Häagen-Dazs x Ben & Jerry’s
- Juliette Delquignies
- Sep 27, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 29, 2021
Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's share the near-exclusiveness of the global premium ice cream market. While Ben & Jerry's was created much later, the brand relies on offbeat humor and fair trade to keep up with Häagen-Dazs, which relies mainly on quality and natural ingredients. How are these brands perceived by consumers?
Methodology
In order to determine whether brands achieved their objectives in terms of perception and brand image, we ran a study through a survey of 13 questions tackling consumption habits of ice-creams, as well as purchase habits and the perception of the two most famous brand of the global premium ice-cream market: Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s.
The survey has been completed by 31 respondents. Here are the characteristics of the respondents:
- 60% of the respondents are women, the 30% left being men.
- 90% of the respondents were aged from 18 to 25, the 10% left being older.
Consumption and purchase habits
First, let’s analyze the frequency of purchase. The survey revealed that most of the respondents have a limited consumption of ice-cream. Indeed, about 70% of them are consuming ice-creams less than once a month. Then, 20% of the respondents eat ice-cream once a month. The rest of the pool (10%) consume ice-cream at least once a week.
To have a deeper understanding of the consumption habits, we focused on the occasions for eating ice-creams. The main two occasions for eating ice-cream are the following: holidays (80%) and at-home dessert (65%).
Finally, we wished to understand better the purchase habits. The two main channels of purchase, are, as it could be expected, supermarkets (84%) and ice-cream shops (60%). We then studied the characteristics impacting the choice of consumers when buying ice-cream. Taste arrives in first position with 87% of the pool. It is followed by quality (58%) and price (45%). From this, we can affirm that people are willing to spend more money for better taste and quality. The strategy, and most particularly the mix marketing of Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s is then very relevant.
The study revealed more surprising results. Only 20% of the respondents put the packaging as a criterion and only 10% are concerned about the environmental aspect when purchasing ice-cream. However, resent research has shown that the perceived quality of a food product is more positive when it is packed in a sustainable packaging. Also, it has been proven that food packaging can have an emotional impact on consumers. Then, these two aspects should not be underestimated by marketers.
Häagen-Dazs vs Ben & Jerry’s: perceptions and emotions associated to the brands
Our survey shows that the two brands are very close when it comes to determine which one is preferred! Indeed, 55% admit preferring Häagen-Dazs against 45% for Ben & Jerry’s. Why? Because of taste, which is consistent with the previous finding.
Some respondents mentioned that Häagen-Dazs have more flavors, and it is true! In France, Häagen-Dazs proposes 24 recipes against 12 for Ben & Jerry’s. Could Ben & Jerry’s acquire market shares through more diversity? The future will probably tell us! Häagen-Dazs still have the reputation of better ingredients. Indeed, Häagen-Dazs has only 5 ingredients in its vanilla ice-cream, against 8 for Ben & Jerry’s, which includes guar gum.
To finish, let’s focus on the emotions associated with the two brands. It seems both Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s succeeded in diffusing their values. 65% of the respondents associate Häagen-Dazs with pleasure and desire and 62% associate Ben & Jerry’s with joy and happiness. Furthermore, when we asked the difference between the two brands according to the respondents, people see Häagen-Dazs as more for adults, associate it with guilty pleasure, while Ben & Jerry’s is perceived as more fun and for a younger audience.
625 words
Sources:
Comments