Food and Drink

An appetite for the food and drink market

A market under great pressure, the food and drink sector is driven by the supermarkets and large grocery stores that continue to innovate, improve efficiencies, and drive down costs.

Like all business to business markets, the sector has a complex value chain with a wide range of diverse companies operating between ‘farm and fork’, so it is vital you work with the right market research company.

Our experience

B2B International has an in-depth understanding of the myriad facets of the food and drink industry. From basic ingredients such as sugar and wheat to the global seafood and ready-meal industry, as well as the global beverage market for soft drinks and alcoholic drinks, we have the knowledge. We have worked directly with some of the largest food and drink companies in the world as well as many projects with suppliers to the industry looking at topics such as cleaning, sterilising, packaging and packaging machinery.

We understand that the challenges of research in the food and drink industry are immense. However, you are in good hands.

Over the years we have walked the floors of food processing plants and breweries, abattoirs, farms and supermarkets, interviewing those who spend a significant amount of time on the shop floor, as well as engaging those all important, time-pressed key decision makers down the value chain responsible for spending millions on equipment each year.

Case study: A big ready meal opportunity in the USA

Business challenge

One of our clients makes packaging machinery for ready meals in the UK and wanted to examine the opportunity for this equipment in the US.

What we did

Traditionally, the American market is accustomed to ‘frozen TV dinners’ as opposed to the fresh ready meals that are so popular in the UK. However, as we were able to demonstrate through extensive interviews with a wide range of respondents – from large grocery stores through to food companies interested in innovating and offering different types of ready meals – the market for quick, easy, fresh meals in the US is changing and growing.

Business challenge

Our client is a distributor of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to restaurants and bars of all kinds. This is a highly competitive market requiring suppliers to have excellent service levels and a large portfolio of products. We needed to find out how our client was perceived and how it could both defend and increase its market share.

What we did

We carried out a tracking study using telephone interviews with a wide cross-section of bars and restaurants in the geographies supplied by our client. The interviews were short in length and focused on half a dozen key questions designed to establish satisfaction and any areas of weakness. A feedback loop was built into the research so that any customers who gave scores of 6 or less (on a 10 point satisfaction scale) was sent directly to our client’s customer service team. An online reportal provided our client’s marketing and sales teams with day-to-day up-dates on its performance by region and by salesperson.

The customer satisfaction tracking is now used by our client to remunerate all levels of its sales teams. This focus on customer service has improved customer satisfaction levels, improved market share, and dramatically improved the company’s profitability.

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