Market Assessments

Expanding horizontally into new market segments brings new information and insight challenges to organizations. In this case, an organization that traditionally worked in a business-to-business capacity was looking to expand into the direct to consumer and retail consumer space with a unique new innovation. The questions from their board to me were fairly straightforward - assuming we can produce it, would consumers buy it, at what price, and what market share might we expect to achieve. Given that this was a food-related item, there were questions related to foodservice potential as well.

The task involved integrating a multitude of data sources, from traditional syndicated sales data to building concept screens and price elasticity models. Newer forms of foodservice sector tracking enabled bringing retail and foodservice data streams together in order to view a holistic picture of the potential future business.

In the end, the market assessment was presented to the board as part of the due diligence process. The board approved investment in a significant new manufacturing facility and the organization initiated hiring to form a new and separate business unit to commercialize the new product line.