About the Client
The client is one of the leading food and beverage manufacturers in the US. The company manufactures and supplies products in over 26 countries.
The Business Challenge
Despite a generally positive outlook for the future, the food and beverage companies face some challenges in the form of changing consumer demands and new competition. Even though, the consumers’ demand for healthy ingredients and complex flavor profiles has greatly shaped the food industry over the past five years, staying on top of changing customer needs, benchmarking competitors, understanding millennial preferences, leveraging new packaging techniques, and employing key acquisition strategies are vital for survival in this competitive market. Hence, food and beverage companies need to be more innovative and customer-centric to win a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Top Challenges Faced by Food and Beverage Manufacturer
Problem Statement 1
With xResearch’s competitive benchmarking practices, the client wanted to gain a fair perspective on how well they performed compared to other companies in the food and beverage industry.
Problem Statement 2
The lack of competitive benchmarking strategies contributed to significant loses in sales, leading to decline in their market position. Hence the client wanted to identify areas for improvement.
Problem Statement 3
Owing to price shifts and dynamism in the market, the food and beverage manufacturer found it challenging to retain their business. By leveraging competitive benchmarking practices, they were looking out to develop a standardized set of processes and competitive benchmarking metrics.
Problem Statement 4
With the aid of xResearch’s benchmarking process, the client wanted to monitor the competitors’ performance and manage changes for better profits.
Solutions Offered and Value Delivered
The experts at xResearch performed a comprehensive competitive benchmarking analysis, which involved using a combination of primary and secondary research to gather data in the food and beverage market. Our experts benchmarked the client’s competitors by comparing them with other global players in the market. Each of the players were benchmarked based on factors such as volume share, positioning, strengths, marketing strategy and advertising initiatives, and strategy.
Phase 1
The initial phase of competitive benchmarking process was analyzing the competitors’ in the food and beverage industry. The competitors were categorized on the basis into:
Direct competition: Peer companies that offer the same portfolio of services and products to the same target audience.
Indirect competition: Businesses that target a different clientele within the same business space.
Substitute competition: Companies that offer different products and services to the same clients.
Our experts benchmarked the client’s competitors by comparing the local players versus global players.
Phase 2
The experts at xResearch performed a comprehensive competitive benchmarking analysis, which involved using a combination of primary and secondary research to gather data in the food and beverage market. The competitive benchmarking experts also gathered data from a wide array of market sources including paid industry databases and industry forums. The competitor analysis helped the client to build better marketing strategies.
Phase 3
By leveraging secondary market information and data obtained from expert interviews, a competitive benchmarking template was devised, which included detailed company profiles and an analysis of current activities and future industry developments.
Phase 4
The competitive benchmarking template helped the client analyze the competitors in terms of market penetration, product and market development, and clearly illustrated their market positioning in the target markets using market positioning maps.
xResearch’s competitive benchmarking engagement also helped the client differentiate their company from other players. Moreover, identifying competitive advantage through a competitive benchmarking engagement also helped create a new marketing strategy and brand image by relying on the key differentiators.
Through a comprehensive benchmarking process, xResearch helped the client assess the opportunities in the focus geographies and the market penetration of organized and unorganized channels. The competitive benchmarking process further helped them reveal all hidden opportunities in the market.