Industry · CONS

Consumer & Retail

Consumers have more choice, more channels and less patience than ever. FMCG companies, retailers and D2C brands need to understand what drives choice in the moment — on the shelf, in the app, in a quick-commerce basket — and what builds loyalty over time.

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Last reviewed 2 October 2026 by the Hoog research team

What is consumer and retail research?

Consumer and retail research studies how people discover, choose, buy and use products and brands across online and offline channels. It covers category usage and attitudes, segmentation, shopper journeys, brand health, concept and product testing, and pricing, and is used to guide brand, product, channel and marketing decisions.

How research creates value

Know your consumer as well as they know what they want.

Consumer behaviour is shaped by habit, culture, price, availability and emotion — and it differs sharply by region, age and income. Sales data shows what was bought; research explains why, what almost happened instead, and what would change behaviour next time.

Hoog works with FMCG and consumer durables companies, retailers, D2C and digital-first brands, food and beverage, beauty and personal care, and lifestyle businesses. We combine qualitative depth — in-home interviews, shop-alongs, groups — with robust quantitative measurement across metros and smaller towns.

Segments we cover

FMCG / CPG
Food & beverage
Beauty & personal care
Consumer durables & electronics
Modern retail & e-commerce
D2C & digital-first brands
Fashion & lifestyle
Quick-service restaurants & hospitality

What’s changing

Forces reshaping Consumer & Retail

The shifts our clients most often ask us to help them understand and respond to.

Fragmenting channels

Quick commerce, marketplaces, social commerce, modern trade and general trade each demand different assortment, pricing and packaging decisions.

Growth beyond the metros

Rising consumption in smaller cities and rural markets requires products, packs and messages designed around different needs and price points.

Premiumisation and value-seeking

Many categories are polarising: consumers trade up where it matters to them and trade down elsewhere.

Digital-first discovery

Influencers, reviews and short-form video increasingly shape awareness and consideration, especially among younger consumers.

Conscious consumption

Health, ingredients, sustainability and authenticity claims influence choice — and are scrutinised more closely.

How we help

Research and strategy for Consumer & Retail

Each engagement starts with a business problem and ends with a decision. These are the questions we are most often asked to answer.

Usage & attitude (U&A) and category understanding

“We need a fresh, fact-based picture of our category — who buys, how they use it and why.”

Questions we answer

Who uses the category, how often and in which occasions?
What needs and motivations drive category use?
How do brand repertoires and switching work?
Where are the gaps no brand is serving well?

How we do it

Qualitative exploration of category language and occasions, followed by a large-sample U&A survey across regions and demographics to quantify usage, needs and brand roles.

In-home IDIs / FGDs
Occasion mapping
U&A survey
Brand repertoire analysis

What you receive

— Category landscape
— Occasion and need-state map
— Brand role analysis
— White-space opportunities

Decision it enables

Where to play in the category and which needs to target.

Consumer segmentation & personas

“We talk to ‘everyone’. We need sharper target consumers that marketing, product and sales can all use.”

Questions we answer

What distinct consumer segments exist, based on needs and behaviour?
How valuable is each segment, and how reachable?
Which segments are under-served by current brands?
How should our portfolio map to segments?

How we do it

Needs-based segmentation from a robust survey, brought to life with qualitative personas, and linked to media, channel and value so it can be used in planning.

Segmentation survey
Cluster / latent class analysis
Persona IDIs
Segment sizing and profiling

What you receive

— Segmentation model
— Segment sizing and value
— Personas
— Targeting and portfolio recommendations

Decision it enables

Which consumers to target and how to tailor proposition, message and channel.

Shopper journey & path to purchase

“We lose consumers between consideration and purchase — on shelf, online and in quick commerce.”

Questions we answer

How do shoppers discover, research and choose in each channel?
What triggers purchase, and what causes them to switch at the last moment?
How do online reviews, influencers, packaging and price influence choice?
How do journeys differ between quick commerce, e-commerce and stores?

How we do it

Shop-alongs, digital journey tracking and shopper interviews reveal the real path to purchase in each channel; a survey sizes the influence of each touchpoint.

Shop-alongs (in-store and online)
Shopper exit interviews
Digital journey diaries
Touchpoint influence survey

What you receive

— Shopper journey maps by channel
— Moments of influence
— Shelf and digital-shelf recommendations
— Channel-specific activation priorities

Decision it enables

Where to invest to win at the moment of purchase.

Brand health tracking & positioning

“We spend heavily on media but don’t know whether the brand is getting stronger.”

Questions we answer

How do awareness, consideration, preference and advocacy compare with competitors?
Which image attributes drive brand choice?
Is the brand relevant to the next generation of consumers?
How are campaigns affecting perceptions over time?

How we do it

Brand funnel and imagery measurement with driver analysis, tracked in regular waves, supported by qualitative work to explain the numbers.

Brand health survey
Funnel conversion analysis
Driver modelling
Tracking waves
Qualitative brand exploration

What you receive

— Brand funnel vs competitors
— Brand driver map
— Positioning recommendations
— Tracking dashboard

Decision it enables

How to position the brand and where to direct investment.

Concept, product & pack testing

“We have several new product ideas. Which will succeed, and how should we optimise them before launch?”

Questions we answer

Which concepts have the strongest appeal and purchase intent?
How does the product perform on taste, efficacy or experience versus competitors?
Does the pack stand out on shelf and communicate the right benefits?
What claims and names work best?

How we do it

Screening for early ideas, monadic testing for finalists, product tests and pack evaluations — with diagnostics that show how to improve, not just whether to launch.

Concept screening
Monadic / sequential concept tests
In-home product tests
Pack and claims testing

What you receive

— Concept ranking and diagnostics
— Product performance vs benchmark
— Pack and claims recommendations
— Launch readiness assessment

Decision it enables

Which ideas to launch and how to optimise them.

Pricing & price-pack architecture

“Input costs are rising. We need to protect margin without losing consumers.”

Questions we answer

How price-sensitive are consumers in our category and segments?
Which pack sizes and price points suit each channel?
Where can we premiumise, and where must we offer value?
How will consumers react to price or grammage changes?

How we do it

Price sensitivity and choice-based research, combined with channel price audits, informs price-pack architecture by channel and segment.

Price sensitivity research
Choice-based conjoint
Channel price audits
Pack-price ladder analysis

What you receive

— Price elasticity estimates by segment
— Price-pack architecture recommendations
— Channel pricing strategy
— Risk assessment for price changes

Decision it enables

How to price and pack to protect margin and volume.

Related capability: Pricing Research

D2C growth, retention & market entry

“Our D2C brand grew fast on digital marketing. Now acquisition is expensive and repeat rates are flat.”

Questions we answer

Who are our most valuable customers, and why do they repeat?
Why do first-time buyers not come back?
Which new categories or channels — offline, quick commerce, export — should we enter?
How strong is our brand beyond performance marketing?

How we do it

Customer and lapsed-buyer interviews, a repeat-driver survey and market assessment for new channels or categories.

Repeat and lapsed buyer IDIs
Customer survey
Brand awareness research
Channel and category opportunity assessment

What you receive

— Repeat and churn drivers
— High-value customer profile
— Channel / category expansion assessment
— Brand-building recommendations

Decision it enables

How to grow profitably beyond paid acquisition.

Related capability: Market Entry & GTM

Who we research

The people behind the decisions

Consumers

Category users and lapsed users
Gen Z, millennials and families
Metro, tier-2/3 and rural consumers

Shoppers

In-store and online shoppers
Quick-commerce users
Category decision-makers in households

Trade

Retailers and store managers
Distributors and stockists
E-commerce category managers

Experts

Former FMCG and retail executives
Category and channel specialists

What we measure

Evidence, not opinion

Brand awareness, consideration and preference
Purchase intent and concept appeal
Usage frequency and occasions
Price sensitivity
Shopper conversion by channel
Repeat and loyalty drivers
Satisfaction and NPS
Segment size and value

Typical engagements

What working with us looks like

Representative scenarios that show how we scope work in this sector. They are example scopes, not client case studies.

Category U&A and white-space study

Situation: An FMCG company needs a fresh view of a changing category.
Approach: In-home qualitative work and a multi-region U&A survey.
Output: Occasion map, brand roles and three white-space opportunities.

Quick-commerce shopper study

Situation: A brand’s share differs widely between quick commerce and stores.
Approach: Digital shopper diaries, shop-alongs and touchpoint survey.
Output: Channel-specific pack, price and visibility recommendations.

D2C retention diagnostic

Situation: A D2C brand’s repeat rate is declining.
Approach: Repeat and lapsed buyer interviews plus a customer survey.
Output: Retention drivers and a loyalty and assortment plan.

Relevant capabilities

Capabilities we bring to Consumer & Retail

Customer & Consumer InsightsUnderstand needs, behaviours, perceptions and the journey to purchase.Market ResearchSize markets, map demand and understand the forces shaping your category.Market Entry & GTMDecide where to play, how to enter and how to win in new markets.Strategy AdvisoryTranslate evidence into strategic options, choices and action plans.Pricing ResearchWillingness to pay, packaging and price positioning grounded in buyer evidence.

Case studies

10 Consumer & Retail engagements

How we approach the commercial questions this sector asks most often.

View all 10 →

Consumer & Retail

Consumer Brand Health Study

Measuring brand performance across the funnel against competitors and identifying the perceptions that drive consideration.

Example engagementRead case

Consumer & Retail

Category Usage and Attitudes Study for a Packaged Foods Company

Building a fresh, fact-based picture of a changing snacking category to identify white-space opportunities.

Example engagementRead case

Consumer & Retail

Consumer Segmentation for a Personal Care Brand Portfolio

Creating a needs-based segmentation to sharpen targeting and reduce overlap across the brand portfolio.

Example engagementRead case

Consumer & Retail

Shopper Journey Study Across Quick Commerce, E-commerce and Stores

Understanding why the brand's share differed sharply between quick commerce, e-commerce and physical stores.

Example engagementRead case

Consumer & Retail

Brand Health Tracking for a Consumer Electronics Brand

Setting up a brand tracker to measure funnel performance and campaign impact against competitors.

Example engagementRead case

Consumer & Retail

Concept, Product and Pack Testing for a New Beverage Range

Screening and optimising concepts, flavours and packs before launching a new functional beverage range.

Example engagementRead case

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is a usage and attitude (U&A) study?

A U&A study measures how consumers use a category and what they think about it: who uses it, how often, in which occasions, which brands they choose and why, and what needs remain unmet. It provides the fact base for brand, product and marketing strategy.

What is shopper journey research?

Shopper journey research examines how people move from a need to a purchase — the triggers, research, channels and in-the-moment influences such as price, packaging, reviews and availability — so brands can intervene at the moments that matter most.

How is a concept test different from a product test?

A concept test evaluates an idea — usually a description and visual — to gauge appeal before the product exists. A product test puts the actual product in consumers’ hands to evaluate the real experience, often against a competitor or current formulation.

Start a conversation

Facing a Consumer & Retail decision? Let’s find the evidence.

Tell us about the decision you are facing. We will come back with a clear view of how research can help — and what it would take.

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