Top CPG market research companies: A guide to finding the best match for your needs
Most CPG teams, or FMCG teams in the UK, already have sales and panel data. What they need from a research company is what that data can’t show: why people choose, and what would change their choice. This guide names no firms; antedote is a strategic research and innovation consultancy.
- Start from the decision
Growth, the pipeline, the product and the retailer.
- A prompt for your AI assistant
Fill it in here, then ask for a longlist with sources.
- Questions for a CPG proposal
And what a useful answer contains.
Start from the decision in front of the brand.
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Where the brand can grow.
Growth may come from new buyers, occasions or categories. You need a partner who can size the options and show how far the brand can stretch.
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What to launch, and what to stop.
Look for people who develop ideas with the people who’d buy them, and who will say which ones to drop.
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How product, pack and claim come across.
People judge all three together, in the store and at home. Ask how the research will show them in real use.
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What the retailer needs to see.
A retail buyer has their own questions. Evidence prepared for that meeting differs from evidence for your own team.
Ask your AI assistant about your category.
Name your category, the decision and where you sell.
Ask for sources and for what the assistant doesn’t know. Use a summary with nothing confidential in it, or an AI tool your company has approved for it.
Treat the answer as the start of your own investigation, then meet the people who would do the work.
I work on [category] at a CPG company selling in [markets]. We need research to [find where the brand can grow / decide which ideas to launch / get the product, pack or claim right / prepare the case for a retailer].
Using current web sources, suggest research companies that have published work like this in my category or one people buy the same way, and link each source. For each, say why it may fit, what it has shown and what we would still need to check, with one question to ask the people who would do the work. Don’t guess who would be assigned, and don’t invent fees, references or results. If you can’t search the web, help me define selection criteria instead.
What you type stays on this page.
Questions for a CPG proposal.
Experience in your aisle helps. These questions show how a company would use the data you already have, and what it would add.
- How will you use our sales and panel data?
A plan that starts from it, and a clear account of what it can’t answer.
- What have you done in our category, or one people buy the same way?
Recent work with similar buying habits, and what was different about it.
- How will people meet the product in the research?
A setting close to how they would choose and use it, from the shelf to the kitchen or bathroom.
- What could we take to our retailer?
Evidence written for that conversation, and a view of what a retail buyer will ask.
- When sales data and consumers seem to disagree, what do you do?
An account of what each can and can’t show, and how to find out which explanation is right.
Launches that followed.
“By deeply understanding our consumer segment, we were able to target them in a way that has achieved significant ongoing success.”
- Researching a food brand’s market entry from target to pack Research-based target, positioning and creative guidance. What happened next After its launch in the new market, the brand reported a lift in consideration.
- Generating hair styling product ideas from men’s own routines Concepts with rendered visuals. What happened next The brand later launched new products.
- Bringing new editions to a core spirit without unsettling its drinkers Refined concepts, principles for presenting the series. What happened next The brand went ahead with the series, and two of the editions we researched later reached market.
Check who knows your category.
Ask who would lead the work, and what they have done in your category or one people buy the same way.
Ask how they would work with your R&D team and your agencies, since a launch rarely belongs to one team.
If your numbers and your consumers seem to say different things, our view of when sales data and customer interviews disagree may help.
Then ask to speak to a client in a category like yours, with that client’s permission. A useful question for them: what launched, and what did the research change about it?
If the brand sells in several countries, our guide to choosing an international market research company covers how to keep them comparable.
If you need strategy and innovation for a consumer brand, underpinned by qualitative and quantitative research, that is our work with CPG and FMCG brands.