New Qualitative Research Exploring American Consumers’ Perceptions Around Products’ Country of Origin
American consumers see “buy local” everywhere, especially in grocery stores. While buying local is great, that does not change the fact that some of the best products come from places all over the world. Too often brands coming from outside the USA are disadvantaged as retailers in America prefer local or American products over foreign. That disadvantage could mean not being able to tell their unique provenance story in their shopper marketing, or it could even mean not getting shelf space at all.
What are brands from outside the USA supposed to do, minimize their heritage, provenance and unique positioning? Certainly not. Our new research found that American consumers are hungry for the different and exotic. And while they may have the buy local message coming at them in all directions, they remain open in some categories to exploring and buying products from all over the world. We believe producers should feel proud to tell the world where they are from and be perceived as more unique and special for it.
ABOUT OUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN RESEARCH
Methodology: Qualitative research across three markets (San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, DC) in the form of 25 shopper interviews conducted via shop-alongs inside grocery stores, in-home ethnographies, or interviews conducted virtually.
Timing: Study fielded in late 2019; delivering reports beginning February 2020.
Deliverable: One report + one-hour live virtual presentation. Each in-depth report will include a 20 -page document (in PowerPoint) and focus on the following content:
Ten consumer insights - what we learned from consumers while interviewing them. We’ll uncover if they tend to notice country of origin on products in your category, how they perceive products from your country, how they learn about products in your category, what types of food & drink products get into their shopping carts and why, what country of origin types of messaging they are open to receiving and how they would be open to communicating with brands from your country and in your category.
25 direct consumer quotes about your country & product category, giving you a deeper understanding of American consumers and how to meet their needs.
Eight recommendations on how to best connect with American consumers while emphasizing your country of origin and unique provenance story.
Each live, one-hour presentation, conducted virtually, will focus on presenting our report and brainstorming next steps your brand can take to leverage the insights and recommendations.
Fee: $3,500 USD
Contact us here to purchase + schedule your report and session.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS HOW EXPORTERS FROM OUTSIDE THE USA CAN LEVERAGE THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN TO STAND OUT IN THE AMERICAN MARKETPLACE
We conducted qualitative research with 25 American consumers across the USA to understand how (if at all) products’ country of origin impacts what products get into their shopping carts. We honed in on some specific, premium product categories, including: meat, seafood, wine, olive oil, honey, chocolate and specialty salts.
Our research resulted in identifying many useful consumer insights regarding how Americans perceive each of these countries, how they make purchase decisions in these key categories, how receptive they are to country of origin and provenance stories, as well as how best to reach and connect with American consumers. We have also created several recommendations on how to apply these learnings to your business.
We are now delivering our report, Marketing ‘Foreign Foods’ in a “Buy Local” Market, Exploring American Consumers’ Perceptions Around Products’ Country of Origin, with a focus on your country and product category.
Our goal for this entire research project is to help exporters from outside the USA become more competitive in the American market, helping them better understand American food & drink shoppers, their perceptions on products coming from their country and what unique provenance stories they can potentially share with consumers to drive more sales of their products. We believe that as a whole, companies coming from Australia, Iceland, Ireland and New Zealand have a lot of goodness to offer the world and we’re especially impressed by these countries’ outstanding record in areas such as: natural and organic production, farm animal welfare and environmental stewardship.
READ THIS BLOG POST FOR A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT OUR RESEARCH FOR THIS REPORT
