39-5 |
Applying sensory quality measures to make business decisions for a grocery retailer |
S. GLATTER, Product Development & Quality Assurance, Giant Eagle, Inc., 101 Kappa Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15238 As a grocery retailer, we have thousands of corporate brand products in almost every category throughout the store. We sell everything from apple juice to zinc. To differentiate ourselves from other retailers, to provide variety and to keep pace with national brands, we are constantly developing new products with our existing suppliers and looking to new suppliers for innovation in new and emerging categories. In order to get new products to shelf, we test those products throughout the development cycle using sensory evaluation. The results aid us in giving guidance to the manufacturer’s R&D staff, thereby providing direction for improvement. Once new products are launched, we must ensure that these and all products manufactured under our corporate brand meet our quality standards each time they are produced. We monitor our quality utilizing sensory evaluation techniques such as acceptance testing and difference testing with Giant Eagle consumers and employees. Our monitoring program tests the top sellers in each category one to three times each year, depending on the size of the business. For those products that do not meet our quality standards, we work with the supplier to effect immediate product changes. Part of the product improvement process is using sensory data to enhance product specifications, including modifying targets and ranges for critical attributes. Improved products are then tested to determine if they have met our success criteria. If product and process improvements are not demonstrated after successive attempts, we search for new vendors to meet our demand. This process ensures that we stand behind our quality guarantee of double your money back.
Session 39, Using sensory science to make actionable business decisions
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