POP UP Shopper Community is Australia’s first syndicated product testing platform for FMCG companies, says Sydney-based agency PLAY Market Research.
The POP UP Shopper Community promises a rethink of centralised product testing, offering faster, more cost-effective and more accurate insights aimed at driving innovation within the FMCG sector.
PLAY Market Research Founder Chris Thomas says that the POP UP Shopper Community has commenced testing its first 20 products, with the eventual goal of ranking and benchmarking every product in the supermarket against one another and providing this information to clients.
“Six months ago, we recruited thousands of shoppers to create a new, automated and systematic program of product testing,” he said. “Rather than pay respondents to attend a centralised location and complete long and arduous surveys, the POP UP Shopper Community focuses on in-home user testing – making completing surveys faster, more convenient and more fun overall for everyone involved.”
Each month, participants are sent a monthly hamper filled with 10 products from categories they are proven to buy from already. Whereas cash is the primary motivation in most sensory research, the POP UP Shopper Community is instead motivated by receiving a large range of free products that are relevant to them and their tastes. Each hamper includes a link to 10 short online surveys, allowing respondents to test the products when and where they would usually consume such products.
“This not only raises the quality of the data, but significantly lowers costs to undertake research from the outset,” Mr Thomas said. “Our short questionnaire is both comprehensive and standardised, giving FMCG companies a very clear indication of how their products are situated within a category.
“The net result is that the POP UP Shopper Community will give our clients a new tool to accurately gauge new or existing products against competing products, and determine improvements, more quickly and more cost-effectively than ever before.”
The results of the first 20 product reviews will be released this month.