Is my product preferred to that offered by my competitors?
In a competitive market, if the consumer doesn’t consider your product to be different and preferential, they will not hesitate to try other similar available alternatives. Buying behaviour is ever less faithful to brands and the consumer is continuously demanding a better quality/price ratio.
To quantify the sensory preference of your product, a Sensory Preference Test must be carried out. This is a “blind” test, where consumers evaluate products without knowing the commercial brand of the products they are evaluating.
Their answers are based solely on the sensory aspects: appearance, smell, taste, texture, etc. Neither the brand, nor the price, nor the memory that the consumer has of that brand, has an effect on this preference.
After testing and evaluating the products, consumers finally express their preference for one of the products. A product with a low preference will have difficulty remaining on the market, even with a low price.
The information that consumers themselves can provide about your product is extremely valuable, since it allows us to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your product and those of the competition. This knowledge allows us to see possible ways the product can be improved and means we are able to increase its sensory preference.
Mérieux NutriSciences places its two Sensory Analysis Centres, in Barcelona and Madrid, and its consumer panel with more than 10,000 panellists, at your disposal.
Together at the two centres, we hold more than 1,000 sampling sessions annually. The majority are targeted at adults (18 to 65 years old), but some are also targeted at children and adolescents (6 to 12 years old and 13 to 17 years old).