The initial four questions in the questionnaire examined the age, sex, and consumption fre-quency of snacks of the respondents, and also the brand awareness. When considering the different age groups among the respondents, the majority of the respondents were either in their twenties or in their forties. Also, the large majority of the respondents were women.
5.1.1 Questions 1. Age and 2. Sex
The largest age group among the respondents consisted of younger consumers, aged between 20 to 29 years. The second largest age group consisted of middle-aged consumers, aged be-tween 40 to 49 years. The original purpose was to gain responses from all the different age groups, which was successfully accomplished as the responses were collected from each age group. Altogether, nearly 30 percent of the respondents were in the biggest group, aged from 20 to 29 years, and more than 20 percent of the respondents were in the second biggest group, aged from 40 to 49 years.
The smallest age group among the respondents was the youngest group of consumers, aged less than 20 years, totalling slightly less than 8 percent of the respondents. The second small-est age group among the respondents was the oldsmall-est group of consumers, aged 60 years or more, totalling slightly more than 11 percent of the respondents. The rest of the age groups were represented as follows: consumers aged between 30 to 39 years totalled slightly more than 14 percent of the respondents, and consumers aged between 50 to 59 years totalled slightly more than 13 percent of the respondents. See Appendix 3: The Distribution of Vari-ables “Age”, “Sex” and “The Best Flavour”, for the tVari-ables.
Altogether, 73, 3 percent of the respondents were female and the remaining 26, 7 percent of the respondents were male. The fact that the sample contains more female than male re-spondents does not affect the analysis of the results. The reason for this is that the number of male respondents is large enough for comparisons to be made between male and female re-spondents regarding the tested variables. One possible reason for having more female respon-dents than male responrespon-dents might be that women often tend to do the grocery shopping for their families in a supermarket and are often in charge of the purchase decisions concerning
foods, at least more than men. Another possible reason might be that women are more eager to participate in different researches and surveys. When considering the different target groups of RIPS, the sample is quite comprehensive. Even though RIPS rye snacks appeal to many different types of consumer groups, CFL has defined the main target customer groups for RIPS rye snacks, reflecting the most common user groups. One of the major target groups consist of young consumers, aged between 13 to 34 years. As the largest respondent group is aged between 20 to 29 years and the sample also includes respondents from both younger and older age groups, it can be said that the sample is suitable in relation to the target group.
Another major target group consists of adults, mostly with a family, aged from 25 to 60 years, and the third major target group consists of mostly women aged from 25 to 44 years of age.
When considering these facts, it can be said that the sample is suitable in relation to the ma-jor target groups of RIPS.
5.1.2 Question 3. How often do you approximately consume snack products?
Question number three examines the respondent’s lifestyle concerning the consumption fre-quency of snack products. The results reveal that the majority of the respondents consume snacks more rarely than once a month. Altogether, more than 40 percent of the respondents stated that they consume snacks more rarely than once a month. Those consumers who stated that they consumed snacks approximately once a month formed the second largest group, totalling nearly a quarter of the respondents. Those consumers who stated that they consume snacks approximately once every two weeks totalled nearly one fifth of the respondents. Mi-nority of the respondents stated that they consume snacks once a week or more frequently, totalling slightly more than 15 percent of the respondents. Figure 11 below presents the find-ings in a bar chart.
As the majority of the responses were collected during sales promotions in supermarkets, the major purpose was also to reach and gain responses from those consumers who consume snacks regularly. It is thus a little surprising that a large majority of all the respondents con-sume snacks more rarely than once a month, or approximately once a month. One reason for this might be that those mothers and fathers who came to buy snacks were buying them for their children or other family members, and they might not themselves consume snacks very often. Another reason might be that most of the sales promotions were arranged during a weekend, on Friday or Saturday. Both Friday and Saturday are the days of the week when consumers most likely buy snack products to be enjoyed during the weekend, even those con-sumers who necessarily may not consume snacks on a weekly basis. It is also possible that some of the consumers who participated in the research were merely passing by the snack department coincidentally and were not looking for snacks in particular to purchase.
Figure 11: The consumption frequency of snacks among the respondents
5.1.3 Question 4. Are you already familiar with RIPS rye snacks?
The fourth question examines the brand awareness of RIPS rye snacks among consumers.
Since RIPS is a relatively new brand in the Finnish snack market, it was originally presumed that large majority of the respondents would not recognize it, and would answer “No” to the question. The results reveal that slightly more than 60 percent of the respondents were not yet familiar with RIPS rye snacks and the brand was unknown to them. Nearly 40 percent of the respondents answered “Yes” and were already familiar with RIPS rye snacks. This can be seen as a positive result as nearly 40 percent is more than was originally expected. Table 2 below presents the accurate figures concerning the responses.
Table 2: Brand awareness of RIPS: Are you already familiar with RIPS rye snacks?