Price is right: introducing a new personal care product to a stocked shelf

The challenge

A producer and marketer of over-the-counter treatments faced a crowded shelf when introducing an innovative new skin condition product. With multiple competitors already established and shelf space limited, the stakes were high.

Before launch, they needed answers to four critical questions:

1. What volume share potential exists at different price points across channels?
2. How much market share would come from competitors versus cannibalization of the brand’s own existing products?
3. What impact does shelf position have on purchase likelihood?
4. How do customers respond to different packaging options?

Getting these wrong would mean entering the market at the wrong price, in the wrong position, against the wrong competitors.

The GroupSolver approach

GroupSolver designed a multi-method research study combining:

• Multiple-choice questions to establish baseline category preferences
• Open-ended AI analysis to capture the natural language of purchasing rationale
• Conjoint pricing exercises to model consumer sensitivity at different price points

The study also tested multiple shelf configurations — simulating how the product would perform in different positions relative to competitors — and gathered qualitative feedback explaining why consumers chose the new product over established alternatives.

The results

The new product concept performed strongly across every test:

• Demonstrated ability to command a higher price point than the brand’s existing lineup
• Expected to drive overall brand revenue growth without significantly cannibalizing existing products
• Packaging options had minimal impact on purchase preference — freeing the client from over-investing in packaging differentiation
• Specific shelf positioning significantly increased product selection likelihood compared to competitors — a finding that directly shaped the sales team’s retail negotiation strategy

The client moved forward confidently with the validated product and packaging combination, entering the market with data-backed positioning.