Year: 2015-16

Company: Thermo Fisher Scientific

Liaison(s): Amy Butler Paul Clark Bryan Poltilove Kevin Stealey Nichol Watson

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in
serving the field of science, with revenues of $17
billion and approximately 50,000 employees in 50
countries. Their mission is to enable customers to
make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. They
help their customers accelerate life sciences research,
solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient
diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity.
Through premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Applied
Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab
Services – they offer an unmatched combination of
innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and
comprehensive support.
The focus of the project was on the core cell biology
research product portfolio. The majority of cell culture
research uses low-cost classical media, and customers
regularly cite cost as a top purchase driver. Although
the premium priced brand, Gibco® (Thermo Fisher),
commands about half of the market. The KGI team
was tasked to research customer buying criteria for
cell culture media (e.g. price, quality/brand, and
availability/convenience).
The KGI team designed, tested, and validated a
comprehensive market research survey to gather
quantitative voice of the customer (VOC) metrics. The
survey was then sent to 7,400 researchers globally.
The survey incorporated metrics measuring product
attributes, brand perception, purchasing criteria,
customer loyalty and retention, new product features,
product fulfillment, and salesforce/customer service
effectiveness. The quantitative metrics were supported
by qualitative one-on-one interviews with over 50
researchers (principal investigators to graduate
students).
The project provided novel insights in the purchase
criteria of the cell media by customers. While media
price was a significant concern for only 10% of the
respondents, quality was considered the top driver in
the decision of the cell culture media. The Gibco brand
was evaluated as the most valuable in terms of quality,
customer support, brand reputation and product
range compared to the competitors. Finally, clustering
analysis identified unique respondent segments that
will be used to elaborate successful models to increase
Gibco media market share.