consumer research job meaning

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Consumer Research: Examples, Process and Scope

What is Consumer Research?

Consumer research is a part of market research in which inclination, motivation and purchase behavior of the targeted customers are identified. Consumer research helps businesses or organizations understand customer psychology and create detailed purchasing behavior profiles.

It uses research techniques to provide systematic information about what customers need. Using this information brands can make changes in their products and services, making them more customer-centric thereby increasing customer satisfaction. This will in turn help to boost business.

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

An organization that has an in-depth understanding about the customer decision-making process, is most likely to design a product, put a certain price tag to it, establish distribution centers and promote a product based on consumer research insights such that it produces increased consumer interest and purchases.

For example, A consumer electronics company wants to understand, thought process of a consumer when purchasing an electronic device, which can help a company to launch new products, manage the supply of the stock, etc. Carrying out a Consumer electronics survey can be useful to understand the market demand, understand the flaws in their product and also find out research problems in the various processes that influence the purchase of their goods. A consumer electronics survey can be helpful to gather information about the shopping experiences of consumers when purchasing electronics. which can enable a company to make well-informed and wise decisions regarding their products and services.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

Consumer Research Objectives

When a brand is developing a new product, consumer research is conducted to understand what consumers want or need in a product, what attributes are missing and what are they looking for? An efficient survey software really makes it easy for organizations to conduct efficient research.

Consumer research is conducted to improve brand equity. A brand needs to know what consumers think when buying a product or service offered by a brand. Every good business idea needs efficient consumer research for it to be successful. Consumer insights are essential to determine brand positioning among consumers.

Consumer research is conducted to boost sales. The objective of consumer research is to look into various territories of consumer psychology and understand their buying pattern, what kind of packaging they like and other similar attributes that help brands to sell their products and services better.

LEARN ABOUT: Brand health

Consumer Research Model

According to a study conducted, till a decade ago, researchers thought differently about the consumer psychology, where little or no emphasis was put on emotions, mood or the situation that could influence a customer’s buying decision.

Many believed marketing was applied economics. Consumers always took decisions based on statistics and math and evaluated goods and services rationally and then selected items from those brands that gave them the highest customer satisfaction at the lowest cost.

However, this is no longer the situation. Consumers are very well aware of brands and their competitors. A loyal customer is the one who would not only return to repeatedly purchase from a brand but also, recommend his/her family and friends to buy from the same brand even if the prices are slightly higher but provides an exceptional customer service for products purchased or services offered.

Here is where the Net Promoter Score (NPS) helps brands identify brand loyalty and customer satisfaction with their consumers. Net Promoter Score consumer survey uses a single question that is sent to customers to identify their brand loyalty and level of customer satisfaction. Response to this question is measured on a scale between 0-10 and based on this consumers can be identified as:

Detractors: Who have given a score between 0-6.

Passives: Who have given a score between 7-8.

Promoters: Who have given a score between 9-10.

Consumer market research is based on two types of research method:

1. Qualitative Consumer Research

Qualitative research  is descriptive in nature, It’s a method that uses open-ended questions , to gain meaningful insights from respondents and heavily relies on the following market research methods:

Focus Groups: Focus groups as the name suggests is a small group of highly validated subject experts who come together to analyze a product or service. Focus group comprises of 6-10 respondents. A moderator is assigned to the focus group, who helps facilitate discussions among the members to draw meaningful insights

One-to-one Interview: This is a more conversational method, where the researcher asks open-ended questions to collect data from the respondents. This method heavily depends on the expertise of the researcher. How much the researcher is able to probe with relevant questions to get maximum insights. This is a time-consuming method and can take more than one attempt to gain the desired insights.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Interview

Content/ Text Analysis: Text analysis is a qualitative research method where researchers analyze social life by decoding words and images from the documents available. Researchers analyze the context in which the images are used and draw conclusions from them. Social media is an example of text analysis. In the last decade or so, inferences are drawn based on consumer behavior on social media.

Learn More: How to conduct Qualitative Research  

2.Quantitative Consumer Research

In the age of technology and information, meaningful data is more precious than platinum. Billion dollar companies have risen and fallen on how well they have been able to collect and analyze data, to draw validated insights.

Quantitative research is all about numbers and statistics. An evolved consumer who purchases regularly can vouch for how customer-centric businesses have become today. It’s all about customer satisfaction , to gain loyal customers. With just one questions companies are able to collect data, that has the power to make or break a company. Net Promoter Score question , “On a scale from 0-10 how likely are you to recommend our brand to your family or friends?”

How organic word-of-mouth is influencing consumer behavior and how they need to spend less on advertising and invest their time and resources to make sure they provide exceptional customer service.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Targeting

Online surveys , questionnaires , and polls are the preferred data collection tools. Data that is obtained from consumers is then statistically, mathematically and numerically evaluated to understand consumer preference.

Learn more: How to carry out Quantitative Research

Consumer Research Process

The process of consumer research started as an extension of the process of market research . As the findings of market research is used to improve the decision-making capacity of an organization or business, similar is with consumer research.

LEARN ABOUT:  Market research industry

The consumer research process can be broken down into the following steps:

• Develop research objectives: The first step to the consumer research process is to clearly define the research objective, the purpose of research, why is the research being conducted, to understand what? A clear statement of purpose can help emphasize the purpose.
• Collect Secondary data: Collect secondary data first, it helps in understanding if research has been conducted earlier and if there are any pieces of evidence related to the subject matter that can be used by an organization to make informed decisions regarding consumers.
• Primary Research: In primary research organizations or businesses collect their own data or employ a third party to collect data on their behalf. This research makes use of various data collection methods ( qualitative and quantitative ) that helps researchers collect data first hand.

LEARN ABOUT: Best Data Collection Tools

• Collect and analyze data: Data is collected and analyzed and inference is drawn to understand consumer behavior and purchase pattern.
• Prepare report: Finally, a report is prepared for all the findings by analyzing data collected so that organizations are able to make informed decisions and think of all probabilities related to consumer behavior. By putting the study into practice, organizations can become customer-centric and manufacture products or render services that will help them achieve excellent customer satisfaction.

LEARN ABOUT: market research trends

After Consumer Research Process

Once you have been able to successfully carry out the consumer research process , investigate and break paradigms. What consumers need should be a part of market research design and should be carried out regularly. Consumer research provides more in-depth information about the needs, wants, expectations and behavior analytics of clients.  

By identifying this information successfully, strategies that are used to attract consumers can be made better and businesses can make a profit by knowing what consumers want exactly. It is also important to understand and know thoroughly the buying behavior of consumers to know their attitude towards brands and products.

The identification of consumer needs, as well as their preferences, allows a business to adapt to new business and develop a detailed marketing plan that will surely work. The following pointers can help. Completing this process will help you:

• Attract more customers  
• Set the best price for your products  
• Create the right marketing message  
• Increase the quantity that satisfies the demand of its clients  
• Increase the frequency of visits to their clients  
• Increase your sales  
• Reduce costs  
• Refine your approach to the customer service process .

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research

Consumer Research Methods

Consumers are the reason for a business to run and flourish. Gathering enough information about consumers is never going to hurt any business, in fact, it will only add up to the information a business would need to associate with its consumers and manufacture products that will help their business refine and grow.

Following are consumer research methods that ensure you are in tandem with the consumers and understand their needs:

The studies of customer satisfaction

One can determine the degree of satisfaction of consumers in relation to the quality of products through:

• Informal methods such as conversations with staff about products and services according to the dashboards.   
• Past and present questionnaires/ surveys that consumers might have filled that identify their needs.   

T he investigation of the consumer decision process

It is very interesting to know the consumer’s needs, what motivates them to buy, and how is the decision-making process carried out, though:

• Deploying relevant surveys and receiving responses from a target intended audience .

Proof of concept

Businesses can test how well accepted their marketing ideas are by:

• The use of surveys to find out if current or potential consumer see your products as a rational and useful benefit.  
• Conducting personal interviews or focus group sessions with clients to understand how they respond to marketing ideas.

Knowing your market position

You can find out how your current and potential consumers see your products, and how they compare it with your competitors by:

• Sales figures talk louder than any other aspect, once you get to know the comparison in the sales figures it is easy to understand your market position within the market segment.
• Attitudes of consumers while making a purchase also helps in understanding the market hold.      

Branding tests and user experience

You can determine how your customers feel with their brands and product names by:

• The use of focus groups and surveys designed to assess emotional responses to your products and brands.  
• The participation of researchers to study the performance of their brand in the market through existing and available brand measurement research.   

Price changes

You can investigate how your customers accept or not the price changes by using formulas that measure the revenue – multiplying the number of items you sold, by the price of each item. These tests allow you to calculate if your total income increases or decreases after making the price changes by:

• Calculation of changes in the quantities of products demanded by their customers, together with changes in the price of the product.   
• Measure the impact of the price on the demand of the product according to the needs of the client.   

Social media monitoring

Another way to measure feedback and your customer service is by controlling your commitment to social media and feedback. Social networks (especially Facebook) are becoming a common element of the commercialization of many businesses and are increasingly used by their customers to provide information on customer needs, service experiences, share and file customer complaints . It can also be used to run surveys and test concepts. If handled well, it can be one of the most powerful research tools of the client management . I also recommend reading: How to conduct market research through social networks.

Customer Research Questions

Asking the right question is the most important part of conducting research. Moreover, if it’s consumer research, questions should be asked in a manner to gather maximum insights from consumers. Here are some consumer research questions for your next research:

• Who in your household takes purchasing decisions?
• Where do you go looking for ______________ (product)?
• How long does it take you to make a buying decision?
• How far are you willing to travel to buy ___________(product)?
• What features do you look for when you purchase ____________ (product)?
• What motivates you to buy_____________ (product)?

See more consumer research survey questions:

Customer satisfaction surveys

Voice of customer surveys

Product surveys

Service evaluation surveys

Mortgage Survey Questions

Importance of Consumer Research

Launching a product or offering new services can be quite an exciting time for a brand. However, there are a lot of aspects that need to be taken into consideration while a band has something new to offer to consumers.

LEARN ABOUT: User Experience Research

Here is where consumer research plays a pivotal role. The importance of consumer research cannot be emphasized more. Following points summarizes the importance of consumer research:

• To understand market readiness: However good a product or service may be, consumers have to be ready to accept it. Creating a product requires investments which in return expect ROI from product or service purchases. However, if a market is mature enough to accept this utility, it has a low chance of succeeding by tapping into market potential . Therefore, before launching a product or service, organizations need to conduct consumer research, to understand if people are ready to spend on the utility it provides.
• Identify target consumers: By conducting consumer research, brands and organizations can understand their target market based on geographic segmentation and know who exactly is interested in buying their products. According to the data or feedback received from the consumer, research brands can even customize their marketing and branding approach to better appeal to the specific consumer segment.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

• Product/Service updates through feedback: Conducting consumer research, provides valuable feedback from consumers about the attributes and features of products and services. This feedback enables organizations to understand consumer perception and provide a more suitable solution based on actual market needs which helps them tweak their offering to perfection.

Explore more: 300 + FREE survey templates to use for your research

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Consumer Research Job Description

Consumer research duties & responsibilities.

To write an effective consumer research job description, begin by listing detailed duties, responsibilities and expectations. We have included consumer research job description templates that you can modify and use.

Sample responsibilities for this position include:

Consumer Research Qualifications

Qualifications for a job description may include education, certification, and experience.

Licensing or Certifications for Consumer Research

List any licenses or certifications required by the position: CPM, CFA, MRIA

Education for Consumer Research

Typically a job would require a certain level of education.

Employers hiring for the consumer research job most commonly would prefer for their future employee to have a relevant degree such as Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Marketing, Business, Statistics, MBA, Psychology, Economics, Finance, Science, Social Sciences, Graduate

Skills for Consumer Research

Desired skills for consumer research include:

Desired experience for consumer research includes:

Consumer Research Examples

• Microsoft Word (.docx) .DOCX
• PDF Document (.pdf) .PDF
• Image File (.png) .PNG
• Pull together summaries with data from multiple sources (Primary and Secondary) and through data mining efforts
• Presentation of data mining results to requesting teams
• Potential Social Media data mining
• Preferred) Consumer/retail industry experience in an actuarial, accounting, financial, underwriter or business development role or experience as an Equity Research Associate
• Improving breadth and depth of touch points among clients client impact
• Have material knowledge of consumer products industry
• Oversees the execution of research projects and communicates findings to appropriate audiences
• Develops market research design
• Directs the collection and analysis of relevant information concerning current and potential product offerings
• Understands different types of quantitative research and can provide recommendations for best methodologies
• Understanding of statistical concepts as applied to primary research
• Highly proficient in research study and sampling design and experience working with a wide variety of research methodologies, tools, and platforms
• Prior experience in a similar role in a consumer centric company (Client or Agency-side, preferably both)
• Expertise in Nielsen systems (Galaxy/NTTV, Arianna, Monitor-Plus Ad*Views, N*Power, Focus) MRI/Simmons and emerging alternative audience measurement tools
• Expertise with Adobe Omniture SiteCatalyst, comScore
• Computer experience with vendor based software, Windows based PC software (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
• Interprets primary market research data for senior management to assist in their decision-making
• Coordinates NPS and satisfaction aggregation and dissemination across research teams
• Extensive industry and company analysis, including data sourcing, financial modeling quarterly and annual income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements
• Provide day-to-day client support regarding consumer trends market research projects
• Work with the client (either directly or with senior team members) to understand, define and respond to the overarching business objective and provide strategic insights and recommendations based upon research data and knowledge of marketplace & business
• Apply qualitative and quantitative research techniques to interpret consumer trends in survey data and produce substantiated recommendations
• Prepare graphic reports in PowerPoint with solid analytical insights/commentary
• Quality control data
• Use a variety of tools to run cross-tabs and interpret the data for meaningful results
• Design or assist in the development of questionnaires to ensure the necessary data is captured
• Experience with a range of quantitative research methodologies (online, phone), target populations (consumer, physician, B2B), and analytical methods
• Deep sector expertise is at least one key industry vertical
• Experience applying market research techniques to a wide array of business decisions (including marketing strategy, new product development, strategic planning, investment in new businesses)
• Experience programming and fielding Internet-based surveys using software such as Confirm-it, Vovici
• Ability to think creatively and to devise innovative research techniques
• High level of initiative, energy & enthusiasm for learning
• Assist in projects from start to finish (proposal preparation, questionnaire design, project implementation, analyzing data via tables and SPSS, preparing reports using Microsoft Office [Word, Excel, PowerPoint])
• Manage and deliver against all project objectives as per agreed project charter (scope, time, budget, resources and quality)
• Hold accountability for the project planning process, building upon earlier project work to, develop and manage roll out project plans with dependencies
• Prepare and participate in review of protocol and other study-specific documents such as Clinical Study Reports, Investigator Brochures and regulatory submission documents
• Acquire clinical and pharmacology knowledge of the therapeutic area(s) and compounds under development
• Serve as eyes and ears of the marketing organization, relaying actionable insights regardless of the source
• Have finger on the pulse of the overall travel industry, HomeAway's business and the news/media landscape
• Support the marketing and public relations teams by providing timely facts, figures and insights on both an ad hoc and campaign basis
• Interpret research data and uncover insights that create a compelling ‘story’ that meets HomeAway’s business and communications objectives
• Explore what motivates perceptions, companies and policy issues across the travel industry and others
• Approaches challenges with a solutions-driven attitude
• Minimum 2 years of account planning and research in a professional, fast paced environment
• Proficiency in Nielsen systems (Galaxy/NTTV, Arianna, Monitor-Plus Ad*Views, N*Power, Focus) MRI/Simmons and emerging alternative audience measurement tools
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in consumer insights either agency or client
• Degree in a Quantitative / Scientific discipline or an MBA or equivalent work experience
• Minimum of a Bachelor Degree in Health Sciences or related discipline / Business Administration
• Pull reports and conduct analysis of HomeAway data, collaborating with the HomeAway business intelligence team as needed
• Work with HomeAway's market research team to conduct surveys and analyze results
• Help teams set, measure and report KPIs
• Oversee media coverage tracking and reporting to pinpoint insights, information and trends and inform leadership in general
• Delivers relevant and actionable market research and consumer insights to identify or quantify opportunities aligned with strategy and provide an objective view of the market, opportunities and strategic landscape
• Responsible for the creation and delivery of a Consumer Insights roadmap that evolves the organization into a competitive advantage
• Provides direction and strategic oversight on business decisions from ongoing customer perspective and feedback
• Oversees management and utilization of customer and external panels
• Designs, implements, and monitors consumer research studies, coordinating activity with external market research companies and appropriate internal resources
• Leads the analysis and presentation of research findings and provides recommendations for brand-building actions
• Prior management and/or consulting experience a plua
• Ability to analyze and draw insights from a variety of primary and secondary research sources including
• Passionate in beauty or has high curiosity in the beauty industry
• Possess superb analytical skills & logical thinking – can think on his/her feet
• Work within our leading Consumer goods research team on the publication and presentation of insightful high-impact research reports on the sector and its constituent companies
• Provide support on currently covered European Consumer stocks
• Prioritization of initiatives and projects and timely delivery of insights and reportsDrives the development of strong working partnerships across functions within Chico's FAS and with outside vendors
• Develops and supports direct reports
• Create and maintain earnings models and financial models leveraging skills in accounting, finance and economics
• Keep abreast of new flow and identify the trends, the competitive landscape, the evolving content and services of companies related to the Australian and New Zealand Consumer sector
• Differentiate investment opportunities in the Australian and New Zealand Consumer sector
• Regularly interact with equity sales force
• Prepare and write research reports with a company or sector focus
• Handle and respond to requests for data and information from internal and external clients
• Deliver superior client service by exceeding client expectations and producing actionable insights that drive additional engagements and on-time renewals
• Write/design surveys for the Showtime consumer panel and track and analyze results, including summarizing feedback
• Utilise your industry knowledge & experience by enabling access to leaders and experts in your industry
• Meet with major companies and investors within the European consumer sector
• Provide timely and high-quality response to institutional investors' queries
• Have a minimum of 2 years experience as an equities research analyst in the consumer sector
• Have strong tertiary qualifications
• A minimum of 12 years’ market research experience (agency or client)

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Consumer Research: Definition, Methods and Benefits (+ Templates)

Nemanja Jovancic

Sep 02 2020

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Launching a new product? Considering whether you should offer new services or tweak the current ones? Such moments can be challenging both for established brands and those just trying to break into the market.

Whenever you have something new to offer to your customers, there are numerous factors to be taken into account if you want to make well-informed decisions that would increase the chances of a successful launch, instead of stumbling in the dark and hoping for the best.

This is where consumer research kicks in.

What is consumer research?

Consumer research is the aspect of market research that focuses on identifying the motivation, preferences, and purchase behavior of (potential) consumers.

Companies rely on consumer research to analyze and better understand consumer psychology so as to improve their products or services, making them more customer-oriented, and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and the number of sales.

Having a deep understanding of consumer decision-making and purchase behavior allows brands to build products that will find their market fit more easily, put the optimal price tag onto them, and establish the right distribution and promotion channels.

Let’s say a beauty industry company wants to launch a new skincare product. In order to de-risk their production and product placement, they could launch a skincare quiz to find out what it is that their consumers actually need:

And then they could do additional market research to find out more about their ideal customer’s demographics and purchase habits. Conducting this kind of consumer research is expected to facilitate a successful launch for the new product and ensure that there’s actual demand for such a product on the market.

Before we dig any deeper into consumer research, here’s a survey template you could easily use to do your own market research.

Consumer research survey template

Just here for an easy way to conduct your own consumer research? No worries, we’ve got you covered – grab this market research template and learn more about your consumers right now.

If you would like to learn more about how and why you should conduct the research using the template above, keep on reading.

Why you should conduct consumer research

Often, people do research just because they’ve been told to do so. But if you’re looking to better understand your consumers and their needs, you need to know why you should be conducting consumer research in the first place. Even though there are plenty of benefits, here are the top three I’d like to point out:

Understand market readiness

No matter how good you think your products or services are, there’s a fair chance you’re not completely objective nor representative of your ideal target consumer.

When launching a new product, there’s a lot of investments going around and, naturally, you’d expect adequate ROI. However, if there’s not enough market potential, your investment might fail. This is where consumer research kicks in.

Identify target consumers

Another important benefit of conducting consumer research is the ability to identify and analyze your target customers. In other words, this allows you to determine who might be interested in buying your products or using your services.

For example, you can use a demographic survey  to obtain various information on your customers such as age, gender, geographic location, employment, marital status, and more. Or you can rely on different types of market segmentation  to reach your ideal customer. This would allow you to customize your marketing efforts to better appeal to particular customer sets.

Get feedback on existing products or services

Finally, consumer research can help you obtain valuable feedback on your current business offer. Such feedback can help you update or improve your current products based on the valuable information from the actual consumers.

Getting feedback is important because it helps brands and businesses better understand the consumers’ standing point and come up with an improved product that would help address the challenges they’ve been having and fully meet the actual market needs and requirements.

Main consumer research methods

There are two main types of consumer research – quantitative and qualitative . Both types rely on different research techniques that we’ll explore in more detail down below.

Quantitative consumer research

By 2025, the global data pool is expected to rise up to 175 zettabytes . That’s why meaningful data has become more valuable than ever and the way companies collect data  can either make or break their business success.

Quantitative research is a data collection method that revolves around numbers and stats. It’s an essential part of consumer research that can provide businesses with measurable data on their customers. Such data can be mathematically and statistically analyzed in order to gain more insight into consumer behavior.

The most effective and most popular techniques for obtaining quantitative data are different types of online questionnaires such as surveys and polls.

Surveys and polls

Nowadays, the easiest way to obtain consumer data is through online surveys, questionnaires, and polls. Thanks to highly-advanced and intuitive survey tools , it’s now easier than ever to create your own data collectors, either from scratch or using professionally written templates.

All the LeadQuizzes users, for example, gain free access to 78 professionally written and beautifully designed survey, quiz, and form templates. This includes market and consumer research survey templates such as the ones shown in the image below:

To access the LeadQuizzes templates, just log in to your account (or sign up for a free trial  if you don’t have an account yet) and select your preferred template from the selection of pre-made templates . You can use the templates as they are or easily customize them to meet your specific needs.

One of the easiest ways to obtain quantitative customer data is by using an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey . This customer research technique allows you to easily evaluate the satisfaction of your current users and express it through numbers for easy analysis. With just one single question – “How likely are you to refer our business?” – you can easily measure consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

To preview (or use) an NPS survey template, just click on the image below:

Qualitative consumer research

Unlike quantitative research, which relies on numbers, qualitative consumer research is descriptive in nature. To obtain qualitative data, you need to be using open-ended questions with no predefined answer options. While this means that you can still be using online surveys to obtain qualitative data as well, there are a few more options to choose from.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a small group of people who are experts on a particular subject matter and whose job is to analyze a particular aspect of consumer research – e.g. a new update, feature, product, and so on.

Ideally, focus groups contain somewhere between 3-10 people, including an obligatory moderator. Depending on the research topic and goal, the members of a focus group should be brought together around certain common denominators.

For example, if you’re doing research on the use of birth control pills, all the members of your focus group need to be sexually active females. The remaining parameters like age, education, employment, and so on, may or may not be relevant here.

1-to-1 interviews

In most cases, this is a conversational method that presupposes an interviewer and an interviewee. During this type of consumer research, the researcher (the interviewer) asks questions (that are equivalent to the open-ended survey questions) related to products and services.

There are two main limitations to this method. Firstly, it’s very time consuming and might become overwhelming if you have to interview an excessively large number of consumers. And secondly, it very much relies on the researcher’s expertise and ability to extract the relevant information from interviewees.

Social media monitoring

This type of consumer research could also be described as content or text analysis but, in recent years, it primarily refers to the analysis of consumer behavior on social media. Here, the researchers analyze consumers’ social life by decoding their social media posts and interactions to draw inferences related to their consumer behavior and habits.

After the research

Above, we’ve introduced you to consumer research – what it is, why you need to conduct it, and what are some of the best ways to do so. Once you’ve managed to conduct your research, gather the necessary data, analyze it, and come to certain conclusions, you should have a better insight into the exact needs and pain points of your customers.

This will allow you to adapt your business, update, tweak or completely revamp your products and services, and develop a better marketing plan that would allow you to attract more consumers, determine the optimal price, increase the number of sales, and reduce costs.

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Growth Trends for Related Jobs

Consumer insights analyst job description.

A consumer insights analyst is similar to a marketing research analyst in that both study consumer activity through surveys. Little difference exists the two positions, and a company's human resources department determines the choice of job title. Nevertheless, the consumer insights analyst job description usually includes a number of functions that center around better understanding consumers in the marketplace.

Significance of the Position

The job of the consumer insights analyst often involves working with the consumer insights manager in the planning marketing research studies. The consumer insights analyst acts as a consumer expert in providing consumer feedback to other departments. Consumer insights analysts often meet with the branding, advertising and business development departments to discuss crucial consumer data for making business decisions.

Identification of the Data Source

The analyst is often responsible for contacting the marketing research agency or moderator for conducting quantitative research such as phone surveys, or qualitative research such as focus groups. The consumer insights analyst must ultimately hire the agency, manage the flow of information between the various departments and the agency, and create the first draft of the questionnaire with the agency's input.

Function of the Analyst

The job description for this position usually includes managing multiple marketing research studies and ensuring that each one is fielded and completed on time. After each marketing research project, the consumer insights analyst needs to study the survey results or data tables, analyze the information and summarize the key consumer findings from the research. Often, the consumer research analyst writes a detailed report that includes the summary, analysis and recommendations.

Other Types of Duties

Consumer insights analysts may also purchase and study secondary research information on their particular industry. This information will often help them understand the strength of the company's competitors, analyze factors influencing sales in the industry and determine which products will likely experience growth in the coming year. Consumer insights analyst swill, at times, be required to handle ad hoc research requests from other departments so they can gather more information on consumers. Examples of ad hoc research can include target market analysis, market segmentation research and even market data for sales visual aids.

Salary and Job Outlook

Consumer insights analysts earned a median annual salary of $60,300 in 2012, per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS predicts a 32 percent growth in the field between 2012 and 2022.

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The past, present, and future of consumer research

Maayan s. malter.

1 Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, NY USA

Morris B. Holbrook

Barbara e. kahn.

2 The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA

Jeffrey R. Parker

3 Department of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL USA

Donald R. Lehmann

In this article, we document the evolution of research trends (concepts, methods, and aims) within the field of consumer behavior, from the time of its early development to the present day, as a multidisciplinary area of research within marketing. We describe current changes in retailing and real-world consumption and offer suggestions on how to use observations of consumption phenomena to generate new and interesting consumer behavior research questions. Consumption continues to change with technological advancements and shifts in consumers’ values and goals. We cannot know the exact shape of things to come, but we polled a sample of leading scholars and summarize their predictions on where the field may be headed in the next twenty years.

Introduction

Beginning in the late 1950s, business schools shifted from descriptive and practitioner-focused studies to more theoretically driven and academically rigorous research (Dahl et al. 1959 ). As the field expanded from an applied form of economics to embrace theories and methodologies from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and statistics, there was an increased emphasis on understanding the thoughts, desires, and experiences of individual consumers. For academic marketing, this meant that research not only focused on the decisions and strategies of marketing managers but also on the decisions and thought processes on the other side of the market—customers.

Since then, the academic study of consumer behavior has evolved and incorporated concepts and methods, not only from marketing at large but also from related social science disciplines, and from the ever-changing landscape of real-world consumption behavior. Its position as an area of study within a larger discipline that comprises researchers from diverse theoretical backgrounds and methodological training has stirred debates over its identity. One article describes consumer behavior as a multidisciplinary subdiscipline of marketing “characterized by the study of people operating in a consumer role involving acquisition, consumption, and disposition of marketplace products, services, and experiences” (MacInnis and Folkes 2009 , p. 900).

This article reviews the evolution of the field of consumer behavior over the past half century, describes its current status, and predicts how it may evolve over the next twenty years. Our review is by no means a comprehensive history of the field (see Schumann et al. 2008 ; Rapp and Hill 2015 ; Wang et al. 2015 ; Wilkie and Moore 2003 , to name a few) but rather focuses on a few key thematic developments. Though we observe many major shifts during this period, certain questions and debates have persisted: Does consumer behavior research need to be relevant to marketing managers or is there intrinsic value from studying the consumer as a project pursued for its own sake? What counts as consumption: only consumption from traditional marketplace transactions or also consumption in a broader sense of non-marketplace interactions? Which are the most appropriate theoretical traditions and methodological tools for addressing questions in consumer behavior research?

A brief history of consumer research over the past sixty years—1960 to 2020

In 1969, the Association for Consumer Research was founded and a yearly conference to share marketing research specifically from the consumer’s perspective was instituted. This event marked the culmination of the growing interest in the topic by formalizing it as an area of research within marketing (consumer psychology had become a formalized branch of psychology within the APA in 1960). So, what was consumer behavior before 1969? Scanning current consumer-behavior doctoral seminar syllabi reveals few works predating 1969, with most of those coming from psychology and economics, namely Herbert Simon’s A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice (1955), Abraham Maslow’s A Theory of Human Motivation (1943), and Ernest Dichter’s Handbook of Consumer Motivations (1964). In short, research that illuminated and informed our understanding of consumer behavior prior to 1969 rarely focused on marketing-specific topics, much less consumers or consumption (Dichter’s handbook being a notable exception). Yet, these works were crucial to the rise of consumer behavior research because, in the decades after 1969, there was a shift within academic marketing to thinking about research from a behavioral or decision science perspective (Wilkie and Moore 2003 ). The following section details some ways in which this shift occurred. We draw on a framework proposed by the philosopher Larry Laudan ( 1986 ), who distinguished among three inter-related aspects of scientific inquiry—namely, concepts (the relevant ideas, theories, hypotheses, and constructs); methods (the techniques employed to test and validate these concepts); and aims (the purposes or goals that motivate the investigation).

Key concepts in the late - 1960s

During the late-1960s, we tended to view the buyer as a computer-like machine for processing information according to various formal rules that embody economic rationality to form a preference for one or another option in order to arrive at a purchase decision. This view tended to manifest itself in a couple of conspicuous ways. The first was a model of buyer behavior introduced by John Howard in 1963 in the second edition of his marketing textbook and quickly adopted by virtually every theorist working in our field—including, Howard and Sheth (of course), Engel-Kollat-&-Blackwell, Franco Nicosia, Alan Andreasen, Jim Bettman, and Joel Cohen. Howard’s great innovation—which he based on a scheme that he had found in the work of Plato (namely, the linkages among Cognition, Affect, and Conation)—took the form of a boxes-and-arrows formulation heavily influenced by the approach to organizational behavior theory that Howard (University of Pittsburgh) had picked up from Herbert Simon (Carnegie Melon University). The model represented a chain of events

where I = inputs of information (from advertising, word-of-mouth, brand features, etc.); C = cognitions (beliefs or perceptions about a brand); A = Affect (liking or preference for the brand); B = behavior (purchase of the brand); and S = satisfaction (post-purchase evaluation of the brand that feeds back onto earlier stages of the sequence, according to a learning model in which reinforced behavior tends to be repeated). This formulation lay at the heart of Howard’s work, which he updated, elaborated on, and streamlined over the remainder of his career. Importantly, it informed virtually every buyer-behavior model that blossomed forth during the last half of the twentieth century.

To represent the link between cognitions and affect, buyer-behavior researchers used various forms of the multi-attribute attitude model (MAAM), originally proposed by psychologists such as Fishbein and Rosenberg as part of what Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975 ) called the theory of reasoned action. Under MAAM, cognitions (beliefs about brand attributes) are weighted by their importance and summed to create an explanation or prediction of affect (liking for a brand or preference for one brand versus another), which in turn determines behavior (choice of a brand or intention to purchase a brand). This took the work of economist Kelvin Lancaster (with whom Howard interacted), which assumed attitude was based on objective attributes, and extended it to include subjective ones (Lancaster 1966 ; Ratchford 1975 ). Overall, the set of concepts that prevailed in the late-1960s assumed the buyer exhibited economic rationality and acted as a computer-like information-processing machine when making purchase decisions.

Favored methods in the late-1960s

The methods favored during the late-1960s tended to be almost exclusively neo-positivistic in nature. That is, buyer-behavior research adopted the kinds of methodological rigor that we associate with the physical sciences and the hypothetico-deductive approaches advocated by the neo-positivistic philosophers of science.

Thus, the accepted approaches tended to be either experimental or survey based. For example, numerous laboratory studies tested variations of the MAAM and focused on questions about how to measure beliefs, how to weight the beliefs, how to combine the weighted beliefs, and so forth (e.g., Beckwith and Lehmann 1973 ). Here again, these assumed a rational economic decision-maker who processed information something like a computer.

Seeking rigor, buyer-behavior studies tended to be quantitative in their analyses, employing multivariate statistics, structural equation models, multidimensional scaling, conjoint analysis, and other mathematically sophisticated techniques. For example, various attempts to test the ICABS formulation developed simultaneous (now called structural) equation models such as those deployed by Farley and Ring ( 1970 , 1974 ) to test the Howard and Sheth ( 1969 ) model and by Beckwith and Lehmann ( 1973 ) to measure halo effects.

Aims in the late-1960s

During this time period, buyer-behavior research was still considered a subdivision of marketing research, the purpose of which was to provide insights useful to marketing managers in making strategic decisions. Essentially, every paper concluded with a section on “Implications for Marketing Managers.” Authors who failed to conform to this expectation could generally count on having their work rejected by leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research ( JMR ) and the Journal of Marketing ( JM ).

Summary—the three R’s in the late-1960s

Starting in the late-1960s to the early-1980s, virtually every buyer-behavior researcher followed the traditional approach to concepts, methods, and aims, now encapsulated under what we might call the three R’s —namely, rationality , rigor , and relevance . However, as we transitioned into the 1980s and beyond, that changed as some (though by no means all) consumer researchers began to expand their approaches and to evolve different perspectives.

Concepts after 1980

In some circles, the traditional emphasis on the buyer’s rationality—that is, a view of the buyer as a rational-economic, decision-oriented, information-processing, computer-like machine for making choices—began to evolve in at least two primary ways.

First, behavioral economics (originally studied in marketing under the label Behavioral Decision Theory)—developed in psychology by Kahneman and Tversky, in economics by Thaler, and applied in marketing by a number of forward-thinking theorists (e.g., Eric Johnson, Jim Bettman, John Payne, Itamar Simonson, Jay Russo, Joel Huber, and more recently, Dan Ariely)—challenged the rationality of consumers as decision-makers. It was shown that numerous commonly used decision heuristics depart from rational choice and are exceptions to the traditional assumptions of economic rationality. This trend shed light on understanding consumer financial decision-making (Prelec and Loewenstein 1998 ; Gourville 1998 ; Lynch Jr 2011 ) and how to develop “nudges” to help consumers make better decisions for their personal finances (summarized in Johnson et al. 2012 ).

Second, the emerging experiential view (anticipated by Alderson, Levy, and others; developed by Holbrook and Hirschman, and embellished by Schmitt, Pine, and Gilmore, and countless followers) regarded consumers as flesh-and-blood human beings (rather than as information-processing computer-like machines), focused on hedonic aspects of consumption, and expanded the concepts embodied by ICABS (Table ​ (Table1 1 ).

Extended ICABS Framework after 1980

Methods after 1980

The two burgeoning areas of research—behavioral economics and experiential theories—differed in their methodological approaches. The former relied on controlled randomized experiments with a focus on decision strategies and behavioral outcomes. For example, experiments tested the process by which consumers evaluate options using information display boards and “Mouselab” matrices of aspects and attributes (Payne et al. 1988 ). This school of thought also focused on behavioral dependent measures, such as choice (Huber et al. 1982 ; Simonson 1989 ; Iyengar and Lepper 2000 ).

The latter was influenced by post-positivistic philosophers of science—such as Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, and Richard Rorty—and approaches expanded to include various qualitative techniques (interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, and even introspective methods) not previously prominent in the field of consumer research. These included:

• Interpretive approaches —such as those drawing on semiotics and hermeneutics—in an effort to gain a richer understanding of the symbolic meanings involved in consumption experiences;
• Ethnographic approaches — borrowed from cultural anthropology—such as those illustrated by the influential Consumer Behavior Odyssey (Belk et al. 1989 ) and its discoveries about phenomena related to sacred aspects of consumption or the deep meanings of collections and other possessions;
• Humanistic approaches —such as those borrowed from cultural studies or from literary criticism and more recently gathered together under the general heading of consumer culture theory ( CCT );
• Introspective or autoethnographic approaches —such as those associated with a method called subjective personal introspection ( SPI ) that various consumer researchers like Sidney Levy and Steve Gould have pursued to gain insights based on their own private lives.

These qualitative approaches tended not to appear in the more traditional journals such as the Journal of Marketing , Journal of Marketing Research , or Marketing Science . However, newer journals such as Consumption, Markets, & Culture and Marketing Theory began to publish papers that drew on the various interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, or introspective methods.

Aims after 1980

In 1974, consumer research finally got its own journal with the launch of the Journal of Consumer Research ( JCR ). The early editors of JCR —especially Bob Ferber, Hal Kassarjian, and Jim Bettman—held a rather divergent attitude about the importance or even the desirability of managerial relevance as a key goal of consumer studies. Under their influence, some researchers began to believe that consumer behavior is a phenomenon worthy of study in its own right—purely for the purpose of understanding it better. The journal incorporated articles from an array of methodologies: quantitative (both secondary data analysis and experimental techniques) and qualitative. The “right” balance between theoretical insight and substantive relevance—which are not in inherent conflict—is a matter of debate to this day and will likely continue to be debated well into the future.

Summary—the three I’s after 1980

In sum, beginning in the early-1980s, consumer research branched out. Much of the work in consumer studies remained within the earlier tradition of the three R’s—that is, rationality (an information-processing decision-oriented buyer), rigor (neo-positivistic experimental designs and quantitative techniques), and relevance (usefulness to marketing managers). Nonetheless, many studies embraced enlarged views of the three major aspects that might be called the three I’s —that is, irrationality (broadened perspectives that incorporate illogical, heuristic, experiential, or hedonic aspects of consumption), interpretation (various qualitative or “postmodern” approaches), and intrinsic motivation (the joy of pursuing a managerially irrelevant consumer study purely for the sake of satisfying one’s own curiosity, without concern for whether it does or does not help a marketing practitioner make a bigger profit).

The present—the consumer behavior field today

Present concepts.

In recent years, technological changes have significantly influenced the nature of consumption as the customer journey has transitioned to include more interaction on digital platforms that complements interaction in physical stores. This shift poses a major conceptual challenge in understanding if and how these technological changes affect consumption. Does the medium through which consumption occurs fundamentally alter the psychological and social processes identified in earlier research? In addition, this shift allows us to collect more data at different stages of the customer journey, which further allows us to analyze behavior in ways that were not previously available.

Revisiting the ICABS framework, many of the previous concepts are still present, but we are now addressing them through a lens of technological change (Table ​ (Table2 2 ). In recent years, a number of concepts (e.g., identity, beliefs/lay theories, affect as information, self-control, time, psychological ownership, search for meaning and happiness, social belonging, creativity, and status) have emerged as integral factors that influence and are influenced by consumption. To better understand these concepts, a number of influential theories from social psychology have been adopted into consumer behavior research. Self-construal (Markus and Kitayama 1991 ), regulatory focus (Higgins 1998 ), construal level (Trope and Liberman 2010 ), and goal systems (Kruglanski et al. 2002 ) all provide social-cognition frameworks through which consumer behavior researchers study the psychological processes behind consumer behavior. This “adoption” of social psychological theories into consumer behavior is a symbiotic relationship that further enhances the theories. Tory Higgins happily stated that he learned more about his own theories from the work of marketing academics (he cited Angela Lee and Michel Pham) in further testing and extending them.

ICABS framework in the digital age

Present Methods

Not only have technological advancements changed the nature of consumption but they have also significantly influenced the methods used in consumer research by adding both new sources of data and improved analytical tools (Ding et al. 2020 ). Researchers continue to use traditional methods from psychology in empirical research (scale development, laboratory experiments, quantitative analyses, etc.) and interpretive approaches in qualitative research. Additionally, online experiments using participants from panels such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific have become commonplace in the last decade. While they raise concerns about the quality of the data and about the external validity of the results, these online experiments have greatly increased the speed and decreased the cost of collecting data, so researchers continue to use them, albeit with some caution. Reminiscent of the discussion in the 1970s and 1980s about the use of student subjects, the projectability of the online responses and of an increasingly conditioned “professional” group of online respondents (MTurkers) is a major concern.

Technology has also changed research methodology. Currently, there is a large increase in the use of secondary data thanks to the availability of Big Data about online and offline behavior. Methods in computer science have advanced our ability to analyze large corpuses of unstructured data (text, voice, visual images) in an efficient and rigorous way and, thus, to tap into a wealth of nuanced thoughts, feelings, and behaviors heretofore only accessible to qualitative researchers through laboriously conducted content analyses. There are also new neuro-marketing techniques like eye-tracking, fMRI’s, body arousal measures (e.g., heart rate, sweat), and emotion detectors that allow us to measure automatic responses. Lastly, there has been an increase in large-scale field experiments that can be run in online B2C marketplaces.

Present Aims

Along with a focus on real-world observations and data, there is a renewed emphasis on managerial relevance. Countless conference addresses and editorials in JCR , JCP , and other journals have emphasized the importance of making consumer research useful outside of academia—that is, to help companies, policy makers, and consumers. For instance, understanding how the “new” consumer interacts over time with other consumers and companies in the current marketplace is a key area for future research. As global and social concerns become more salient in all aspects of life, issues of long-term sustainability, social equality, and ethical business practices have also become more central research topics. Fortunately, despite this emphasis on relevance, theoretical contributions and novel ideas are still highly valued. An appropriate balance of theory and practice has become the holy grail of consumer research.

The effects of the current trends in real-world consumption will increase in magnitude with time as more consumers are digitally native. Therefore, a better understanding of current consumer behavior can give us insights and help predict how it will continue to evolve in the years to come.

The future—the consumer behavior field in 2040 1

Niels Bohr once said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Indeed, it would be a fool’s errand for a single person to hazard a guess about the state of the consumer behavior field twenty years from now. Therefore, predictions from 34 active consumer researchers were collected to address this task. Here, we briefly summarize those predictions.

Future Concepts

While few respondents proffered guesses regarding specific concepts that would be of interest twenty years from now, many suggested broad topics and trends they expected to see in the field. Expectations for topics could largely be grouped into three main areas. Many suspected that we will be examining essentially the same core topics, perhaps at a finer-grained level, from different perspectives or in ways that we currently cannot utilize due to methodological limitations (more on methods below). A second contingent predicted that much research would center on the impending crises the world faces today, most mentioning environmental and social issues (the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet begun when these predictions were collected and, unsurprisingly, was not anticipated by any of our respondents). The last group, citing the widely expected profound impact of AI on consumers’ lives, argued that AI and other technology-related topics will be dominant subjects in consumer research circa 2040.

While the topic of technology is likely to be focal in the field, our current expectations for the impact of technology on consumers’ lives are narrower than it should be. Rather than merely offering innumerable conveniences and experiences, it seems likely that technology will begin to be integrated into consumers’ thoughts, identities, and personal relationships—probably sooner than we collectively expect. The integration of machines into humans’ bodies and lives will present the field with an expanding list of research questions that do not exist today. For example, how will the concepts of the self, identity, privacy, and goal pursuit change when web-connected technology seamlessly integrates with human consciousness and cognition? Major questions will also need to be answered regarding philosophy of mind, ethics, and social inequality. We suspect that the impact of technology on consumers and consumer research will be far broader than most consumer-behavior researchers anticipate.

As for broader trends within consumer research, there were two camps: (1) those who expect (or hope) that dominant theories (both current and yet to be developed) will become more integrated and comprehensive and (2) those who expect theoretical contributions to become smaller and smaller, to the point of becoming trivial. Both groups felt that current researchers are filling smaller cracks than before, but disagreed on how this would ultimately be resolved.

Future Methods

As was the case with concepts, respondents’ expectations regarding consumer-research methodologies in 2030 can also be divided into three broad baskets. Unsurprisingly, many indicated that we would be using many technologies not currently available or in wide use. Perhaps more surprising was that most cited the use of technology such as AI, machine-learning algorithms, and robots in designing—as opposed to executing or analyzing—experiments. (Some did point to the use of technologies such as virtual reality in the actual execution of experiments.) The second camp indicated that a focus on reliable and replicable results (discussed further below) will encourage a greater tendency for pre-registering studies, more use of “Big Data,” and a demand for more studies per paper (versus more papers per topic, which some believe is a more fruitful direction). Finally, the third lot indicated that “real data” would be in high demand, thereby necessitating the use of incentive-compatible, consequential dependent variables and a greater prevalence of field studies in consumer research.

As a result, young scholars would benefit from developing a “toolkit” of methodologies for collecting and analyzing the abundant new data of interest to the field. This includes (but is not limited to) a deep understanding of designing and implementing field studies (Gerber and Green 2012 ), data analysis software (R, Python, etc.), text mining and analysis (Humphreys and Wang 2018 ), and analytical tools for other unstructured forms of data such as image and sound. The replication crisis in experimental research means that future scholars will also need to take a more critical approach to validity (internal, external, construct), statistical power, and significance in their work.

Future Aims

While there was an air of existential concern about the future of the field, most agreed that the trend will be toward increasing the relevance and reliability of consumer research. Specifically, echoing calls from journals and thought leaders, the respondents felt that papers will need to offer more actionable implications for consumers, managers, or policy makers. However, few thought that this increased focus would come at the expense of theoretical insights, suggesting a more demanding overall standard for consumer research in 2040. Likewise, most felt that methodological transparency, open access to data and materials, and study pre-registration will become the norm as the field seeks to allay concerns about the reliability and meaningfulness of its research findings.

Summary - Future research questions and directions

Despite some well-justified pessimism, the future of consumer research is as bright as ever. As we revised this paper amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that many aspects of marketplace behavior, consumption, and life in general will change as a result of this unprecedented global crisis. Given this, and the radical technological, social, and environmental changes that loom on the horizon, consumer researchers will have a treasure trove of topics to tackle in the next ten years, many of which will carry profound substantive importance. While research approaches will evolve, the core goals will remain consistent—namely, to generate theoretically insightful, empirically supported, and substantively impactful research (Table ​ (Table3 3 ).

Future consumer behavior research questions

At any given moment in time, the focal concepts, methods, and aims of consumer-behavior scholarship reflect both the prior development of the field and trends in the larger scientific community. However, despite shifting trends, the core of the field has remained constant—namely, to understand the motivations, thought processes, and experiences of individuals as they consume goods, services, information, and other offerings, and to use these insights to develop interventions to improve both marketing strategy for firms and consumer welfare for individuals and groups. Amidst the excitement of new technologies, social trends, and consumption experiences, it is important to look back and remind ourselves of the insights the field has already generated. Effectively integrating these past findings with new observations and fresh research will help the field advance our understanding of consumer behavior.

1 The other papers use 2030 as a target year but we asked our survey respondents to make predictions for 2040 and thus we have a different future target year.

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The importance of consumer research

04/04/19 13:12

Posted by Verena Fiebelmann

A key service we offer at Consumer Intelligence involves delivering exciting insight through consumer research. We ask our Senior Research Executive, Emma, what ‘consumer research’ really means and what benefits it can bring to brands. 

  Through the power of consumer research, we help brands gain a deeper understanding of what drives customer behaviour to support the development of business strategies that deliver results.

Whilst this sounds like a no-brainer, quite often the term ‘consumer research’ acts as a barrier, with its true meaning being misconstrued. As a result, the opportunity to really listen to and understand customers through qualitative and qualitative fieldwork goes untapped, by even the brands that need it most.

Emma joined Consumer Intelligence in 2017 as a Senior Research Executive, having previously worked in a global research agency. She works closely with clients in the insurance, banking and finance sector to manage end-to-end consumer research projects — from scoping out new projects and turning the client’s research objectives into a workable study design, to analysing the data and presenting the results back to the client.

We asked Emma to explain what consumer research is really about and why businesses should be using it to put customers at the heart of their strategies.

Q. We hear the term a lot, but what exactly is consumer research?

Consumer research is a broad term that covers the collection and analysis of data about and from consumers. In its simplest form, it is talking to ‘real people’ and getting to know the customer to understand their opinions, attitudes, behaviours, and needs. It can range from large scale online studies which provide robust, statistically valid data-based insights, through to face-to-face interviews, workshops and focus groups, which allow for in-depth exploration of themes which are more abstract or complex.

Consumer research can help inform the development of customer strategies, marketing activity, products and propositions, branding, advertising and communications — anything which constitutes a ‘touchpoint’ with your consumers, including the service offering itself. Projects can be ad-hoc to answer a specific question or need, or bespoke programmes of research which track trends and changes over the longer term.

“ Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why. ” - Bernard Baruch

Q. Why do businesses need consumer research?

In order to succeed, businesses need to continue to meet the needs of and nurture loyalty from their current customers, while finding ways to attract new ones. Sales figures alone only give you half the picture — they tell you the ‘what’ and ‘how many’, but not the ‘why’, and focus too much on what has already happened. It is vital that businesses are able to see and understand how their brand and service or product offer are seen and received through the eyes of their customers.

Q. Why is consumer research so important to businesses, particularly in today’s age?

It is all too easy to become biased or over-informed working within an industry, and without stepping back and checking in with real-world consumers, businesses may put their focus or get carried away on strategies or developments which don’t necessarily always meet the demands of the customer. For example, looking at the (almost) official Amazon move into the UK insurance market, having filed for an insurance licence back in September — research suggests that from a consumer perspective, it seems a welcomed move indicating they may even make it despite a number of big brands attempting and failing in the past.

Taking the time to understand your consumers can avoid costly mistakes further down the line which are driven by ignorance or misplaced assumptions, by ensuring you hear their voice throughout, and we see businesses increasingly realising the importance of a customer-centric ethos. It also allows you to gain a more comprehensive view of the market in which you operate, by exploring how consumers see your business in relation to your competitors, which helps to strengthen and develop a brand’s sense of identity and positioning in the marketplace.

Q. When it comes to our consumer research offering, what is the biggest thing we help our clients with?

At Consumer Intelligence, we often support our clients with research which focuses on understanding how consumers relate to products which are often perceived as ‘grudge’ or practical purchases, on a deeper and more implicit level. We explore themes such as peace of mind, the home, security, and the freedom that these kinds of products protect. By researching what these services mean to consumers, alongside the customer experience, we gain insight into how people approach choosing their providers and what drives them to buy (or not) from them, which can inform customer profiling, targeting, and sales and marketing strategies.

At the moment, there is a big focus on digital development (think the future of insurance : blockchain, AI, autonomous vehicles as well as open banking and a cashless society). As organisations are developing and launching new products at a rapid pace, we’re seeing an increased need for research which seeks customer input throughout the product development journey — from concept and proposition testing through to market-sizing and post-launch evaluation.

Q. Why is consumer research vital to business survival?

With imminent unknowns becoming a reality and changing the way we live, move, buy and own, digital and the impact of tech innovation is both a huge threat and a huge opportunity for the financial services sector in particular. Challenger brands, FinTechs, InsurTechs, and non-traditional business models and product offerings are disrupting what have historically been stable, traditional industries, and in order to adapt, survive, and grow, it is more important than ever that businesses are self-aware and acknowledge their customers and their attitudes, concerns and needs before they become out of touch.

Q. How do you expect the way consumer research is used by businesses to change in the future?

At the heart of every business are its customers. What we do at Consumer Intelligence is provide a full, 360-view of the market — whether that’s in the UK or in other markets around the world. Increasingly we are seeing integrated research approaches — so rather than examining data from different sources in isolation, implementing programmes of blended research methodologies which utilise specialisms such as pricing, consumer research, and strategy, to paint a three-dimensional, holistic picture of all the elements which determine business success and create really meaningful insights and direction. For example, at Consumer Intelligence, we can blend unique insurance pricing data with consumer behavioural research to show what people are selling, what people are buying and why. Additionally, our Advisory consultancy services helps to identify and forecast new strategic opportunities to help businesses grow, improve performance and drive high retention.

Why do you need consumer research?

Download our guide to 'Understanding Consumer Attitudes' to learn how our output goes beyond research and data to uncover genuinely exciting insights – invaluable insights that can help transform your business and your bottom line.

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Consumer Psychologist: Role, Responsibilities, & Education

Written by Sarah Walsh

Clinical PsyD — Rutgers University | Clinical Psychologist

Consumer Psychologists play a crucial role in understanding the complexities of consumer behavior and guiding marketing strategies. By delving into the intricate workings of the human mind, these professionals unlock valuable insights into why consumers make certain choices and how they can be influenced. In this article, we will discuss Consumer Psychologist as a profession and what they contribute to society.

Consumer Psychology in Business

Consumer Psychology, also known as the psychology of consumer behavior or the psychology of marketing, is a specialized field that employs theoretical psychological approaches to understand consumers. It combines elements of psychology, sociology, and marketing to examine the motivations, preferences, and decision-making processes of individuals or groups when it comes to purchasing goods and services. Consumer psychologists delve deep into the cognitive and emotional aspects of consumer behavior, shedding light on the underlying psychological factors that shape consumer choices.

Consumer psychology holds immense importance in the realm of business. By comprehending the factors that influence consumer decisions, organizations can tailor their marketing strategies to effectively target and engage their desired audiences. Consumer psychologists provide valuable insights into understanding consumer needs, preferences, and desires, enabling businesses to create compelling brand experiences and develop products that resonate with their target market.

Moreover, consumer psychology helps companies identify and analyze consumer trends, allowing them to stay ahead of the competition and adapt their marketing tactics accordingly. By leveraging psychological principles and market research techniques, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction, build brand loyalty, and ultimately drive revenue growth.

The Role of Consumer Psychologists

Consumer Psychologists fulfill a multifaceted role in unraveling the mysteries of consumer behavior. Through their expertise in psychology and marketing, they contribute to understanding the intricate interplay of various factors that shape consumer choices. Let’s explore three key aspects of their role:

1. Understanding Consumer Behavior

One of the primary responsibilities of consumer psychologists is to unravel the complexities of consumer behavior. They delve into the psychological underpinnings of why individuals and groups make certain purchasing decisions. Consumer psychologists gain insights into the cognitive processes, emotions, and motivations that drive consumer behavior by employing research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and observational studies. This understanding is crucial for businesses to design effective marketing strategies, develop products that meet consumer needs, and create targeted advertising campaigns.

2. Analyzing Factors Influencing Consumer Decisions

Consumer psychologists carefully analyze the multitude of factors that influence consumer decisions. These factors can include cultural influences, social relationships, media exposure, environmental cues, personal preferences, and more. Consumer psychologists help businesses identify key touchpoints where they can engage with consumers effectively by investigating these influences. 

They examine how external stimuli, such as advertising, packaging, pricing, or brand reputation, impact consumer perceptions and choices. This analysis empowers organizations to make informed decisions about product development, branding, and marketing communication strategies that align with the desires and preferences of their target market.

3. Applying Psychological Principles in Marketing

Consumer psychologists bridge the gap between psychology and marketing by applying psychological principles to develop effective marketing strategies. Drawing upon their knowledge of consumer behavior, they provide insights into how businesses can leverage psychological triggers, persuasion techniques, and behavioral economics to influence consumer decision-making. 

They help create compelling marketing campaigns, design user-friendly interfaces, optimize customer experiences, and enhance brand positioning. By aligning marketing efforts with the understanding of human psychology, consumer psychologists empower organizations to engage with consumers on a deeper level, foster brand loyalty, and drive business growth.

Useful Skills of Consumer Psychologists

Consumer Psychologists possess a diverse set of skills that enable them to navigate the complex landscape of consumer behavior and contribute valuable insights to marketing strategies. Here are some essential skills that are instrumental in their work:

1. Research and Analytical Skills

Proficiency in research and analytical skills is fundamental to the role of a consumer psychologist. These professionals are adept at designing and conducting research studies, employing various qualitative and quantitative research methods. They gather data through surveys, focus groups, interviews, and observations to gain a comprehensive understanding of consumer preferences, motivations, and decision-making processes. 

Moreover, consumer psychologists possess strong analytical abilities to interpret data, identify patterns, and extract meaningful insights that inform marketing strategies. By combining research and analytical skills, they provide evidence-based recommendations to businesses on how to effectively engage with their target audience.

2. Communication and Presentation Skills

Consumer psychologists excel in effective communication and presentation skills to convey their findings and recommendations to diverse stakeholders. They have the ability to distill complex psychological concepts and research findings into clear and concise messages that are easily understood by non-experts. 

Whether it’s preparing reports, delivering presentations, or collaborating with marketing teams, consumer psychologists communicate their insights in a compelling manner. These professionals possess the skills to tailor their communication style to different audiences, adapting their language and presentation techniques to effectively engage and influence decision-makers.

3. Understanding Data and Statistics

A solid foundation in data and statistics is essential for consumer psychologists to make informed interpretations and draw accurate conclusions from research findings. They possess the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data using statistical techniques. Understanding statistical concepts allows them to determine the significance of research results, identify trends, and draw meaningful insights from datasets. With this knowledge, consumer psychologists can provide businesses with actionable recommendations based on robust data analysis, enabling organizations to make informed decisions regarding their marketing strategies.

4. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Abilities

Consumer psychologists are skilled critical thinkers and problem solvers who excel in tackling complex challenges related to consumer behavior. They possess the ability to approach problems from multiple perspectives, identify underlying issues, and develop innovative solutions. By critically evaluating research findings, consumer psychologists uncover hidden insights and provide strategic recommendations to address consumer needs and preferences. Their problem-solving abilities enable businesses to overcome barriers, optimize marketing campaigns, and create impactful consumer experiences.

Education in Consumer Psychology

To embark on a career as a consumer psychologist, individuals typically pursue specialized education and training in the field. Here are the key educational pathways:

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology or Related Field

A solid foundation in psychology is the first step towards becoming a consumer psychologist. Many aspiring professionals begin with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology or a related field. This undergraduate education provides a comprehensive understanding of core psychological theories, research methods, and human behavior. Students gain insights into cognitive processes, social psychology, and statistical analysis, laying the groundwork for further specialization in consumer psychology.

2. Master’s Degree in Consumer Psychology

For individuals seeking advanced knowledge and specialized training in consumer psychology, pursuing a Master’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology is highly beneficial. This graduate program delves deeper into the theories, research methodologies, and practical applications of consumer psychology. Students gain expertise in studying consumer behavior, analyzing market trends, and developing strategies to influence consumer decision-making. The program often includes coursework, research projects, and internships, providing hands-on experience in applying psychological principles to real-world marketing challenges.

3. Doctorate Degree in Consumer Psychology

A Doctorate degree in Consumer Psychology offers the highest level of education in the field and is ideal for those aspiring to become leaders and experts in consumer psychology. A doctoral program in Consumer Psychology focuses on advanced research methods, theory development, and the application of psychological principles in marketing contexts. Students engage in in-depth research projects, collaborate with faculty mentors, and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field through their dissertations.

Doctoral programs also provide opportunities for specialization within consumer psychology, allowing students to explore specific areas of interest such as consumer decision-making, branding, market segmentation, or advertising psychology. Graduates with a Ph.D. in Consumer Psychology are well-equipped for careers in academia, research institutions, consulting firms, or senior-level positions in the industry, where they can contribute to the development of consumer-focused strategies and guide marketing initiatives.

4. Specialized Training and Certification

In addition to formal education, consumer psychologists can benefit from specialized training and certifications to enhance their expertise and credibility. Professional organizations and industry associations offer certifications that validate professionals’ knowledge and skills in consumer psychology. These certifications may require a combination of educational qualifications, work experience, and successful completion of examinations.

Furthermore, continuous professional development through workshops, conferences, and seminars allows consumer psychologists to stay updated with the latest research findings, emerging trends, and innovative methodologies in the field. By actively participating in professional development activities, consumer psychologists can refine their skills, expand their knowledge base, and stay at the forefront of advancements in consumer psychology.

Job Opportunities for Consumer Psychologists

Consumer psychologists have a wide range of career opportunities in various industries where understanding consumer behavior is crucial. Here are some key sectors where consumer psychologists can thrive:

1. Marketing Firms and Advertising Agencies

Marketing firms and advertising agencies heavily rely on consumer psychologists to gain insights into consumer behavior and develop effective marketing strategies. Consumer psychologists contribute to market research, develop consumer profiles, and provide valuable recommendations on product positioning, messaging, and branding. They work closely with marketing teams to create compelling campaigns that resonate with the target audience and drive consumer engagement.

2. Market Research Companies

Consumer psychologists play a pivotal role in market research companies by conducting studies, collecting data, and analyzing consumer behavior. They provide valuable insights on consumer preferences, motivations, and decision-making processes, which assist businesses in understanding market trends, developing new products, and improving existing ones. Market research companies rely on consumer psychologists to generate actionable recommendations based on rigorous analysis, helping businesses make informed strategic decisions.

3. Government Agencies and Non-Profit Organizations

Government agencies and non-profit organizations also employ consumer psychologists to better understand public behavior and design effective campaigns. Consumer psychologists can contribute to initiatives related to public health, social programs, and policy development. By analyzing consumer responses, attitudes, and beliefs, they assist in developing interventions, communication strategies, and behavior change programs that align with public needs and preferences.

4. Academic and Research Institutions

Academic and research institutions offer opportunities for consumer psychologists to pursue careers in teaching and research. Consumer psychologists can become faculty members, conducting cutting-edge research, and educating future professionals in the field. They contribute to the advancement of consumer psychology by publishing research papers, presenting at conferences, and mentoring students. Additionally, academic institutions often collaborate with businesses and government agencies on research projects, providing consumer psychologists with opportunities for industry partnerships and applied research.

Industries Utilizing Consumer Psychologists

Consumer psychologists find employment across a wide range of industries that prioritize understanding and influencing consumer behavior. Here are some notable sectors where consumer psychologists play a significant role:

Retail and E-commerce

In the retail and e-commerce industry, consumer psychologists contribute to optimizing the consumer experience, improving product design, and enhancing customer satisfaction. They analyze consumer preferences, test shopping environments, and provide insights to create personalized and engaging shopping experiences. Consumer psychologists help retailers understand consumer motivations, navigate online platforms, and tailor marketing strategies to drive sales and build brand loyalty.

Sample companies in this sector include:

• Amazon : As one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, Amazon heavily relies on consumer psychologists to analyze consumer preferences, improve user interfaces, and personalize product recommendations.
• Walmart: A leading retail corporation, Walmart employs consumer psychologists to understand shopper behavior, enhance store layouts, and design effective marketing campaigns to attract and retain customers.

Automotive and Consumer Electronics

Consumer psychologists in the automotive and consumer electronics industries focus on understanding consumer preferences, decision-making processes, and brand perception. They contribute to the development of user-friendly features, intuitive interfaces, and engaging advertising campaigns. By uncovering consumer needs and desires, consumer psychologists help automotive and consumer electronics companies create products that align with consumer expectations and stand out in a competitive market.

• Tesla : Tesla, a renowned electric vehicle manufacturer, utilizes consumer psychologists to study consumer preferences, improve user experience interfaces, and design features that resonate with their target audience.
• Apple : As a technology giant, Apple incorporates consumer psychology principles to create intuitive interfaces, design compelling advertisements, and establish brand loyalty among its consumers.

Advertising and Branding

The advertising and branding sector heavily relies on consumer psychologists to develop effective messaging, design compelling campaigns, and build brand loyalty. Consumer psychologists conduct research on consumer attitudes, emotions, and motivations to inform advertising strategies. They provide insights into consumer perceptions, preferences, and responses to different advertising techniques. By applying psychological principles, consumer psychologists help advertisers create impactful and persuasive advertisements that resonate with their target audience.

• Ogilvy: Ogilvy: This prominent advertising agency employs consumer psychologists to conduct in-depth consumer research, uncover consumer insights, and develop impactful advertising strategies for their clients.
• Coca-Cola : As a global beverage brand, Coca-Cola leverages consumer psychology to understand consumer preferences, develop compelling messaging, and create emotional connections with their target audience.

Travel and Hospitality

In the travel and hospitality industry, consumer psychologists contribute to understanding consumer decision-making in booking accommodations, choosing travel destinations, and evaluating travel experiences. They analyze factors that influence travel choices, such as pricing, reviews, branding, and convenience. 

• Airbnb : As a leading online marketplace for accommodations, Airbnb utilizes consumer psychologists to study traveler preferences, optimize search algorithms, and provide personalized recommendations to its users.
• Marriott International : Marriott International, a renowned hotel chain, employs consumer psychologists to analyze guest behavior, improve customer experiences, and tailor their offerings to different market segments.

Future Trends in Consumer Psychology

Consumer psychology is a dynamic field that continues to evolve alongside advancements in technology, shifting consumer behaviors, and changing market landscapes. Here are some key future trends to watch for in consumer psychology:

Advancements in Technology and Data Analytics

Advances in technology and data analytics are revolutionizing the field of consumer psychology. The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics allows consumer psychologists to gather and analyze vast amounts of consumer data, providing deeper insights into behavior patterns, preferences, and trends. This enables more precise and targeted marketing strategies, personalized experiences, and the development of innovative research methodologies.

Personalization and Targeted Marketing

Personalization is becoming increasingly important in consumer psychology. As consumers expect tailored experiences and products, consumer psychologists play a crucial role in understanding individual differences, preferences, and needs. They leverage data-driven insights to create personalized marketing campaigns, customized product recommendations, and individualized customer experiences. Personalization strategies enhance consumer engagement, satisfaction, and brand loyalty.

Ethical Considerations in Consumer Research

Ethics in consumer research is gaining prominence as consumer psychologists recognize the importance of safeguarding consumer privacy and ensuring ethical practices in data collection and analysis. With the increasing use of consumer data, there is a growing need for transparent and responsible handling of personal information. Consumer psychologists are actively involved in ethical discussions and the development of guidelines and best practices to protect consumer rights and ensure the integrity of their research.

Key Takeaways:

• Advancements in technology and data analytics offer consumer psychologists unprecedented opportunities to gain deep insights into consumer behavior and preferences.
• Personalization and targeted marketing strategies are essential for businesses to meet consumer expectations and enhance customer experiences.
• Ethical considerations in consumer research are crucial in protecting consumer privacy and promoting responsible data handling.
• Consumer psychologists play a vital role in leveraging technology, personalization, and ethical practices to drive effective marketing strategies and build strong consumer relationships.
• As the field continues to evolve, consumer psychologists must stay informed about emerging trends and adapt their approaches to meet the evolving needs of consumers and businesses.

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6 Common Leadership Styles — and How to Decide Which to Use When

• Rebecca Knight

Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances call for different approaches.

Research suggests that the most effective leaders adapt their style to different circumstances — be it a change in setting, a shift in organizational dynamics, or a turn in the business cycle. But what if you feel like you’re not equipped to take on a new and different leadership style — let alone more than one? In this article, the author outlines the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman first introduced in his 2000 HBR article, “Leadership That Gets Results,” and explains when to use each one. The good news is that personality is not destiny. Even if you’re naturally introverted or you tend to be driven by data and analysis rather than emotion, you can still learn how to adapt different leadership styles to organize, motivate, and direct your team.

Much has been written about common leadership styles and how to identify the right style for you, whether it’s transactional or transformational, bureaucratic or laissez-faire. But according to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, “Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.”

• RK Rebecca Knight is a journalist who writes about all things related to the changing nature of careers and the workplace. Her essays and reported stories have been featured in The Boston Globe, Business Insider, The New York Times, BBC, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was shortlisted as a Reuters Institute Fellow at Oxford University in 2023. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an editor and reporter at the Financial Times in New York, London, and Boston.

Partner Center

Analyst / Associate, Consumer Staples Research ssociate

Job Description:

At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection. Responsible Growth is how we run our company and how we deliver for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.

One of the keys to driving Responsible Growth is being a great place to work for our teammates around the world. We’re devoted to being a diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. We hire individuals with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and invest heavily in our teammates and their families by offering competitive benefits to support their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

Bank of America believes both in the importance of working together and offering flexibility to our employees. We use a multi-faceted approach for flexibility, depending on the various roles in our organization.

Working at Bank of America will give you a great career with opportunities to learn, grow and make an impact, along with the power to make a difference. Join us!

The Analyst or Associate role will involve supporting the Team Head responsible for European Consumer Staples Equity Research who is based in Frankfurt.

This role includes 1) financial modelling and company valuation, 2) writing industry and company reports, 3) communicating with internal and external clients, 4) building relationships with corporates under coverage, 5) leveraging industry contacts to create differentiated events for clients to attend. The demands on the analyst are sometimes high and a demonstrated ability to deliver under pressure is essential.

Responsibilities:

• Performing research and information gathering across the varied sub-segments and regions of the sector
• Interpreting data and performing analysis on the market, economic, demographic and regulatory trends affecting the sector
• Attending company conferences and industry events to gather data and to learn
• Developing and maintaining complex company and industry financial models
• Valuing companies using a variety of metrics appropriate to the Consumer Staples sector
• Writing equity research reports – thematic ones on the industry and stock specific ones on companies under coverage
• Contributing to collaborative cross sector reports with both European and Global Research colleagues
• Building relationships with the companies under coverage
• Leveraging industry contacts to create differentiated events for clients to attend: conferences, field trips, expert speaker calls
• Marketing research views to investor clients
• Liaising with internal clients and business partners within Bank of America
• The European Consumer Staples sector includes Food Producers, Household & Personal Care, and Tobacco, with market cap $750bn across 20 stocks.
• The team of 3 is led by a Director based in Frankfurt.
• The wider BofA EMEA Equity Research department covers c.700 stocks, across Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.
• In the latest 2023 Institutional Investor Survey BofA ranked No.1 in both Developed and Emerging Europe Equity Research.
• As part of our team you would have exposure to a wealth of top quality research product across all research assets classes from which to draw ideas.
• Learning to be a successful Equity Research analyst at BofA is primarily done through on-the -job training and osmosis within your immediate team. This is complimented by formal training in the Research basics (modelling, writing, presenting).
• You would also have access to Best Practice sessions led by our experienced and highly rated senior analysts, helping you to learn.
• The job involves extensive collaboration with colleagues in adjacent sectors in European Equity Research and with BofA Consumer analysts around the world

Required Skills:

• Bachelors’ degree (or equivalent) with outstanding academic qualifications. Numeracy essential.
• Experience working in Equity Research or Investment Management could be helpful, although not essential
• Strong accounting, financial modelling/financial mathematical skills are required
• Advanced level of MS Excel
• Meticulous attention to detail, diligence and conscientiousness
• Strong interpersonal communication skills
• Track record of achieving recognition when servicing clients/customers
• Proven organizational and time management skills as well as ability to work under pressure
• Capable of working effectively both independently and with multiple teams/individuals

Hours Per Week:

Weekly Schedule:

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5 reasons why lower taxes mean better deals for consumers and retailers

On Tax Day, NRF finds it opportune to reflect on the immense benefits that the lower individual and corporate tax rates ushered in by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act have had on both consumers and retailers alike.

Individual tax reductions have injected vitality into the pockets of millions, fueling consumer spending and bolstering the economy. Simultaneously, the corporate rate adjustments from the TCJA have catalyzed investment and economic expansion, fostering innovation and job creation.

Read NRF’s latest press releases, reports and blog posts on the  economy  and the retail industry. 

According to a notable economic study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the repercussions of a higher corporate tax rate would reverberate significantly onto consumer prices, with a third of any tax increment being borne by consumers in the form of elevated prices.

Here is how lower tax rates from the TCJA have permeated and invigorated both consumers and retailers alike across the economic spectrum.

Empowering consumer spending

Lower individual tax rates have increased disposable income throughout the economy, increasing consumer spending on goods and services, including retail purchases. Increased consumer spending has driven demand, leading to higher sales for retailers across the country. It has been a win-win situation — a higher standard of living for consumers and higher sales for retailers. 

Catalyzing job creation and retail employment

The retail industry is a major contributor to job creation, employing millions of Americans across the country. With a globally competitive tax rate from TCJA, retailers have been able to expand their operations, open new stores and invest in their workforce. This has led to more job opportunities for retail associates, providing more opportunities for stable employment and growth within the industry.

Nurturing small businesses

Small retailers are the backbone of the local economies, and they all benefit from lower taxes. TCJA tax rates have helped small businesses reinvest in their enterprises, upgrade infrastructure and better serve their communities. This has resulted in a more vibrant retail landscape, offering consumers a variety of choices and contributing to the unique character of every neighborhood.

Fueling economic growth and prosperity

A thriving retail sector is a key contributor to overall economic growth and prosperity, and a globally competitive corporate tax rate has helped the retail sector thrive. When retailers prosper, they pay higher wages, invest in employee training and contribute higher tax revenue through sales and corporate taxes. A strong retail industry benefits the entire economy, increasing economic prosperity for millions of Americans.

Fostering competitive pricing and innovation

TCJA tax rates have encouraged research and development and driven innovation within the industry. From technological advancements to improved customer experiences, innovation spurred by lower corporate taxes benefits both consumers and retailers alike.    With all these reasons in mind, NRF strongly supported the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that has been so incredibly helpful in propelling both consumers and the retail industry toward sustainable growth and prosperity, serving as a catalyst for economic expansion. TCJA tax rates have meant more resources for consumers to spend, while also enabling retailers to invest in their businesses and contribute to the overall economy, making the American dream more tangible with every purchase.

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