing rules. We then embed the formulae for wholesale prices into the estimation equations. While our empirical illustration is using scanner data without wholesale prices, the model itself can be applied when wholesale prices are available. Early research on the inference of HSI among manufacturers in setting wholesale prices using scanner data (e.g., Kadiyali et al. 1996, 1999) made the simplifying assumption that retailers charge a constant margin. This assumption enabled them to infer wholesale prices and analyze competitive interactions between manufacturers. In this paper, we show that this model is econometrically identical to a model that measures retail-price coordination across brands. Hence, the inferred cooperation among manufacturers could be exaggerated by the coordinated pricing (category management) done by the retailer. We find empirical support for this argument. This highlights the need to properly model and infer VSI simultaneously to accurately estimate the HSI when using data at the retail level. Functional forms of demand have been evaluated in terms of the fit of the model to sales data. But recent theoretical research on channels (Lee and Staelin 1997, Tyagi 1999) has shown that the functional form has serious implications for strategic behavior such as retail passthrough. While the logit and linear model implies equilibrium passthrough of less than 100% (Lee and Staelin call this Vertical Strategic Substitute (VSS)), the multiplicative model implies optimal passthrough of greater than 100% (Vertical Strategic Complement (VSC)). Because passthrough rates on promotions have been found to be below or above 100% (Chevalier and Curhan 1976, Armstrong 1991), we empirically test the appropriateness of the logit (VSS) and the multiplicative (VSC) functional form for the data. We perform our analysis in the yogurt and peanut butter categories for the two biggest stores in a local market. We found that the VSS implications of the logit fit the data better than the multiplicative model. We also find that for both categories, the best-fitting model is one in which (1) the retailer maximizes category profits, (2) the VSI is Manufacturer-Stackelberg, and (3) manufacturer pricing (HSI) is tacitly collusive. The fact that the retailer maximizes category profits is consistent with theoretical expectations. The inference that the VSI is Manufacturer-Stackelberg reflects the institutional reality of the timing of the game. Retailers set their retail prices after manufacturers set their wholesale prices. Note that in the stores and product categories that we analyze, the two manufacturers own the dominant brands with combined market shares of about 82% in the yogurt market and 65% in the peanut butter market. The result is also consistent with a balance of power argument in the literature. The finding that manufacturer pricing is tacitly collusive is consistent with the argument that firms involved in long-term competition in concentrated markets can achieve tacit collusion. Managers use decision support systems for promotion planning that routinely make assumptions about VSI, HSI, and the functional form. The results from our analysis are of substantive import in judging the appropriateness of assumptions made in such decision support systems.

European strawberry yogurt market analysis with a case studyon acceptance drivers for children in Spain using principalcomponent analysis and partial least squares regression

This study describes a European market analysis of strawberry yogurts using Quantitative Sensory Profiling (QSP), a Givaudan Roure (GR) developed descriptive analysis method. Flavor trends among the products were determined by country, yogurt producer, and marketed age-group using principal component analysis (PCA). From the PCA data generated, new strawberry flavors were developed along the creamy-vanilla, juicy, green-floral, and berry-ripe-banana dimensions. These new flavors, along with the three market leaders for strawberry yogurt in Spain, were analyzed by trained panelists using QSP and hedonically by 160 consumers between the ages of 6 and 16 years. Partial least squares regression (PLS) and correlation analysis identified the positive consumer-liking drivers for strawberry flavor to be vanilla, creamy and balsamic attributes while wild and floral notes decreased liking. Texture attributes of creaminess and homogeneity were positively correlated with consumer liking while syneresis of the product detracted from the acceptability. Two GR developed flavors were significantly preferred over the currently marketed products.

Exotic Fermented Dairy Foods

Cultured dairy products are on the ascendency in the United States. The yogurt market has grown almost 600% over the last decade. There is also renewed interest in products containing Lactobacillus acidophilus. For innovative development to be competitive in the U.S. food market, the cultured dairy products industry has to look to exotic fermented dairy products which could be adapted for the American palate. Three such products are dicussed, which with slight modifications and imaginative flavoring may have a very good potential in the American market.

Quality of Yogurt

Yogurt consumption in the United States has increased spectacularly during the last decade. Product quality and satisfaction of consumer expectation are discussed since they are essential for the continued successful growth of the yogurt market. Much emphasis is placed on yogurt flavor, body, and texture. The coming identity crisis for yogurt is dealt with since “yogurt without bacteria” has now made its appearance. The results of a brief microbiological evaluation of yogurt and of a consumer preference survey are presented also.