The Oatly Effect: Why Your Taste Buds Need to Join In

Hey Oatly lovers and soon-to-be fans! let’s explore Oatly. But here’s the twist, we are not just exploring, we’re also exploring suggestions to make your favourite oat drink better. Don’t miss out on this read till the end for a free gift😉

About the Product

Oatly is a product from a Swedish company known for producing dairy alternatives from oat. The product was born out of academic research at Lund University by Rickard Oste and his brother Bjourn Oste in 1994. They both wanted a product that would be both nutritional and sustainable, with the goal of making delicious, nutritional plant-based milk made out of oats hence, the birth of Oatly in Sweden.

Company Mission

Oatly mission is ‘to make it easy for people to eat better and live healthier lives without recklessly taxing the planet’s resources’. Simply put, the company advocates for better health and climate by encouraging the shift from animal-based to plant-based food products and consumption.

What Makes Oatly one of my favourite products?

1. Health-consciousness and Sustainability: Though modified to be suitable for vegans, Oatly products are also being modified to attract individuals who care for the environment, health-conscious and those looking for an alternative to dairy (milk). The company’s ideology stands out the most, emphasizing ‘sustainability, health and transparency’. Oatly’s transparency and openness make me love the product more and more. Their product pages include descriptions of what is environmentally good and what is not while also including a list of all ingredients alongside the supplier websites. They also print the carbon footprint on their oat drink to inform consumers about Oatly’s environmental impact.

2. Product Diversification: Ever seen a non-dairy company with several non-dairy products to choose from? This is where Oatly stands out yet again. Not only does Oatly provide an alternative to milk in the form of their famous Oatly drinks which comes in different flavours, textures and colours. They have a long list in their product portfolio such as Oatly yoghurts, cooking cream, ice cream in different flavours, energy drinks, creamy oat spread and yet again gluten-free choices for health-conscious individuals like myself (the Barista and chocolate flavour are my favourites😃).

Oatly Drink in different flavours

Oatly Yoghurts

Oatly Ice Cream

3. Oatly’s Marketing Style/Communication: The unique marketing communication and approach that Oatly uses is what distinguishes them in the market and even makes the product more attractive to consumers. They use their product packaging as a direct medium to communicate with their consumers through different platforms such as promotional videos, street posters, creating topics, etc. The company addresses its target users on its product package such as the Oat Drink Deluxe with statements such as ‘You are one of us now’ The use of ‘you and us’ suggests how Oatly tries to build a relationship between itself and its consumers (welcome, you are now part of the Oatly family).

Types of Oatly Consumers

User Segment 1 (individuals)

1. Environmental-conscious individuals (they look out for sustainable products before purchasing and do not mind switching to one)
2. Health-conscious individuals (lactose intolerant / looking for gluten-free options, etc.)
3. Oat lovers (just for the love of oats)

User Segment 2 (Businesses)

1. Retail stores selling Oatly products (e.g. Tesco in the UK, Safeway in Canada and USA)
2. Coffee shops (catering to different consumers’ dairy/non-dairy preferences)
3. Suppliers/distributors (those supplying the products to different stores)

User Segment Prioritization

Though all user segments are different, their reason for choosing Oatly are also unique to them. Prioritizing one user segment and focusing on the user is beneficial. I will be prioritizing the individual segment as they are they are the ones that consume this product and the businesses also operate to satisfy their needs. Three criteria I will use for segmentation are: Size of Market (the highest user segment), Frequency (the user segment that is likely to purchase an Oatly product the most), Impact (the user segment that this will likely create excellent product satisfaction for). H= High; M= Medium; L= Low.

• Environmental Conscious Individuals: Size of Market (M); Frequency (M); Impact (H)
• Health-Conscious Individuals: Size of Market (M); Frequency (H); Impact (H)
• Oat Lovers: Size of Market (L); Frequency(M); Impact(M)

User Pain point (Health-Conscious Individuals)

1. High cost: Most non-dairy products are slightly more expensive than dairy products, and so are Oatly products. For instance, one pack of Oatly drink is between £1.60 — £2.50 in the UK, whereas you can purchase milk between £1.00 — £2.00 depending on the bottle size and the store (Prices taken from Tesco, Morrisons and Lidl stores).
2. Nutritional value: Some individuals may be worried that the product they are purchasing may not be good for them.
3. Ethical sourcing of product ingredients
4. Accessibility: Purchasing healthy products especially if they are not available within their vicinity (e.g., Oatly is only available in specific retail stores in the UK). You can only purchase a wide range of their portfolio product from Tesco (from my shopping experience).

Prioritize one Pain Point

I will prioritize a user pain point to build a solution for based on Urgency (how will improving this pain point quickly improve satisfaction with the product), Size of Opportunity (how many of this user segment is likely experiencing this pain point), Impact (how will solving this problem improve the overall use and satisfaction of this product). H= High; M= Medium; L= Low.

• High Cost: Urgency (M); Size of Opportunity (M); Impact (H)
• Nutritional Value: Urgency (H); Size of Opportunity (H); Impact (H)
• Ethical Sourcing: Urgency (M); Size of Opportunity (L); Impact (M)
• Accessibility: Urgency (H); Size of Opportunity (M); Impact (M)

Solution to Address the Prioritized Pain Point (Nutritional Value)

1. Personalized nutritional options/delivery — Allow consumers to sign up and customize nutritional options based on their preference and get it delivered to them — either through an app or on the company website (could be similar to HelloFresh strategy).
2. Smart packaging that provides nutritional insights — Embed QR codes on the packaging that automatically give consumers real-time nutritional information of the purchased products or re-direct consumers to Oatly’s site that lists each product’s nutritional value (they already have a site for this, rather than googling and finding it difficult to navigate online, the QR codes helps immediately).
3. Collaboration with fitness Apps — Partner with fitness apps to offer promotions or integrations that encourage health-conscious individuals to incorporate Oatly into their fitness routine (because not all health-conscious individuals are into fitness, this would mostly benefit those actively into fitness).

Solution Prioritization

Building one solution at a time is beneficial to see how consumers will react and track its success. I will prioritize a solution based on Effort (how hard or easy is it to build this solution), Ease of Adoption (how likely is it for consumers to quickly and easily adopt this solution), Address user Pain point (how does this solution greatly address the prioritized user pain point).

• Personalized Nutritional Option: Effort (H); Ease of Adoption (H); Address User Pain Point (H)
• Smart Packaging: Effort (M); Ease of Adoption (M); Address User Pain Point (M)
• Collaboration with Fitness Apps: Effort (H); Ease of Adoption (M); Address User Pain Point (M)

Prioritized Solution PROS (Prioritized Nutritional Option)

1. Not everyone has the same health challenge, catering for each health need would benefit most people (user-related benefit).
2. This is another way for Oatly to diversify its business by tapping into another strategy (business-related benefit).

Prioritized Solution CONS (Prioritized Nutritional Option)

1. Since this is a new strategy for reaching consumers, it would be costly and might take time to gain stability in this area. However, good research, testing and choice of entry strategy would be beneficial.

Success Metrics

The North Star metric would be the number of people who sign up for this personalized package and at least purchase a personalized nutritional Oatly product within one month of signing up.

Thank you for your time, I trust you have found value in this. The next time you spot Oatly on a store shelf, I hope it finds a new home in your shopping basket. Happy Oat-Drinking 😉

A Gift from me!

If you have read this far, I appreciate your time. Here is a **poster** I made for one of my modules during my MSc degree. I have shared insights into Oatly, along with a suggestion for the company to enter the Canadian market and the strategy to use. Whether you are a student seeking inspiration or you are simply curious, I hope this poster sparks ideas. And please note that some information may be outdated as it reflects the context at the time this poster was created.