Consumer Market Research for a Leading Consumer Brand

A consumer base the brand no longer fully recognized.

A leading consumer brand was seeing softening engagement among long-standing customers alongside uneven traction with newer cohorts. Internal data showed the shifts clearly, but the underlying reasons, what was changing in attitudes, lifestyles, category usage, and brand perception, were not well understood.

What was at stake.

Upcoming decisions on product development, pricing, communications, and channel investment all rested on assumptions about the consumer that were no longer holding up. Continuing to plan against an outdated view risked misallocating budget and missing the cohorts most likely to drive future growth.

Leadership needed a current, evidence-based understanding of the consumer, framed in a way that activation teams could act on.

A comprehensive consumer market research program.

SIS International Research designed and executed a consumer market research program that combined qualitative depth with quantitative rigor to rebuild the client's view of its consumer base.

A mixed-method design.

The program combined multiple methodologies, each tuned to a specific question:

1. In-home and in-context ethnographic visits to observe real category behavior
2. Focus groups across priority consumer cohorts and geographies
3. A nationally representative quantitative survey with more than 2,000 respondents
4. Segmentation analysis to identify distinct consumer typologies
5. Brand equity, category usage, and purchase driver modules
6. Path-to-purchase mapping across digital and physical touchpoints

Cohorts compared on a consistent frame.

Existing customers, lapsed customers, and prospective buyers were studied on a common instrument so the client could see where the cohorts converged, diverged, and where the brand was losing relevance.

Activation-ready outputs.

Findings were delivered through an executive strategic readout, a segmentation framework with persona toolkits, and prioritized recommendations across product, marketing, and channel teams.

A refreshed view of the consumer.

The research replaced a fragmented internal picture with a single, evidence-based consumer framework, identifying which cohorts were core, which were growth, and which were drifting away.

Decisions that moved.

The client used the findings to:

1. Sharpen the value proposition for the two highest-potential consumer segments
2. Refresh product and assortment priorities against quantified consumer needs
3. Reallocate marketing investment toward higher-yield cohorts and channels
4. Redesign the path-to-purchase experience around documented friction points

An ongoing consumer understanding capability.

The segmentation and persona framework became a standing reference across the client's brand, product, and marketing teams, with refresh waves built into the annual planning cycle. Consideration and purchase intent improved measurably in the prioritized cohorts over the following year.