/ Services
Technical Food Market
|  |
In-depth technical market knowledge is essential for strategic decisions in food companies: Either to enter new businesses; retain customers and get new ones; decide and invest in new technologies; enable new products; carry out production trials; reduce costs, update knowledge; and so forth. The information needed ranges from purely technical to techno-commecial: New technologies, applications, materials, partners, competition; Cost-in-use; Industrial practices; Developments in the pipeline; Customer technical satisfaction and future needs; 'Who is who' in a specific process technology.
Getting the needed information is complex, as it requires more than straight business-to-business market knowledge: it also requires good knowledge of technologies, applications, industrial know-how, realities of customers and other players. Technical market researchers must also know how to talk to company managers, speak the same technical language; Ideally he should have a similar work experience, to have the correct technical understanding and communication skills.
To achieve this, we carefully select our team at Foodlink Forum. Our experts have the right combined backgrounds in industrial product and process technologies, food engineering, sciences (chemistry, physics, biochemistry, physiology) as well as in ingredient, product and process development (Unilever, Dannone, DSM and others). It is due to this unique integration that we are the partner of choice for customised food technical market information of Blue Chip and other companies worldwide for over 12 years.
Technical Market Research
Technical market information serves to link your company to the market, to learn about available options and to get practical techno-commercial information from other users, customers and other players. More than 12 years of experience combining technology, technical market knowledge and practical industrial experience deliver highly practical information of top quality and efficiency (time, costs). Our services are used by company managers as base for their strategic decisions, investment choices, product and business development, and cost reduction projects.
Our technical market research services cover:
- Technical Market Scans: Customised updates on new technological developments in a specific area. Explores the food technical market for the available options prior to an investment or decision. Areas include: new process technologies, materials (products, ingredients, blends), clients, prospects, partners, suppliers, competitors, etc.
- Food Sector Studies: Customised review studies to cover a specific food sector in a specific country. May combine market, technology and regulatory information; competitor products and businesses; financial data.
- Third Party Investigations: Obtains real-life information from actual industrial users. Covers technical and techno-commercial aspects. May include practical information such as: capabilities, track record, reference check, advantages/disadvantages, strength/weaknesses, 'how to' and cost-in-use information. Used to double-check before buying, contracting, investing.
- Evaluating Synergistic Food Technologies: Focused studies on processing technologies and industrial food supplies to solve specific technical problems, to analyse toll manufacturing options or as preparative work for strategic decision making.
- Technical Screening & Benchmarking: Systematic analysis and comparison of technical information after pre-set parameters. Can be applied to process technologies, products, competitors, potential partners, other.
- Industrial Applications: explores how food businesses use an equipment, ingredient or material. Used for new business development, and to establish requirements, potential customers, partners and other.
- Customer Technical Needs: see below
- Food Handling Requirements:gathers technical information in the industrial or food service markets; used in cost-saving projects, application and product development.
Customer Technical Needs
In order to offer your industrial customer new products that fit his needs, you need to find out what his development plans are. Our food specialists help you researching these future needs. Using an external specialist has several advantages, and complements your efforts. His cross-over of knowledge brings new, fresh ideas that can be very innovative to your situation.
Surveying customer technical needs can be done for one or a group of customers. A questionnaire is prepared and discussed with you, and forms the basis of the survey. Surveys can be done at distance (telephone) or at location (customer's company). It can be done alone or in collaboration with your personnel.
Customer Technical Satisfaction Research
Your present industrial clients are the life line to your company. Finding out via an independent survey how satisfied he is and whether improvements in your products are necessary may bring you very important information. Being able to solve technical issues that your customer may have directly translate into keeping your customer. Thus you must know of any issues; that is what technical satisfaction research achieves. And even when there are no issues, customers appreciate your good service efforts, and the survey contributes to retain their loyalty.
Satisfaction research service adjusts to our client needs. It can be done for one client or a group of clients; via desk research or in technical in-company visits. It is based on a questionnaire, prepared by us based on your briefing. We keep you informed as the survey proceeds, so that you are always well informed and in control of the project.
Cases from our track-record in technical market research:
- Case 1. Pre-Sourcing Exploration prior to capital investment on new process equipment:
After screening various equipment options for the manufacture of a new product, a manufacturer ('Client') had 2 final options. To decide, he wanted to have practical information from other industrial users. Client discussed his questions with us. To decide he decided to have a Pre-Sourcing Exploration. We interviewed some industrial users selected from within of our industrial relations who were already using the one of the two technologies, and came back to our client with a short and clear report that included a technical strength/weakness analysis of both technologies and industrial user recommendations. Based on this data, Client could then make his well informed decision on which option suited his particular situation better. - Case 2. User Check on Kosher certification:
A food manufacturer ('Client') was considering export to new markets, some of which required Kosher certification. Client had contact with the local Rabbi, who gave the usual information. Such certification has a series of requirments: technical changes, specific production planning, regular audits, presence of external production supervisors, etc. Client needed to know exactly what it really means to companies: exact costs, how supervision is done, needed technical changes, etc. Client engaged us, and we carried a short survey (1/2 day) to find out establish all practical aspects. The client was so happy that we were sent special congratulations even from the Marketing department for our clear answer, that allowed them to take their specific decisions. - Case 3. Future Customer Probiotic Needs:
The general manager of a dairy ingredients company was looking for new business development options for his company. Previously he had selected probiotics as an option, and needed to know how his customers' needs on new probiotic cultures were developing. Having worked for him on several projects, he selected us for this work because of our years of work in the functional foods area; we combine knowledge of the sciences, market, technology and regulatory affairs in this area (see Publications). In this probiotic project we carried out desk research (telephonic interviews) with his main dairy industry customers. The results showed him in which direction the probiotic needs of his customers were moving at that time, what their key questions were, what regulatory needs they had from their supplier (what information the supplier had to provide), what he needed to do to facilitate the market and product development of his customers (and hence his own), and what other hurdles he had to overcome. Based on the results of this project, he could decide on allocation of his company resources to better achieve his goals.
|