The Fruit RipenerSujin Chang

Sarah-Jane Plexman

Stefani Pandovski

Mark Bell

Staney Varghese

Adam Wexler

Overview

• Canadian Fruit & Vegetable market – Grew 22.2% in 2009, and expected to

grow by 13.6% by 2014• Canadian Food Guide

– children should consume 4-6 servings of fruit & veggies a day

– adults should consume 7-10 servings of fruit & veggies a day

Trends

• Health & Wellness– nutritional , superfruits, locally sourced

• Time & Convenience • Organic Food Movement• Family Dynamics

– More singles, or dual income families• Economic downturn

– More eating in home

Problem

• Retailers stock produce before it’s ripe in order to maximize shelf life

• Fresh fruits bought on a per consumption basis, not in bulk for storage

Ripe fruit is not always available at retail stores

New Product

A device that gives you the ability to hurry natures natural processes and instantly ripen

those fruits you want to eat or serve immediately, without the hassle of

waiting for it to ripen

Research Objective & Purpose

• Determine if demand exists for an instant fruit ripening product– If so, identify the most relevant target

market: Restaurants, caterers, grocery retailers, end consumers

• Sub-issues to be addressed involve the potential product: design, features, and price

Methodology

• Reverse Search • Phase-1 Research

– Discussion Guide• 13 consumer-level interviews• 6 commercial-level interviews

• Phase-2 Research– Online survey with 50 participants

Findings: Reverse Search

• Google Search: 412,000 results for the term “fruit ripener”

• Top Ad: Catalytic Generators LLC, a company that offers an industrial solution to ripening fruits using ethylene.

• Liivia, the counter top fruit ripener • Westland Superphosphate (fertilizer)• American Ripener, LLC• The All Natural Process Fruit Ripener

Findings: Reverse Search

• Google Adwords Search Breakdown

Number of Searches (Total: 9900)

USA

India

UK

China

Canada

Other regions

Findings: Reverse Search

• Google Trends– Moderate increase in search results (2 yrs)– Highest number of searches were from

India, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Findings: Reverse Search

• Compete.com– 64 destinations for the keyword “ripe

fruit”• About.com (volume: 10.37%)• Answers.com (volume: 7.81%)• Yahoo.com (volume: 6.43%)

• Alexa.com– Fante’s Kitchen Wares Shoppe (rank of

145,360)– Liivia.com (rank less than 100,000)

Findings: Phase-1 Research

• Commercial-level interviews– No overwhelming need– Business owners concerns:

• Operation of the product • Current supply chain practices• More interest in preserving ripeness• Jeopardize ability to market freshness and

quality of fruit

Findings: Phase-1 Research

• Consumer-level interview summary– Very concerned with actual “ripening” process– Interested in:

• value added functionalities• extend shelf life of already ripe fruit

– Parents not as excited in product as much as young singles or recently engaged individuals

– Ethnic consumers

Findings: Phase-1 Research

Additional Findings

Assessment and Implication: Phase 1

• Not wise to target the commercial market for this product– feedback from those in the hospitality

industry and grocery store owners were negative

• Positive response from an unexpected demographic - single or recently engaged males and females, with no kids, between the ages of 25 and 35

Findings: Phase-2 Research

• 50% of respondents see no real benefit in product– “I really don’t see this as a huge problem for me

in my household”

• Number of concerns over safety of product– “How does this thing work exactly? Is it negating

the positive attributes of eating fruit?”

• 76% of respondents not willing to pay more than $20

Assessment and Implication: Phase 2

• Problem thought to exist amongst consumers purchasing unripe fruit is not a concerning issue

• People are accustomed to the process of having to wait for fruit to ripen naturally

• Significant R&D investment required to mitigate risks in order to call ripening process as “safe and healthy”

Recommendation

• Do not go forward with the instant Fruit Ripener– Consumers do not view un-ripened fruit as an

inconvenience– Product that ripens fruit is new to customers

thus leading to fears over safety• Path forward: Scrap idea altogether or

conduct further research to improve marketability of product

Fin