Purpose of 1. Consumer Research

The purpose of consumer research is to help consumer goods and retail companies better understand the market and user needs, formulate strategies and marketing programs, and improve competitiveness and profitability. Consumer research can provide value to businesses in the following ways:

-Market analysis: Consumer research can help companies analyze the size, structure, dynamics, trends, opportunities and threats of the market, assess the attractiveness and potential of the market, determine the target and positioning of the market, and formulate market entry and expansion strategies.

-User insight: consumer research can help enterprises to deeply understand the characteristics, behaviors, preferences, needs, pain points, motivations and values of users, reveal the potential needs and future needs of users, build user portraits and user experience maps, design user journeys and contacts, and provide user value propositions and satisfaction.

-Product innovation: consumer research can help enterprises find the advantages and disadvantages of products, evaluate the performance and quality of products, test the usability and feasibility of products, optimize the functions and characteristics of products, create product differentiation and superiority, and improve the competitiveness and market share of products.

-Marketing optimization: Consumer research can help companies develop marketing goals and strategies, select marketing channels and tools, design marketing content and forms, implement marketing activities and plans, monitor marketing effectiveness and benefits, optimize marketing inputs and outputs, and improve marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

2. the object of consumer research

The object of consumer research refers to the main research object of consumer research, including consumers themselves and other subjects related to consumers. The object of consumer research can be divided from the following aspects:

-Consumer type: Consumer type refers to the basic classification of consumers, which can be divided according to consumers' personal characteristics, consumption behavior, consumption psychology and other dimensions, such as age, gender, income, education, occupation, region, life stage, consumption level, consumption frequency, consumption scene, consumption motivation, consumption attitude, consumption value, etc.

-Consumer role: Consumer role refers to the different roles played by consumers in the consumption process, which can be divided according to the dimensions of consumer influence, participation, decision-making power, such as leaders, social media users, loyal customers, potential customers, decision makers, influencers, buyers, users, etc.

-Consumer relationship: Consumer relationship refers to the relationship between consumers and other subjects, which can be divided according to the interaction mode, interaction frequency and interaction purpose of consumers, such as family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, peers, competitors, partners, suppliers, distributors, retailers, service providers, etc.

Content of 3. Consumer Research

The content of consumer research refers to the main research content of consumer research, including consumer demand, satisfaction, loyalty, values, lifestyle, etc. The content of consumer research can be selected from the following aspects:

-Demand analysis: Demand analysis refers to the analysis of consumers' consumption needs, including consumers' existing needs and potential needs, consumers' functional needs and emotional needs, consumers' basic needs and value-added needs, consumers' explicit needs and implicit needs, consumers' individual needs and group needs, etc.

-Satisfaction evaluation: Satisfaction evaluation refers to the evaluation of consumer satisfaction with products or services, including the overall satisfaction of consumers with products or services and the satisfaction of various dimensions, the gap between consumers' expectations and actual values of products or services, and consumers' perceived quality and perceived value of products or services.

-Loyalty measurement: Loyalty measurement refers to the measurement of consumer loyalty to the brand or enterprise, including consumer cognitive loyalty and behavioral loyalty to the brand or enterprise, consumer attitude loyalty and emotional loyalty to the brand or enterprise, consumer repeat purchase rate and recommendation rate of the brand or enterprise, etc.

-Value exploration: value exploration refers to the exploration of consumers' consumption values, including consumers' personal values and social values, consumers' intrinsic values and extrinsic values, consumers' ultimate values and tool values, consumers' self-values and others' values, etc.

-Lifestyle research: Lifestyle research refers to the study of consumers' consumption lifestyles, including consumers' consumption activities and consumption interests, consumers' consumption concepts and consumption attitudes, consumers' consumption habits and consumption patterns, and consumers' consumption preferences and consumption choices.

Methods of 4. Consumer Research

The methodology of consumer research refers to the main research methods of consumer research, including qualitative and quantitative research:

-Qualitative research: Qualitative research refers to the collection and analysis of non-numerical data such as consumer speech, behavior, and emotion through unstructured or semi-structured methods to gain insight into consumer needs, motivations, attitudes, and values. The main methods of qualitative research are interview, focus group, observation, experiment, case analysis, text analysis and so on.

-Quantitative research: Quantitative research refers to the collection and analysis of numerical data such as the number, frequency and proportion of consumers in a structured or standardized way to objectively and systematically describe and explain the characteristics, behavior, satisfaction, loyalty and other external factors of consumers. The main methods of quantitative research are questionnaire, experiment, observation, statistics, modeling and so on.

5. channels for consumer research

The channels of consumer research refer to the main data sources and data collection methods of consumer research, including offline channels and online channels. Consumer research channels can be selected from the following aspects:

-Offline channels: Offline channels refer to channels for direct communication and interaction with consumers through face-to-face methods to collect consumers' first-hand data. The advantage of offline channels is that they can obtain real and profound feedback from consumers, increase consumer participation and trust, and improve the quality and effectiveness of data. The main forms of offline channels are stores, exhibitions, experience centers, roadshows, interviews, focus groups, etc.

-Online channels: Online channels refer to channels for remote communication and interaction with consumers through the Internet to collect consumers' second-hand data. The advantage of online channels is that they can cover a wide and diverse group of consumers, reduce consumer resistance and interference, and increase the amount and efficiency of data. The main forms of online channels are websites, social media, email, text messages, phone calls, videos, questionnaires, data mining, etc.

Analysis of 6. Consumer Research

The analysis of consumer research refers to the process of sorting, processing, induction, reasoning, interpretation and evaluation of consumer research data, so as to extract the key information and insights of consumer research, and provide basis and support for the application of consumer research. The analysis of consumer research can be operated from the following aspects:

-Data cleaning: Data cleaning refers to the operation of filtering, checking, correcting and deleting the data of consumer research to remove invalid or inefficient data such as errors, duplicates, missing, abnormal, etc. in the data and improve the accuracy and consistency of the data.

-Data integration: Data integration refers to the aggregation, classification, coding, conversion and other operations of consumer research data, in order to unify and standardize the data from different sources, formats, dimensions, etc., to improve the readability and comparability of the data.

-Data analysis: Data analysis refers to the operation of describing, comparing, correlating and predicting the data of consumer research, so as to discover the rules, patterns, trends, differences, influences and other meaningful information from the data, and improve the comprehensibility and availability of the data.

-Data presentation: Data presentation refers to the operation of visualizing, reporting and storytelling the data of consumer research, so as to display the data to the target audience in the form of charts, text, images, audio, video, etc., to improve the perceptibility and dissemination of the data.

Application of 7. Consumer Research

The application of consumer research refers to the process of applying the results and insights of consumer research to the strategies and marketing programs of consumer goods and retail enterprises to help enterprises improve their competitiveness and profitability. The application of consumer research can be implemented from the following aspects:

-Market positioning: Market positioning refers to the process of determining the target group, competitive advantage and differentiation characteristics of an enterprise or brand in the market according to the results of consumer research, so as to form the unique image and value proposition of the enterprise or brand.

-Product innovation: Product innovation refers to the process of designing and developing new products that meet consumer needs and preferences or improving the functions and features of existing products based on the results of consumer research to provide consumers with a better experience and satisfaction.

-Marketing strategy: marketing strategy refers to the process of formulating and implementing marketing objectives, marketing mix, marketing channels, marketing content, marketing activities, etc. for consumers according to the results of consumer research, so as to attract and retain consumers and increase the loyalty and recommendation rate of consumers.

-Performance evaluation: Performance evaluation refers to the process of monitoring and analyzing the market share, sales, profit margin, rate of return, cost-effectiveness, etc. of an enterprise or brand based on the results of consumer research to evaluate the performance and improvement direction of an enterprise or brand.

Conclusion

Consumer research is an important means for consumer goods and retail companies to understand the market and user needs, formulate strategies and marketing plans, and enhance competitiveness and profitability. With the rapid development of the consumer market and the diversification of consumer demand, consumer research needs to be reformed and innovated to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research and provide more valuable insights and suggestions for enterprises. This paper summarizes the trend and practice of the change and innovation of consumer research from the aspects of the purpose, object, content, method, analysis and application of consumer research. Combined with the professional experience and successful cases of Shangpu Consulting in the field of consumer research, this paper puts forward the expert suggestions of consumer research, aiming to provide reference and enlightenment for consumer goods and retail enterprises.