Trends of grocery shopping in the United States continue to evolve each year. As a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, it is important to stay up to date on shopper’s habits, preferences, perceptions, and more.
An easy way to collect unique, market data as it relates to your industry and brand is conducting regular market research. Consumer goods market research will help you stay competitive and identify trends before they come to fruition.
Recently, our consumer behavior research company partnered with a leading egg producer to measure and forecast grocery shopping trends in the U.S.
The results from the study have allowed the fast-moving consumer goods company to remain relevant and profitable against top competitors.
As the battle for shelf space continues to grow, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are turning to market research to understand what draws customers to the brands they love and adjust to shopping trends quickly.
Market Research Objectives
Prior to contacting our market research company, a national egg producer conducted market phone surveys every other year. The egg producer was looking to conduct a similar study with Drive Research.
The survey would provide the fast-moving consumer goods company with the necessary data to better understand:
- Consumer attitudes towards eggs
- The importance of factor(s) when purchasing eggs
- Brand used
- Brand perceptions
The insights would fuel future operations, marketing, and strategy for the egg producer.
Market Research Approach
While the egg producer was initially interested in utilizing phone surveys, our full-service market research company recommended a different approach: online surveys.
Compared to phone surveys, online surveys offer a similar level of quality feedback, but with shorter turnaround times and for less money. Our fast-moving consumer goods research company was happy to execute a phone survey study but wanted the egg producer to know they had options.
The national egg producer ultimately chose to conduct a market survey online. This approach cut costs by nearly 25%.
The survey mimicked the scripts from previous studies in 2013, 2015, and 2017 while including some updated questions and recommendations from our experts.
Online Survey Process
Our consumer-packaged goods market research company follows a streamlined process for all of our research studies. It is important to our team that we treat each client and each project differently, therefore no two market research studies are ever the same.
This is the process Drive Research used to implement a market survey for the egg producer:
Kickoff meeting
A dedicated project team met with the client over the phone to discuss project expectations, process, timeline, and immediate next steps.
Workplan
Shortly after the kickoff meeting, our FMCG research company sent the egg producer a workplan which detailed deliverables, responsible parties, and dates of completion. Each week the workplan was updated and shared with the client to show what progress was made.
Survey Draft
Our experts wrote a unique survey based on the client’s objectives and commentary from the kickoff meeting. After writing the survey, a draft was sent to the egg producer to review and approve before sending it to fieldwork.
Fieldwork
Once the survey draft was approved, our consumer-packaged goods research firm started fielding the questionnaire. As responses came in, our experts would review the data to make sure it met all screening criteria provided by the egg producer client.
Report
After fieldwork was closed, Drive Research prepared a full market research report for the client.
Analysis
Our market research company met with the client for a debrief where our experts walked through the report page by page, offering detailed explanations and recommendations for the data.
Survey Results
The online survey took an average of 15 to 20 minutes to complete and included 88 questions. The study received 1,035 completed surveys. Fieldwork began on March 5 and lasted until March 23, 2020.
The fieldwork was targeted to those 25+ years of age in the United States. Respondents were screened to ensure they participate in grocery shopping at their household, and they are the primary or shared decision-makers for grocery shopping.
The margin of error for these results would be +/- 3% at the 95% confidence interval. It means if the survey were conducted with another 1,035 consumers, the survey results would yield within +3% or -3% of the totals 95 out of 100 times.
Report and Deliverables
The report delivered to the egg producer included background and methodology, an infographic, an executive summary of themes with recommendations, trending information, and next steps for market research.
Additionally, our market research firm provided an appendix that consisted of a detailed question-by-question breakdown of the results. The infographic was delivered as a separate file along with the full data file and Excel cross-tabulations file with significance testing.
While the specific findings of the fast-moving consumer goods research study remain private with the client, it was successful in identifying key performance indicators (KPIs).
The market research report included more than just charts and graphs.
Drive Research provided data-driven action items and custom suggestions based on the survey results. Key themes and recommendations centered around:
- What egg brands are shoppers aware of?
- How satisfied are consumers with [EGG PRODUCER]?
- How often do consumers purchase [EGG PRODUCER]?
- What other factors are important when purchasing eggs?
- Are shoppers aware of advertising for [EGG PRODUCER]?
- What are egg usage habits?
- What trends are there for general grocery shopping?
Contact Our Consumer Packaged Goods Research Company
Drive Research is a national market research company, specializing in insights and consumer behavior analysis that allow fast-moving consumer goods companies to adjust to the latest and greatest shopping trends quickly.
Interested in conducting a market research study with us? Let's talk!
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040