Stalker's eye was pulled to a headline in the Irish Times at the start of this month. It read – " 90% of new food products fail".
The report quoted the Minister of state for Agriculture and Food Noel Treacy pointing out that some 90% of all new food and drink products fail to survive more than a year in the market.
A worrying statistic for companies involved in bringing new food products to the market.
The minister was the launch of a report to improve the success rate of product development in the food and drink industry. The publication is entitled Market–led New Product Development in the Food and Drink Industry. Obviously a must-read document for companies in the new product development field.
The Minister remarked; " It provide companies with guidance to new product development best practice, improve success rates, reduce failure rates and set out various supports State agencies can provide in his area."
A steady stream of new products was vital to progress and standing still was not an option, he maintained.
" Consumers' behaviour patterns have changed dramatically in recent years, and they are now actively seeking out new products on the shelf.
Retailers are also demanding innovative new products from their suppliers as they both continuously seek to differentiate themselves from competitors."
Food Agency Co-operation Council chairman Padraic White described the report as "revolutionary". He said that it was telling companies that hey must focus on the needs of the consumer and work back from there, rather than developing a product without knowing if the consumer wanted it.
The homework for such enterprises needs to be done thoroughly if one is to avoid being in the nine out of ten that fail, it would appear.