The Business Situation
A national association representing a home goods category faced a problem every member company shared: no one had a complete picture of the consumer.
Individual companies had their own data, brand trackers, campaign tests, point-of-sale patterns, but nothing that captured the full category landscape. Key questions went unanswered: What motivates someone to buy this product? How does seasonality shape purchase? Where does friction live in the shopping experience? What do consumers wish existed?
Without answers, every member was making decisions about product development, retail partnerships, and marketing on partial information. The association decided to solve this collectively.
The Business Question
What does our consumer want, and where is the category leaving opportunity on the table?
The association needed answers across the full consumer landscape: usage drivers, seasonal purchase patterns, winning product formats, point-of-purchase decision factors, and unmet needs no brand was currently addressing.
Our Approach
A two-phase mixed-method design: qualitative depth first, quantitative scale second.
- Phase 1: Online Bulletin Board. 21 participants screened for recent category purchases. This asynchronous format surfaced motivations, habits, and emotional connections that survey data alone cannot capture. It also included mobile ethnography to understand how they used the product in their home and shopped for the product in retailers. It also shaped Phase 2, ensuring the survey measured what actually mattered.
- Phase 2: National Online Survey. Approximately 1,200 consumers nationwide, 10-minute survey, past-year category purchasers. Closed- and open-end questions designed to validate and measure the qualitative findings at scale.
Together, the two phases delivered something neither could have produced alone: a rich understanding of the why, confirmed at a national level.
What We Found
The research surfaced actionable insights across every dimension the association prioritized.
- Emotion drives the category. The primary purchase motivator is emotional, not functional. Consumers buy because of how the product makes them feel, not out of convenience, habit, or price. This reshapes how brands communicate and how retailers should merchandise.
- Feeling and shopping behavior are tightly linked. Of the two attributes consumers ranked most important at point of purchase, one tied directly to that leading emotional motivator, with real implications for packaging, shelf presentation, and retail marketing.
- A concrete seasonal roadmap. 60% of consumers purchase seasonally. The research mapped the specific seasons, occasions, and triggers that prompt purchase, giving brands and retailers a clearer framework for promotions, inventory, and demand generation.
- Where growth lives next. The research identified underleveraged product formats, new concepts consumers would welcome, enhancements that would increase purchase interest, and specific friction points in the in-store and online experience.
The Outcome
Association members received a category intelligence asset no individual company could have built on its own.
- Brands used the findings to inform product development and retail strategy.
- Retailers gained a concrete basis for assortment and merchandising decisions.
- The association gained a foundational resource that deepens member value and strengthens the case for collective investment in category health.
The research illuminated every company’s understanding of the consumer giving them more clarity to act.