Against Food Waste: Efficient Strategies for Companies and Consumers

Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food end up in the garbage every year. In addition to wasting resources, this also places an extreme burden on the climate. But it is not only consumers who have a duty to rethink their consumption and buy more sustainably. Manufacturers from the fast-moving consumer goods industry must also act and create alternative concepts to prevent food waste. "Here, failed product launches in particular pose a significant problem. However, customer feedback and targeted market research can help reduce emissions, plastic and packaging waste, and food waste, and reduce the ecological footprint," reveals André Moll, founder and CEO of Utry.me, which claims to be the world's first online tasting market "without prices."

Marketing platform against food waste

Together with Tobias Neuburger, André Moll founded this marketing platform in Munich in 2018. It offers consumers a daily changing assortment of numerous new products from the food, beverage, cosmetics, household goods and pet food sectors. "Without prices," however, does not mean that everything is free; the concept works as follows: For a flat rate of 24.90 euros, registered users can put together a colorful sample box of renowned brands, test the individual products and voice their opinions. In this way, partner companies receive important user feedback on their products and pull-based trial contacts without wastage. Consumers benefit from a significantly higher merchandise value as well as the unique opportunity to discard old shopping habits and try something new instead.

Products in abundance

Every year, manufacturers in the FMCG sector launch tens of thousands of new products on the market. Twelve months later, however, three quarters of all items have already disappeared from supermarket shelves. André Moll explains why this is so: "Most customers tend to always put the same 40-50 products in their shopping baskets. Many don't even think of simply trying something new. However, every new product launch suffers from this disciplined shopping behavior, with the result that German retailers dispose of around 500,000 tons of food every year." According to the editorial team, the situation in Switzerland - broken down to the local market volume - is likely to be similar.

But how can the problem be solved? If companies knew which items were desired by consumers on the market, they could save a lot of money and keep a large number of food items from going to waste. "Efficient and intelligent market research is the key to actively tackling food waste. If manufacturers know the wishes and needs of their potential customers, they can adapt their items accordingly, which would massively increase the number of successful product launches. Utry.me is based on this concept," explains André Moll.

Profit for all sides

On the one hand, Utry.me offers large corporations the opportunity to present new consumer goods to consumers in the online store without price information. As a result, the focus is solely on the product itself and customers receive only the items they have selected themselves. Subsequently, there is the option of conducting intensive market research. Concept screenings, packaging tests, conjoint analyses and the numerous, honest user feedbacks provide manufacturers with valuable information about their target groups. "For companies, this provides the opportunity to test the chances of success of a new product with a small number of units and without risky initial investments even before roll-out. Since only proven items find a place on supermarket shelves, demand is regulated and overproduction is reduced," knows André Moll. In this way, not only manufacturers contribute to the sustainable use of consumer goods, but also consumers - who incidentally discover new favorite items through Utry.me. More information: Utry.me The post Against Food Waste: Efficient Strategies for Companies and Consumers appeared first on Organizer.