Understanding what justifies a premium in a staple food
In an everyday food, a premium has to justify itself every time someone shops. A food company wanted to understand premium in buyers’ own terms, so we paired a survey of category buyers with a digital ethnography.
- Client
- Food company
- Industry
- Food
- Market
- North America
- Kind of work
- Product and pricing
- Our role
- Survey and digital ethnography with category buyers on what justifies a premium
The question
Shoppers in a staple category know what the everyday version costs, so a premium one has to give them a reason.
The executive team wanted to understand premium in buyers’ own terms: what separates a premium product from an everyday one in their eyes, which claims would make the difference, and where the buying happens.
Our approach
We surveyed recent category buyers, in a sample built to represent the market.
We asked about specific attributes one by one, so the team could see which qualities buyers say set a premium product apart. We were clear about the limits of that. What buyers say they value is one part of the case for a premium, and does not by itself show what they would pay.
Purchase context got equal weight, because a premium only matters where people meet it. Alongside the survey, a digital ethnography went deeper with a group of category buyers over time.
What the team came away with
The executive team had evidence from both sides of the work on what buyers associate with a premium, and where the buying happens.
The survey gave the breadth of the market and the ethnography the detail of real buying, so a premium could be argued from both.
Who we heard from
Category buyers, in a survey built to represent the market and a digital ethnography
Related work
View product and pricing case studies- What we do
- Pricing research
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