USSEC consultants Pedro Gonzalez and Alejandro Cota conducted focus group sessions in the four Mexican cities of Mérida, Villahermosa, Guadalajara and Hermosillo to determine the consumer perspective of a particular brand of soybean oil in order to improve marketing strategies promoting this oil and increase its sales. The brand is produced by a major importer of U.S. soybeans in the Americas Region and imports about 600,000 metric tons (MT) of U.S. soybeans each year.
The information obtained from the focus group sessions confirmed that consumers want a more appealing and informative label, with a more attractive design and colors and including nutritional information.  Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Cota recommended that the soybean oil producer include two or three healthy claims on the bottle labels.  Such claims could include the addition of Omega 3 and Omega 6, the inclusion of Vitamin E, low saturated fatty acids profile, et al.
The soybean oil producer will introduce the recommended improvements to the product packaging by changing the colors and graphic design of the label.  The producer will also evaluate which of the recommended claims has the greatest impact among consumers and will redesign the label accordingly. With these improvements, the image of this soybean oil brand is expected to improve and its sales to increase.