Infant Nutrition New Product Development Strategy

Context & business challenge

As children grew older and developed more diverse diets, mothers increasingly reduced their reliance on formula, replacing it with milk, shelf-stable dairy drinks, soy milk, yogurt, and other everyday nutrition sources.

A leading infant nutrition brand wanted to extend its relationship with consumers beyond traditional formula by developing a new nutrition product for preschool-aged children.

The business challenge was to identify a proposition that could remain relevant after formula usage declined, while competing with cheaper and more convenient everyday dairy products.

Research objectives

• Understand how children’s diets and nutritional needs evolve as families transition away from formula, including the role played by alternative dairy products.
• Evaluate potential new product directions across proposition, liquid versus powder format, packaging, brand fit, and price.

Approach

• Four focus groups covered consumers at different stages of formula transition, including current users planning to stop, former formula users, and consumers intending to continue.
• Concept and product testing evaluated alternative propositions alongside liquid and powdered formats, packaging options, brand choices, and pricing.

Key insights

• Convenience was a major reason mothers moved away from formula. As children began eating a wider range of foods, the effort of preparing formula became harder to justify when ready-to-drink alternatives could provide nutrition more easily.

• A clear whitespace existed between everyday dairy drinks and specialized nutritional products. Mothers saw milk and similar drinks as convenient but nutritionally basic, while specialized supplements were associated with children who had specific health or developmental needs.

• Positioning the product as a liquid nutritional supplement created stronger value. It offered the convenience of a ready-to-drink dairy product while signaling more complete nutrition without implying that the child had a health problem.

• The proposition needed to move beyond traditional formula cues. “Drinkable multivitamin” was more appealing than “more nutritious than milk,” while mothers wanted stronger emphasis on protection and overall nutrition rather than an overly narrow focus on learning benefits.

Recommendations

• Position the product as a “liquid nutrition” product for preschool children, creating a distinct role between conventional dairy drinks and specialized supplements.
• Launch under the more accessible brand, whose familiar and affordable positioning better matched a frequently consumed liquid product than the company’s premium brand.
• Use a shelf-stable carton format and an accessible price point, maximizing portability, convenience, and potential for regular consumption.
• Sharpen communication around comprehensive nutrition and protection, while clearly explaining the nutritional ingredients and differentiating the proposition from both formula powder and ordinary milk.