Deeper consumer insights inform new-product strategy and determine its success
Here are three ways pet manufacturers can develop effective products and drive sales using consumer insights and the right data.
1. Understand what consumers purchase
Sales data can help you identify opportunities in your category, but UPC-level purchase tracking data can provide a much richer picture of consumer behavior than dollar sales volume alone. This data also shows how your pet products (or comparable competing products) are purchased, and because consumer behaviors frequently change, it’s important to track those frequently, too.
PRO ADVICE: Identifying what people buy, leveraging data from consumer panels, yields insights beyond total sales figures. By analyzing household shopping patterns for specific pet products—including purchase frequency, basket composition, and average trip spend—you can hone your product innovation to match consumer demand.
2. Learn who your consumers are
Demographics themselves don’t determine a pet product’s success or failure, though they can be useful indicators of purchasing behavior. Understanding who your potential customers are means you can target them more effectively, and develop products that meet their needs.
PRO ADVICE: Generalized geographic, lifestyle, and behavioral aspects of consumers, or demographic data, can reveal trends and opportunities for new pet products. When combined with panel and retail sales data, this information can help you forecast how specific products and categories will perform in various retail locations and channels, so you can adjust your strategy to drive sales.
3. Identify the differentiators that motivate consumers
With the right data, you’ll be able to identify the factors that motivate people to choose one product over another. Once you know who your consumers are and what they’re purchasing, you can focus on what’s important, and create a product consumers will want to buy.
PRO ADVICE: Customized innovation solutions allow you to test your new pet product’s potential among target consumers. These tools can project future sales volume and identify key activators based on consumer behavior. They can also help you forecast purchasing patterns so you can give retailers the data and confidence they need to increase your product’s distribution.
Better innovation: How NielsenIQ can help develop fast-moving pet products
NielsenIQ’s data allows emerging pet product manufacturers to base their innovation strategies on the most up-to-date information, while our consumer panels track and distinguish consumer behavior, down to the UPC level. Spectra Strategic Insights help manufacturers identify key trends and opportunities based on demographics so they can adjust their innovation cycles. The NielsenIQ BASES suite of innovation solutions is specifically designed to assist new-product development and activation.
A suite of products that support pet innovation
- Consumer Panels: Understand the “why” and “what” behind your sales with the world’s most robust, trusted, and credible consumer panels.
- Spectra: Identify and define consumers that represent the biggest growth opportunities with demographic, consumption, and media data.
- BASES: Launch successful, high-ROI innovations, and determine how they should be activated in-market.
- Retail Measurement Services (RMS): Get comprehensive, current data on market share and competitive sales volume with insights into distribution, pricing, merchandising, and promotions.
