Conclusions from the Survey (Questionnaire)

 

180 surveys were completed. Of the people who answered the questionnaire, 51% preferred plain yogurt over any other flavor, with strawberry flavor following with 18% of the sample.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only 21% of the sample eat yogurt on a daily basis, 29% eat yogurt a few times per week, and 37% only eat yogurt occasionally. This shows that there is a large potential for more yogurt consumption. An interesting result is that 38% of the sample eat their yogurt as a snack, and 38% eat it as breakfast. Only 9% of the participants feel dairy is an important nutrition factor in their diet, while 28% believe they are missing out on dairy in their daily diet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many Chinese connect dairy products with the recent health scandals in China, so it is logical that the quality is most important for 40% of the sample. On the other hand it is very surprising to see that only 6% of the sample cared a lot about the expiration date of the dairy, as this also could be seen as an indicator whether a product is still safe to eat. Natural ingredients was ranked as most important by 27% of the sample. Similarly, calorie count was also ranked most important by 20% of the sample.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though most Chinese connect local dairy products with scandals, three of the four of the most popular brands in this sample are local (Burkitt, 2013). Weiquan leads with 37%, followed by Bright Dairy with 32%, Mengniu with 16%, and Danone with 15%. This also represents the companies’ market share, which is divided in a similar way with Menginiu at 17%,Weiquan at 15%, Bright Food at 13%, and Danone at 1.6% in 2012 (Burkitt, 2013). On the other hand a familiar brand is only for 20 % of the people the most important factor. For 30 % of the people the type of ingredients is most important, followed by flavor (27 %), and price (23 %).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

77% of the people have never heard about the health benefits of Greek Yogurt before. Either because they have never heard of Greek Yogurt or because they didn’t know it was healthy. After explaining some of the benefits of Greek Yogurt, only 4% of the sample were not at all interested in buying it. 30% are extremely interested, 52% are highly interested on different levels, and 13% are sort of interested. As a conclusion for Chobani one could say, that informing and educating the people more about the benefits of Greek Yogurt will grow awareness and gain actual market share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The price of Chobani Yogurt in the United States generally varies between $1-$1.50, which is equivalent to roughly 6-9 CNY. 70% of all people asked are willing to pay this price. 13% are even willing to pay above 9 CNY. It needs to be evaluated whether Chobani is capable of delivering this product in China for a similar price to the current offerings in other countries, in order to attract the 83% of people to buy this product.

 

 

Conclusions from the Focus Group

 

A very diverse range of people participated in this focus group, which led to some interesting findings. This focus group consisted of a very healthy eater, a consumer who eats only processed foods, and four people who eat more or less healthy depending on their own standards. They all agreed on what healthy foods are, like vegetables, fruits, yogurt, and healthy homemade meals. They also agreed on the examples of healthy snacks, like fruit, nuts, homemade yogurt. An interesting finding was that the Chinese government tries to teach the Chinese population how to eat and live healthier. A Chinese television program that is subsidized by the government advertises healthy eating concepts every night. According to the participants, the healthy living concepts only tend to get adopted by the ‘older’ generation for a limited amount of time, as the proposed concepts are often too time consuming or don’t taste or smell good.

 

 

All participants reflected on recent scandals when thinking about dairy products in China. They also did not like local dairy product brands and preferred imported products or foreign brands instead. However, three out of four participants that buy yogurt on a regular basis, thought that imported products are too expensive when compared to local products. The other two participants do not buy yogurt because they make their own. Making their own yogurt ensures a high quality yogurt and allows them to create their own flavors. At the moment these two participants feel that the current yogurt offerings do not satisfy their needs.

 

Half of the focus group had heard about Greek Yogurt before, but only due to special circumstances like having a very healthy lifestyle, having lived abroad, or learning about it at an international fair. Therefore there was no special Greek Yogurt experience to share.

 

 

All of the six participants talked about a thick yogurt when they were asked to describe their perfect yogurt. The favorite flavor was plain yogurt, with four out of six participants, followed by strawberry, two out of six, or flavoring their yogurts themselves with honey, fruits and nuts. Preferably the homemade yogurt was flavored with honey, two out of three participants. Also, half of the focus group believed that the perfect yogurt only exists in China when they make it themselves, three out of six. The needs of the rest of the focus group were partially fulfilled by some imported products.

 

 

When looking at the possible shapes of a Chobani Yogurt, four out of six participants liked the bottom right one for its simplicity, bright colors, and clear design. Especially the bright (green) colors were appreciated by most participants as, according to the participants, resemble "feshness and cleanliness" which are indicators for a "high quality product". It appeared as though it had more value without showing off too much. The others were dismissed for having too many colors, or unpleasing shape. Only one participant preferred the upper two shapes. The upper left for its color combination, which was called ‘girly’ and the upper right as this seemed to be the best choice for ‘on the go’, especially in the morning, or for children to drink while holding it in their hand.

 

 

The entire group agreed that neither the bear, nor the cow would be good animals to represent this product. The bear appeared to be more representative for an outdoor activity brand and the cow was dismissed for being too simple and already overused in dairy product advertisement.

 

 

In the final stage of the focus group, the participants showed a strong interest in Chobani Greek Yogurt. Every participant was very eager to taste this product in the near future and wanted to know how high the chances were of Chobani entering the Chinese market.