by Matt Weik
Have you ever discovered a supplement you like, as well as almost instantly it gets reformulated as well as you discover it isn’t the same? I’ve been there, as well as I’ve been on the getting end of client complaints also from my time in the industry. Why do brands repair something that isn’t broke? Well, there are a number of reasons (which I’m not justifying). Let’s talk about each of them.
1. reduce costs as well as enhance margins
Some brands (not all) come out with a product that is just AWESOME. people are loving it. It’s the new craze. people are providing fantastic evaluations as well as building a great deal of hype behind the product as well as brand. then the brand realizes that they are barely making any type of money since their margins are tight, shipping is expensive, as well as their raw material costs are as well high. What do they do? modification the formula in order to enhance all of the above (except shipping costs stay the same).
What this leaves you with is a (now) subpar product that doesn’t taste the same, doesn’t provide you the exact same effects, as well as makes you feel like you’re wasting your money on the product. sometimes you don’t even understand they made modifications up until you rebuy the product as well as notice something seems different. Of course, the brand isn’t going to come out with a new ad campaign saying, “We saved money, suckas!” now you’re left looking for a new product. If the brand would have taken all of these factors into account before launch, you’d most likely still be enjoying their product. Unfortunately, they rushed getting it to market as well as now after the reform will be losing clients as well as money.
2. trying to be innovative
Let’s take a pre-workout as well as utilize it as an example here. We have all tried pre-workouts that knock our socks off. then they reformulate the product either because of an component getting banned, or some new component hits the market as well as they want to jump on the bandwagon as well as toss it in the formula to “improve” it. sometimes this can backfire.
If you are accustomed to utilizing a specific product as well as it having a specific taste, it can quickly modification when new components are introduced or removed. Caffeine for example (while not innovative) is a extremely difficult component to mask. It takes a flavor expert a long time to nail the flavor because of flavor profile altering when caffeine is added or removed. innovation can assist or hurt a product. Unfortunately, we are creatures of habit, as well as when something we have been utilizing for any type of provided amount of time changes, we aren’t willing to accept the modifications or we just no longer like the product because of lack of results (or taste) that we are getting.
The exact same thing occurs when you add a new component to a formula. It can take some manipulation to get the taste the exact same (which many times it isn’t) as well as if you were utilized to feeling one thing when utilizing the product, you may not feel that exact same impact anymore.
3. Trying to enhance the flavor
For some reason, brands frequently try to enhance a flavor profile. Why? I’m not sure. Personally, if I was a brand manager as well as I tried a product that I didn’t like as well as those around me didn’t like, I wouldn’t introduce the product as well as put it on shelf. If you do, you might lose clients as well as brand loyalty if your product tastes like garbage.
Yet, some brands are constantly tweaking their formula as well as it triggers us to stop buying it. sometimes it’s much better to leave a product well sufficient alone. If the product is selling, why would you want to danger the clients flipping over to one more product if it doesn’t resonate well with your audience? If anything, keep that flavor the exact same if it’s selling as well as introduce a new flavor to add to the portfolio if the sales warrant an extension.
4. They copied somebody else are in legal trouble
I’ve unfortunately seen brands who came out with their own product, however got sued for copying a competitor. We online in a world of copycats as well as “me-too” products. Not as well long ago, a YouTube influencer introduced an energy drink however basically copied the bottle, brand name, as well as logo of a competitor. Now, you would believe somebody would be wise sufficient to understand that they are going to get sued, however for whatever reason, this private came to market with his product anyway – as well as then got slammed with a lawsuit.
When this happens, the brand is required to modification their product (unless they win the lawsuit). If the lawsuit doesn’t include the product gown (label), they might quickly modification the formula to lawfully be compliant as well as not tell you, the consumer, that anything has alteredup until you’ve already bought the product as well as discovered out the difficult method that it was different. If we buy a product repeatedly, we don’t believe to inspect the label to see if anything has changed, we just expect it to be the same. This is where many of us discover a difficult lesson.