Tatiana Korovina, Marketing Director at Molokiya, talks about the creation of new products and the process of "From Idea to Shelf".
Please tell us how Molokiya creates new products. What does the team rely on when looking for new ideas?
Every new product at Molokiya is born out of the needs and expectations of our customers. To identify them, we first analyse our audience and conduct market research, observe customer behaviour, monitor feedback and hotline calls, and track global trends. We understand that Ukrainian consumers are demanding, so we strive to offer only high-quality and tasty dairy products.
A year ago, the marketing team implemented the "Idea to Shelf" product launch process. The goal is to speed up the launch of new products, unify information between the launch participants and provide transparent goals and critical points for each department. The process allowed us to take into account the expert opinion of all stakeholders and prioritise launches by importance. Each new product goes through four stages (gates/gates) to check the feasibility of its launch: from a brief presentation of the idea with a clear value for the consumer to detailed development, including assessment of production capabilities, preparation of laboratory samples, testing and selection of the optimal recipe.
We put quality and customer satisfaction above all else: if at the end of our journey, at the 4th Gate (stage) of launch, it becomes obvious that production is not yet stable, we will not launch the product and will refine it, even if we have a label already ordered. We do our best to ensure that everyone who chooses Molokiya receives impeccable quality.
Is there a target number of new products per year?
We form a portfolio of new products for the next year as early as Q4 of the previous year. Limited shelf space in large chains and difficulties in entering them dictate our priorities - if it were not for these logistical and trade frameworks, consumers would see many more innovative products from us. That is why we carefully select our launches to ensure that each new product has the best chance of success and accessibility for our consumers. We do not have a quantity target, our goal is to satisfy the consumer first and foremost. This year we have launched about 20 new SKUs. These are both completely new products, such as white ayran and paprika-chilli ayran, and category extensions with products with a different fat content or a new flavour.
How are hypotheses for new products tested?
We like to listen to our customers. We can do research with a professional company or invite our consumers to our office for tastings. They try our laboratory samples, tell us what they like and what they don't. We take their comments into account when finalising the product. This is how we create products that our consumers really love.
How many ideas are eliminated at the gate during the "idea to shelf" process?
Most of the projects we submit for approval are approved. The only reason for a postponement may be seasonality or the need to prioritise more important launches, in which case the launch will simply be postponed to a later date.
How long does it take to launch a new product?
It varies, depending on the complexity of the launch and the availability of equipment for the launch. With the available equipment, it takes up to 4-5 months. Since we at Molokiya strive to meet the needs of even the most demanding consumer, some of our products are unique and innovative for the market and require special ingredients that have not been used in Ukraine before. As a result, it takes longer to launch them, in particular because of the logistics and delivery of such ingredients.
How long do you give a new product to take off? And what indicators do you track?
We give a new product two key evaluation periods: the first 6 months to analyse the initial results, and up to 1 year to determine whether it will take a permanent place in our range or need to be rotated. We track standard commercial metrics - average monthly sales in hryvnias, kilograms and units and coverage (distribution).
Alongside these figures, feedback from consumers, customers and our sales team plays an important role. In addition, for innovative new products, we consider their strategic potential: even with small sales volumes in kilograms, we can keep a product in our range if it fills a niche, shows growth and strengthens the brand image.
If a new product doesn't take off, what happens next? Is it withdrawn from the range or repackaged?
If a new product does not show the expected results, further actions depend on the type of product and market conditions.
We usually analyse the reasons for low sales, such as positioning, seasonality, distribution or consumer response, and make decisions based on this. For categories with a high demand for new flavours, such as fruit yoghurts, we usually replace the "unsuccessful" flavour with another development. In this category, new products are rotated, so some launches serve as testing. We keep the successful flavours and replace the rest.
In other cases, options range from relaunching with new packaging or positioning to removing the product from the range if it has no growth prospects and is taking up valuable shelf space without return. The decision is always based on sales data, feedback from consumers and the sales team, and the brand's strategic priorities.
Finally, what new products can we expect from Molokiya in the near future?
In the near future, we will launch an interesting new product - flower and fruit yoghurts. Each yoghurt is unique in taste and visual appearance, and has no analogues on the Ukrainian market. The new flavours are rose with strawberry, mallow with pear and jasmine with peach. We did this project in collaboration with Ukrainian artist Lilit Sargsyan. She first created paintings on canvas and then handmade designs for our products. We closely follow trends: today, many categories are moving towards joint projects, when seemingly unrelated brands combine expertise, design and communications to offer consumers a new experience. It is with this trend in mind that we have implemented the collaboration to give our customers a unique and enjoyable experience of interacting with Molokiya products.
Last year, Molokiya took part in the tasting competition Favorite Food & Drinks. How did participation in the competition affect your future work, and do you plan to submit this year's novelties to the jury?
We are constantly listening to our consumers: we gather focus groups, read comments on social media, and analyse feedback to the hotline. Last year, for the first time, we decided to take part in a tasting competition where a professional jury evaluates the product, which adds a new perspective and a different point of view. Our products won gold and we shared this on social media. A friend of mine, seeing the posts about the victory, reacted: "You have so many awards, I'm going to go and try your products."
This year, we plan to submit fruit and flower yoghurts and White yoghurt on a pillow of fruit to the competition.
Interviewed by journalist Daria Spasova