Meet Bunch: Our online food community for customers, shaping advocacy for our Own Brands.

So how do we hear their authentic voice amidst the noise? Well the answer is unfolding within Bunch, Woolworths’ own vibrant community of engaged customers.

Bunch is more than just a sampling program; it’s a living, breathing focus group of over 90,000 customers. They take our products home, make them part of their family meals, and then share their honest experiences. It’s here, in these daily stories, that we find the insights that contribute to us shaping the future of our own brand product portfolio.

The journey through a bunchee’s eyes:

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From Shelf to Shopping Cart: The Power of an Authentic Review

Bunch gives us a front-row seat to our customers’ decision-making process. The stories they tell through product reviews have a tangible impact on buying behaviour. Not only is there a direct and powerful correlation between the star ratings a product receives and its performance in-store (and online), but 47% of customers find reviews on retailer websites to be the most influential content when researching products online.

Consider the difference Bunch makes: products that achieve a 4.5 to 5-star rating on Bunch generate at least 10 times the sales of products rated below 3 stars. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s the story of a product winning customers’ trust on quality, convenience, health, sustainability and of course, value. That trust, built on authentic peer reviews, proves highly influential – when we syndicate these reviews to our e-commerce site, we see a +3% uplift in sales online (F24). 

And the story continues long after the first taste. An average of one in five customers who sample a product through Bunch (having not purchased the range previously) go on to repurchase from that range within 12 weeks, demonstrating the lasting impression that reviews, and participation in the community, leave with members. 

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Listening and Evolving: Turning Feedback into Success

The Bunch community also offers another valuable tool for product development by bringing customers into the development process as collaborative partners. Their detailed feedback is both a roadmap for future innovation, as well as a means for seeking continuous improvement of existing ranges.

We’ve seen firsthand how listening to the community and acting on their insights can transform a product’s trajectory. By using both quantitative and qualitative data to inform reformulations, we’ve been able to improve product ratings by an average of +10% (F23).

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Building on the success | Bringing access to our suppliers

We’ve begun offering Own Brand suppliers an opportunity to share in the benefits and opportunities of our Bunch journey. Participating Own Brand suppliers will soon be able to explore – via an integrated dashboard solution – how their products are perceived across various themes (e.g. quality, convenience, price) as well as different customer demographics, and how the uplift ratings and reviews have delivered in sales, thanks to the advocacy of bunch members.  

The advocacy power of one’s peers

From one home cook to another, there is nothing more insightful and valuable than reading how a product has improved a weeknight meal and can also save time and money. 

Want to know more? Download our Bunch Supplier Benefits handbook to see how we can drive sales and advocacy together.

Want to learn more?  Reach out to [email protected] to set up an appointment with the bunch team.