Question

Question: What sampling procedure would you recommend for this taste test survey? Why? What potential deficiencies do you foresee with you were suggested procedure?

2.7 DELTA DAIRY LOCAL MARKET TASTE TEST SURVEY Delta Dairy is one of four main operating companies in the Delta Group, a leading producer, retailer, and distributor of food products in Greece and selected markets in southeastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lebanon). Delta Dairy is among the major fully integrated dairy com- panies in the Greek market. It conducts the Group's business activity in the fresh dairy products (white and chocolate milk, dairy desserts, and yogurt), infant nutrition, and The Greek dairy market is fairly fragmented, with five or more major players having about 70 percent market share, in addition to at least another dozen smaller producers In the fresh milk segment, Delta Dairy has a leading position, with a 41 percent market share. This market share position is not equally distributed across Greece, Delta has a stronger lead in Athens and a weaker position in the remaining regions of Greece, particularly those in the northern part of the country Delta Dairy's fresh milk products were present in the northern Greek market for nearly a decade. However, the company could not achieve significant market share. The ain reason for this fact was found in the particular tastes of northern Greek consu- mers, whose preferences and attitudes toward the fresh milk category differed signif cantly from those of Athenian consumers. Clearly, local marketing programs were required to "speak the language" of northern Greeks. The brand management team was doing a great job in tailoring communications a Greek far prevented the team from achieving a better market consumers' values and needs. However, there were two obstacles that had thus First, northern Greek consumers preferred a richer-tasting milk, compared with the dominated the preferences of other Greek regions. Second, northern regionally focused in their purchasing behavior, consciously selecting local producers of basic food and nonfood product categories. They typically hasing decisions as providing support for local businesses, which lighter taste that Greek consumers were more rationalized their purc n furn gave back to the local community by re investing the community much-needed jobs. profies locally and providing Both of these were duction facilities in the northern regions pro- i of Greece. The milk was prodhaced in Athens and the milk production was centraliured in Athens, flavor ago, the Athenian milk production plant reached its capacity and the issues were directly linked to the fact chat Dela Dairy did nor have tbuby its distribution network through the rest of the country. Therefore, th northern Greek consumers "nonlocal. was uniform and reflected the majority preference across tended to view Dea's fresh milk as Athenian Grence for a leghter-asting milk top management made the decision to open a new plant in northera Greece. A 323,000 square-foot, state-of the-art dairy facility was buile near Thessaloniki, the capital of Macedonia and the econd-largest city city in Greece, afeer Athens Milk from farm throughout northern Greece would be pasteurined in the new plant and distributed in Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessalia (regions in northern Greece). The plant represented an investment of 25 million euros and provided employment to 130 people in addition to the existing 1,6S0 already employed ( by (staff, cattle breeders, representatives, enc) Delta Dairy in northern Greece The establishment of the new production faciliry presented an opportunity for the white milk brand management team to re-launch Delca milk as a through-and-through local brand. Of couse, one intended aspect of the new positioning was the richer flavor, known to appeal to the target population of northern Greek consumens this was made cream to regional tastes. Given the importance of getting this newly formulated lavor just right, the brand management ream responsible for the re-launch decided to conduct a taste test survey to best understand what sort of milk flavors would be most preferred northern Greeks. They knew there were certain marker realities they needed consider when designing the taste survey The primary decision-makers regarding brand purchases were adulr women .The product users were all members in the family, with children being the heavies users who, in addition, could sometimes influence the purchase decision The most significant competiror and a leader in the northern Greek market wasa local company, with production facilities in northern Greece and with distribution that was gradually achieving national levels. The company used the "local" dimen- sion as part of its milk's positioning when targeting northern Greek consumers and claimed that the milk's rich taste comes from the fact that the milk is exclusively gathered from the cows living on northern Greek farms, with their rich climate and unsullied narural setting Other competitors in the fresh milk sqgment, active in che northern Greek market, were o Another Athenian company, with a rather weak market share, which, nonetheless was bener than that of Delca's milk before the new plant opening, o Another local producer, with a moch more significant market share, which, how ever, exhibiteda negative share trend perhaps owing to frequent quality problems Each company offered several types of milk; these types of milk were differentated mainly by their fat content. Specifically o The most mainstream type was the ful-far milk with 3.5 percent fat commt This milk type was usually bouhe by families with children, and the nurngenal valoe was the most important product benefis for chem. This type of milk had more than 60 percent total market volume sales. The second largest sales, 20 percent overall, was low-fat milk, with 1.5 percent fat conteet adults and families without childeen purchased this type of milk. Persona vell being was the most-sought bencfit of this target group. The remainder of the white milk market belonged to various niche produ -fortified" with v (c4, maan, vtamm D) and mnerals 64, caki that addressed specific customer needs mpurtant so t chttaste rnchnes also differed across malk types, mned aimoet exclusively be fat content. That is, full-far milk offered by far the nchest in tasse, followed br the enriched malks and, lastly, those low in fat. When compared wich the leading local producer's milk, Delta's mailk types were lighter in deter- taste wichan each respective type Finalh. there were two constraints to which the survey's design needed to contorm. Fost due to a ismted budget, only three mak samples at a tume could be tested. Second, due to time preures, only two rounds of the tests could be conducted. Both of these cnstraunts, it was feared, could make conducting a thorough, far test difficult. Bearing all these factors and comstraints m mind, the brand management team pro- ceoded. holding a hnefng on the survey with the selected research firm. They hoped chat the survey would provide them with enough information so that Delta could formu- ate the best-tated milk, in terms of flavor, among northern Greek cone. They also realized thar they would have only one opportunity to do this well, and that tame was running down for them to do so

Answer 1

solution:

The research team must conduct surveys quantitative and qualitative to get homogeneous unbiased views with larger sample size encapsulating questions related to :

1.Taste preference
2.Quality of milk
3.Perception of Delta
4.Affordable pricing range
5.Availability of milk
6.Fat content preference
7.Texture and colour preference
8.Uses of milk
Moreover open ended questions must be asked to generate qualitative insights and capture it for strategy formulation.