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MalacoLeaf is Scandinavia's largest manufacturer of sugar confectionery with a number of well known brands such as Läkerol, Malaco, Menthol, Ahlgrens Bilar and SorBits.
Both Malaco and Leaf have a long tradition of producing high quality candy.
The companies merged in the summer of 1999 when the international food group CSM acquired Leaf from Huhtamäki.
MalacoLeaf have a vast experience of working with their own panels and a couple of years ago the initiated an international project with the goal
to improve and expand the use of customer panels.
Talking with Pontus Egnér, manager of market research at MalacoLeaf Sweden:
- The development over the last couple of years and with the increasing importance of the Internet as a
communications channel, a new range of opportunities has opened up for us to extend our communication with our customers.
We have been looking for an online survey tool to conduct our own surveys through email and the web.
What we were looking for was a tool where we in a cost effective way could receive quick feedback on our questions and where
the data collection process was fully automized.
After an evaluation process, Easyresearch was our choice.
For MalacoLeaf, it is very important to maintain a close dialogue the end users - the consumers.
- By using Easyresearch in combination with campaigns in news papers and on the Internet we have gathered several panels
consisting of a couple of thousand candy enthusiasts in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
We use these panels to, among other things, get feedback on new products before launching them on the market.
We send samples through mail together with an URL to the panel members where they access the survey via the URL
to judge the products in terms of several factors such as sour, sweetness and consistency.
This is highly valuable information for us and help us in our ambition to continuously improve our products.
- We have some special requirements when conducting a sampling test of new products.
It is important that all participants in the panel do not taste the samples in the same order,
otherwise a previous sample might affect how the next sample is perceived.
This is handled in Easyresearch by randomizing the order of the questions associated with a particular sample.
MalacoLeaf use Easyresearch for online survey in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
- It has proved very practical to be able to use the same tool in all thress countries. We have a good overview of the surveys since everything is kept in the same place.
Since the tool is completely web based, we can always reach surveys and results online, just by connecting to the Internet.
With real time results and reports in Excel we can easily distribute the results to the people responsible for the particular product.
Besides sample tests, MalacoLeaf use Easyresearch to test new product names.
- By asking our comsumers what their associations are with a particular product name we can get a better understanding of what that name represents to them.
Easyresearch is a tool where the development is greatly influenced by customer feedback which is something MalacoLeaf also have experienced.
- We have had suggestions on new functions and improvements that have been introduced in the nextcoming version. It is important for us to work with
a company that is responsive and provides a high level of service.
- The online surveys that MalacoLeaf have conducted so far have worked flawlessly and this type of surveys will be used on an even larger scale in the future.
The panels will be used more but since MalacoLeaf also have a number of web sites associated with their different brands some surveys will be
carried out at those web sites.
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