- Circana
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Andrew Carnazzo, Vice President, Global Consumer Solutions – Innovation, and Donna Wydra, Principal and Team Lead, Global Consumer Solutions
Table of Contents:
Understanding the consumer is not a novel concept. However, today’s manufacturers can take a holistic yet targeted approach to consumer data and use metrics that correlate specifically to their business objectives to create distance from their competitors in an increasingly saturated market.
How Does Consumer Data Collection and Analysis Affect Brand Growth?
Truly effective data strategies are based on getting the right information, not just accumulating the most information. By focusing on data that reveals both consumer motivations and actions, brands can prioritize their efforts and invest in initiatives most likely to help them stand out and succeed.
The combination of consumer attitudinal and behavioral data is, indeed, powerful. On the behavioral side, receipt panel data allows manufacturers to understand actual in-store and online purchase habits across nearly all channels, including grocery stores, convenience stores, and general merchandise retailers. Brands can analyze past performance and gauge the omnichannel impact of future actions, tying together disparate data points into a cohesive narrative.
The verified purchase data provided by receipt panels is also key in helping identify which product attributes are influential in driving loyalty. Attributes tied to high loyalty are strong predictors of incrementality, making them essential for strategic planning.
When used in conjunction with consumer behavior data, consumer surveys explain the "why" behind consumer actions. Focusing on the Complete Consumer enables brands to understand their current marketing position and determine their future growth potential.
Where Can Brands Get Accurate Consumer Data?
The quality of data, of course, is crucial in helping brands determine their position in a saturated market and, if and when needed, how to improve it. Data must be reliable but also flexible and representative of a manufacturer’s target market.
While different data sources serve various purposes, some forms are particularly effective in providing a comprehensive market view. For example, by aligning POS data and receipt panel data in one platform, brands can get a real source of truth and track the behavior of consumer groups over time.
To ensure that high quality data is gleaned from a representative audience, manufacturers can utilize sophisticated sampling that accurately reflects target households. Through this information, they can track long-term behavioral trends among their key groups in a more accurate way.
Ultimately, an integrated system that allows users to view data in any format provides a seamless workflow that extends from asking initial strategic questions to activating a campaign and measuring campaign results. Holistic views are essential for making and verifying decisions that propel growth.
Use Consumer Data to Refine Your Target Market and Audience
General demographic data is no longer enough for targeting that leads to brand growth. Granular consumer data allows brands to uncover hidden motivations and find gaps in the competitive landscape.
By having more granular information, manufacturers can better predict high-value consumer segments. The most reliable signals for predicting high-value segments are key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with specific business objectives. For brands that want to focus on retaining customers, KPIs related to repeat purchase behaviors and customer lifetime value are most predictive. For businesses focused on gaining new customers, KPIs that signal potential for brand switching or category entry are key.
When it comes to data usefulness, it's important to distinguish between managing a business and analyzing it. Day-to-day business management often relies on consumer data KPIs, while strategic analysis depends more on sales data layered with panel insights to understand broader market trends.
Segmentation helps brands understand who to target to get the most out of a marketing spend, whether it’s past or potential behavior. Segmenting by attitudes or behaviors (or both) gets to motivations and opens up new sales opportunities.
Drive Brand Innovation and Product Development
Learning about customer motivations and behaviors helps manufacturers promote products to the relevant consumers and also innovate for future success.
Hendry® Market Structure is a proven pathway for product development. This reliable, unbiased approach based on proprietary Hendry methodology has been used for years to analyze cross-category shopper behaviors and identify high-impact attributes and benefits.
Manufacturers can mine other forms of consumer feedback as they work on their innovation pipeline. Surveys indicate where current products fall short or where solutions are needed. In addition, brands can use data-driven segmentation to uncover product attributes that matter most to high-value segments, steering the focus of R&D and marketing teams.
Quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of innovation initiatives is important, too. Rigorous tracking of pilot programs or new product launches, tied directly to specific consumer insights, enables brands to measure sales lift, repeat purchase rates, and shifts in sentiment. This approach ensures that innovation efforts remain responsive, efficient, and synced with both consumer expectations and business objectives.
Optimize the Customer Journey and Experience with Consumer Data Analysis
A deeper understanding of nuances within target audiences empowers brands to better tailor their efforts for higher conversion and sales. Circana’s tools that provide insights into the shopper journey, including POS data and segmentation, give manufacturers the ability to reach the right people at the right time with the right message. Having integrated consumer data spanning product development to ROI measurements on one platform makes the process more reliable, easier, and faster in today’s ultra-competitive and saturated environment.
FAQs
What is market saturation?
In general, market saturation happens where a product has reached its maximum potential in a market, with little to no room for new demand due to high competition or market penetration. Market saturation is a bigger issue in today’s marketplace, due to competitive pressures, the expanding omnichannel environment, slower overall market growth, and shifting behaviors among savvy, selective consumers.
What are the four types of customer data?
There are many sources of data, but Circana has identified four main methods for capturing actionable consumer insights:
Receipt panel data that includes receipts for brick-and-mortar and online purchases uploaded by consumer panelists. This data provides detailed insights into items purchased, quantities, and prices.
Loyalty data from loyalty programs that automatically capture online and in-store transactions, ensuring comprehensive data collection without relying on memory.
Survey data from panelists who can provide feedback, including motivations behind purchases and their reaction to promotions.
Point-of-Sale (POS) data from retailers that can be used in tandem with panel data to ensure that recorded purchases match sales information.
