National Grocery Retailer – Collaborative Product Redesign
We led the redesign of a range of products that reduced cost without impacting quality.
Situation
A client’s private label product range had been developed to match equivalent leading proprietary brand products. In recent times, the retailer had lowered prices in response to increased competition, resulting in strong volume growth but declining margins. As a result, there was a need to ensure that product design was aligned with the range’s function and position in the market.
Our Approach
A review of the product development process found that cost was not a major consideration until late in the process, and that there was no mechanism for reviewing product formulations, packaging designs or manufacturing processes of existing products.
Comparison of select products with equivalent competitor products found instances where formulations were over-specified and packaging was excessive.
An end to end review of a number of high growth, low margin product categories was conducted. For each category, a cross-functional team including key personnel from both the manufacturer and the retailer conducted a detailed review of the product range, ingredients, packaging, manufacturing process and supply chain.
Results
Establishing a controlled process with rigorous consumer testing and clear decision making protocols safeguarded against negative consumer impacts.
Opportunities were identified, prioritised and then trialled before implementation, delivering savings of between 3 and 6% of cost.
