New Year’s Resolution Statistics: How Resolutions Correlate to Consumer Buying Trends in Durable Goods
In a tradition that dates back more than 4,000 years, consumers around the world choose New Year’s resolutions that impact how they spend time and money – recreationally, professionally, and personally. As a result, businesses in the U.S. typically see an increase in purchases like gym memberships, home gym equipment, cookbooks, and other lifestyle change-related goods.
After a flurry of holiday spending, consumer durable spending often slows in the first quarter. However, not all product categories are affected equally by this trend.
In this article, we analyze 10 years of consumer insights data to determine how the new year impacts the consumer durables industry. By evaluating incidence rates across 20 different TraQline Durable IQ™ product categories, covering a total of more than 250 products, we were able to find the top 3 durables goods categories with the most notable increase in demand from holiday spending in Q4 to new year purchases in Q1.
New Year Consumer Purchase Trends
Top 3 Durables Product Categories by Spend Increase
Based on TraQline consumer insights data from 2012-2022, the following 3 product categories show the most notable increases in demand between Q4 to Q1: Exercise Equipment, Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE), & Household Cleaning Supplies.
Let’s look at what the data shows, and how these increases might correlate with consumer resolutions.
Exercise Equipment
Q4 to Q1 Purchase Trends
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Across all TraQline’s 250+ consumer durables products, consumer demand for Exercise Equipment products has consistently seen the largest increase from Q4 to Q1 in the past decade.
With a majority of all New Year’s resolutions in the United States relating to health and wellness changes – namely to exercise more – this is an unsurprising finding. Since Sweatin’ to the Oldies, the first YouTube workout video, launched in 2003 – followed by Peloton in 2013 and FitBit in 2014 – the popularity of improving exercise habits at home has continued to increase.
Notably, while still higher than the rest of the year, the Q4 to Q1 demand from 2021 to 2022 did see a minor decrease in demand, when compared to previous years. It will be an interesting to watch this data in the coming years to determine if this is an ongoing trend or if the decline correlates primarily to a rise in more consumers opting again for gym memberships in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Products within the Exercise Equipment durables category include, but are not limited to:
Elliptical Machine
Incline Trainer
Multi-Purpose Gym
Rowing Machine
Ski Machine
Stair Climber/Stepper
Stationary Bike
Treadmill
Weight Bench
Outdoor Power Equipment
Q4 to Q1 Purchase Trends
Though Q1 isn’t the quarter consistently showing the highest demand for Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) products, there is still a notable increase in demand at the start of the year.
Surprisingly, this increase in demand is not led by cold weather-specific products. While typically still in high demand during the winter months, peak demand increase is not seen in Q1 for key winter OPE products, such as snow throwers – despite that Q1 is undeniably the coldest of the year.
On the contrary, the Q1 demand increase trend can be seen in the sales of products like walk-behind mowers and line trimmers, as well as garden tools and plants. While unlikely to be closely connected to any standard New Year’s resolution, the increase in demand for warmer weather OPE is more likely to be related to consumers preparing for the summer and taking advantage of President's Day sales at the end of the first calendar quarter.
Household Cleaning Supplies
Q4 to Q1 Purchase Trends
The demand for products in the Household Cleaning Supplies category stays fairly consistent throughout the year. However, data from the past several years does show that there is generally a noticeable spike in demand for Household Cleaning products in Q1.
With the Healthy Home concept seeing a rise in prominence in 2021-2022, this increase in demand for household cleaning products could be linked to resolutions to start the new year off with a clean and organized home, maintain a clean and healthy environment throughout the year, or complete home renovation projects.
Household Cleaning Supplies include products like all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants, and laundry detergent.
Stay Informed of Consumer Purchase Trends in Durable Goods
As a brand, marketing, or insights manager in the consumer durables industry, it's important to keep an eye on purchase behavior trends to ensure products are properly merchandised to meet expected increases in demand. By staying informed of the most important consumer behavior trends, you'll be better equipped to make data-driven decisions, capitalize on trends, and boost sales throughout the year.
Interested in seeing the quarterly trends for any consumer durables industry, brand, or retailer? Reach out to our team at TraQline today to request a demo of Durable IQ.
Connect with us to see Durable IQ in action and
learn more about monitoring consumer trends
Ecommerce Trends: Online Shopping vs. In-Store Sales for Consumer Durables
Which Durable Goods Are Winning Ecommerce Sales?
Since before the beginning of the quarantine, consumer behavior and preferences have changed. It’s been a challenge for online retailers to adapt, especially amid continuing supply chain concerns.
Fast forward to today’s environment and the impact has become a little clearer. For retailers, watching ecommerce trends and keeping track of evolving dynamics between online shopping vs in-store shopping has become crucial.
In this article, we’ll look at the current state of the consumer durables industry and identify the top categories for who's winning when it comes to online market share vs. in-store market share, and share statistics on online shopping vs in-store shopping.
Online Shopping Statistics
As you’d expect, online purchases have risen steadily over the past decade. While there started to be some stabilization in 2018 and 2019, the pandemic changed that, leading to a significant resurgence in online sales of all groups of durable products.
Around Q2 2022, most categories saw year-over-year declines that signaled consumers returning to doing at least some shopping in-store. Still, online sales by unit continue to rise, while in-store purchases decline overall.
Durable Goods Most Purchased Online
Online shopping consumer insights from TraQline Durable IQ™ show that the following categories are most sold units online and helped boost the ecommerce market in the US during Q3 2022.
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Categories: Most Units Purchased Online
- Sports Equipment — 65.6%
- Computers, Communication & Home Office — 54%
- Furniture & Home Accessories — 43.6%
- Small Appliances — 40.2%
- Consumer Electronics — 39.1%
Products: Most Units Purchased Online
- Rowing machines
- Stationary bikes
- Home security cameras
- Voice assistant and smart speakers
- Multi-purpose gyms
- Electric air cleaners
- Computer hard drives
- Elliptical machines
- Treadmills and incline trainers
- Automatic and robotic vacuum cleaners
On the flip side, the top two in-store purchase categories for Q3 2022 were:
Category Breakdowns by Retailer
Here’s how market share breaks down across several key categories.
For more details on increases and decreases in market share, email us at info@traqline.com!
Sports Equipment
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When shopping sports equipment, 85% of consumers shop online, and 68% go on to purchase online.
Online market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Peloton — 35%
- Amazon — 24%
- Internet (Other) — 10%
- Walmart — 3%
- Dick's Sporting Goods — 1%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Peloton — 24%
- Dick's Sporting Goods — 16%
- Walmart — 10%
Computers
While more than three-quarters of consumers shop online for computers, laptops, printers, and other similar products, only 54% made their purchase online.
There are also significant trends emerging across different retailers. For example, Amazon grew its market share significantly for online computer sales while Costco significantly increased its in-store market share.
Online market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 27%
- Apple — 20%
- Best Buy — 15%
- Walmart — 4%
- Costco — 4%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Best Buy — 43%
- Apple — 21%
- Walmart — 11%
- Costco — 8%
- Walmart — 4%
Communication
Two-thirds of consumers shopped online before making cell phone, GPS, or cordless telephone purchases, but sales were split fairly even when it comes to whether these products were purchased online or in-store. While 49% of consumers bought online, online purchasing did see a 2 point drop YOY.
On the retailer side, Best Buy suffered a significant drop in market share for in-store sales in Q3 2022, falling behind Walmart.
Online market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 49%
- Best Buy — 8%
- Apple — 2%
- Walmart — 4%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Walmart — 23%
- Best Buy — 21%
- Verizon — 8%
- Apple — 3%
Furniture & Home Accessories
When looking for new furniture or home accessories, 59% of consumers browse online. While the majority of consumers buy in-store, 41% complete purchases online. This represents a significant 2% shift toward online sales from last year.
The biggest retailer gaining online market share for furniture and home accessories was Amazon, which significantly increased its market share YOY, and continues to dominate the online category.
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 25%
- Ashley Furniture — 3%
- Ikea — 3%
- Other — 3%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Ashley Furniture — 11%
- Other — 7%
- The Mattress Firm — 5%
- Ikea — 4%
Small Appliances
While small appliance purchases still predominantly happen in-store, the share of consumers buying online grew by 2 points over last year to reach 39%.
Amazon again grew its online market share while Costco had a significant increase in in-store market share.
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 55%
- Walmart — 8%
- Target — 4%
- Best Buy — 3%
- Costco — 2%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Walmart — 34%
- Target — 14%
- Costco — 8%
- Best Buy — 6%
Consumer Electronics
When purchasing consumer electronics, 44% of goods were made online, exhibiting no change from prior years.
Amazon and Costco significantly increased market share online, while Apple showed marked decreases in offline sales.
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 33%
- Best Buy — 17%
- Apple — 10%
- Walmart — 8%
- Costco — 4%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Best Buy — 40%
- Walmart — 22%
- Apple — 8%
- Costco — 7%
Notably, 12% of online buyers also took advantage of ship-to-store for consumer electronics, a larger share than all but one other category.
Automotive
Automotive is one category still dominated by in-store sales. Only 25% shopped online while just 8% purchased online. Of those that did buy online, 54% opted for ship to store.
Discount Tire and Auto Zone increased their online market share. Auto Zone also increased its in-store market share. Firestone significantly decreased its market share online.
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Walmart — 16%
- Discount Tire — 15%
- Costco — 15%
- Auto Zone — 1%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Discount Tire — 14%
- Walmart — 11%
- Costco — 6%
- Firestone — 6%
- Auto Zone — 4%
Hand Tools & Accessories
Hand tools and accessories is another product category where consumers still prefer in-store purchases. While 26% of consumers shopped online for hand tools, only 15% completed their purchases through ecommerce.
However, there were some big moves in Q3 2022 regarding where consumers purchased. Harbor Freight significantly increased its online market share for hand tools sales, while Home Depot significantly increased its in-store market share. Walmart saw a decrease in online hand tools sales, while Lowes, Walmart, and Amazon significantly decreased their market share in-store.
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Amazon — 41%
- Home Depot — 20%
- Lowe’s — 5%
- Walmart — 5%
- Harbor Freight — 3%
In-store market share (dollars) by retailer:
- Home Depot — 28%
- Lowe’s — 21%
- Walmart — 22%
- Harbor Freight — 9%
Buyer Behavior Is Constantly Changing
TraQline® is the leader in market share data and competitive insight for the consumer durables industry, providing the data and resources clients need to better understand consumer buying behavior. This allows companies to stay on top of evolving trends and make more profitable business decisions.
Connect with us to see TraQline in action and
learn more about durables ecommerce trends.
TV Market Rankings: Trends, Share & Top Brands [Infographic]
In August 2022, the US television market reported nearly $18 billion in revenue, with projected growth over the next five years.
Want to know how, where, and why those consumer dollars are being spent?
Read on to find out what TVs consumers are buying most, where they’re buying them, and what drives their purchase decisions – and download our TV market rankings infographic for even more insights.
Data for this post and infographic was pulled from TraQline’s consumer insights tool, looking at a rolling four quarters ending September 2022. These insights only begin to break the surface of consumer information available.
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US TV Market Share Leaders: Top Brands & Retailers
Which retailer leads in TV units sold?
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By unit share, Walmart and Best Buy continue to be the leading retailers, encompassing two-thirds of all TV sales, with both retailers experiencing significant sales increase YOY. With the highest share of total TV sales by retailer, Walmart earned just over 37% market share.
Walmart also leads all other major outlets in draw and close rates, as they have since at least 2018. Additionally, draw rates for Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Costco all increased YOY, while the Sam’s Club draw rate remains unchanged. Close rates across all major retailers remain mostly unchanged, apart from decreased rates for both Sam’s Club and Amazon.
What inspires consumers to buy at any given store?
Regardless of store, the top two reasons for deciding to make a TV purchase at a given location is “competitive price” and “good selection of products.”
What brand leads in top TV sales?
The best-selling TV brands by units sold are Samsung and LG, market share positions held by these TV manufacturers since at least 2017. Interestingly, looking at YOY growth, neither brand saw a significant increase nor decrease in sales. To see specific market share numbers for Samsung, LG, Sony, and more, download the infographic below!
TV Buying Trends: Online TV Sales
In-store purchases have historically outshone online TV sales, even while experiencing a few years of downward trend, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, in-store purchases are once again on the rise. Over the past four quarters, in-store TV sales have seen significant growth YOY. Subsequently, while not reaching pre-pandemic levels, online TV sales are also down significantly YOY. In fact, over the past year, online TV sales accounted for only 28% of all TV purchases.
Fun Fact: 51% of all LCD and LED TV sales were made online!
TV Buying Trends: Average Price Paid
The average price paid for a TV across all retailers and brands was $531. However, the average amount paid can vary drastically at different retailers.
For example, Costco is shown to have a consistently higher average price paid than other stores. On the other end of the pricing spectrum, Walmart is shown to have consistently lower prices on TVs than other outlets. Additionally, while 41% of all purchases were priced at $479 or more, 75% of Walmart purchases were under the $479 mark.
Average price paid also varies based on the brand. In the past few years, Sony consistently has the highest average price paid for a TV, coming in at $762 this past year. Samsung and LG consistently show the next highest, averaging $684 and $661, respectively.
TV Buying Trends: Consumer Demographics
Take a quick glance at the consumers who made up the last year of TV purchasers. More demographic insights are available in the downloadable infographic.
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Generation
Over half (52%) of purchasers were Gen X or Baby Boomers. Matures are the least likely to purchase a new TV – only 2%.
Gender
Most purchases (69%) were made with a male involved in the decision, with 46% of TV purchase decisions being made by male only buyers.
Household Status
About 61% of purchasers were homeowners, and 74% of purchases were for a household size of two or more.
Economic Status
Of all purchases, 31% were made by someone with a household income of less than $35,000.
TV Buying Trends: TV Specs
To stay relevant with consumers, the television market is constantly innovating, striving to deliver bigger, clearer, and more internet-connected units. Here are a few bonus insights highlighting TV buying trends based on specifications.
Larger TV Units
Development advances and widespread availability of larger screen sizes have increased in recent years. Prices for larger screen units are also becoming more economical. Hence, purchases of larger sizes have increased. Over half (51%) of purchases for 4Q ending Sept 2022 are sized 50 inches or more – continuing that upward trend seen in recent years.
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Screen Display
While LED and LCD displays still account for over half of all TV sales, the market share for these displays is trending down – and OLED and QLED displays are trending up. Within the past year of sales, OLEDs accounted for over 10% of TV sales and QLEDs accounted for nearly 14%.
Ultra HD 4K & 8K
Speaking of display, the popularity of Ultra HD continues to rise, with 4K and 8K resolution capturing over half (52%) of the total market sales this past year.
Smart TV Internet Connectivity
With the rise of streaming networks, it's not surprising that over 85% of all TV purchases were capable of internet connection.
Looking for more TV market share and consumer behavior insights?
Get the TV Market Share
Rankings Infographic
Traditional POS Systems vs. TraQline HPOS™
For more than 25 years, TraQline has been fueling top brands and retailers in the major appliance industry with vital market share data. TraQline’s years of innovation paved a strong foundation for our latest tool—TraQline HPOS™. Our hybrid point-of-sale system is unlike any other tool on the market. Let’s take a closer look at how TraQline is unmatched by the traditional POS systems.
1) Relying on Retailer Participation vs. Advanced Data Collection
Traditional POS systems rely on retailer participation—you need retailers to voluntarily give you their data. However, this process can be quite burdensome. Their participation requires an aggregator to navigate a complicated landscape of legal contracts and jump through compliance hoops. For those retailers who decide not to participate, the traditional POS system will not include the retailer’s data, giving you an incomplete look at the market.
TraQline HPOS™ uses purchase data independent of retailer participation. How? Major appliance sales data is available without retailer participation; however, this raw data requires an expert in consumer durables and appliances to turn this data into sales estimates. We approach major appliance data collection from every angle—allowing us to fill data gaps of other POS systems.
2) Transcending Traditional Reporting Limitations
Traditional POS systems rely on proprietary data. When a retailer opts into the reporting process, they continue to own and control that data. As such, traditional POS systems have strict rules and limitations constricting their reports—both at the store and brand level. Often these reports strip the data of retailer-specific information and key insights.
TraQline HPOS™ transcends these limitations. Our major appliance HPOS system can tell you which SKUs are sold at which retailers. Our detailed SKU-level insights also apply to brands, including private label and derivative brands, allowing us to transcend traditional reporting limitations.
3) Consistency of Data
When retailers consent to participate in data collection, they can choose to revoke this consent at any time. Each retailer shift—in leadership, marketing, branding, and inventory—causes retailers to monitor their data under a microscope. If they find any insight or advantage they want to hide from other retailers, they will immediately revoke their contracts with traditional POS systems. In this case, the entire system has to be recalibrated and recalculated—while also leaving holes in the insights.
Because TraQline is independent of retailer participation, the data is more consistent.
4) Industry Authority
TraQline is an industry authority—we have spent decades building our tools in the major appliance research market. Our history, experience, and authority have helped us transcend the limitations of traditional POS systems to build an unbelievably sophisticated and accurate tool. In addition to the purchase data, our information is validated and informed by other TraQline products and tools—such as our comprehensive SKU Metrix product, Planogram, and proprietary data modeling methods.
Our team at TraQline has over 40 years of appliance industry expertise. We can confidently say this is the next generation in tracking shares. Hybrid POS provides insights years ahead of traditional POS systems.
TraQline HPOS™: SKU Data for the Major Appliance Market
TraQline is here to provide unmatched insight to major appliance businesses. In addition to TraQline HPOS™, you can round out your data with SKU Metrix™ and our quarterly survey insights. Contact our major appliance market research experts for more information or to get started today!
Tracking Major Appliance Trends with Hybrid POS Data
The market forecast is turbulent and unpredictable, especially for the major appliance industry. However, when you have the right data tools, you can identify market shifts and stay ahead of industry trends. The market research experts at TraQline Hybrid POS™ are here with insight.
How to Measure SKU-Level Market Share
Only Hybrid POS ranks the top-selling SKUs from every brand at the top three major appliance retailers. But the benefit doesn’t stop there – along with rank, Hybrid POS identifies each SKU’s market share and uncovers how price, product, promotion, and placement affect that SKU’s performance for the period. Combined with the TraQline quarterly survey’s history dating back to 2000, Hybrid POS analysis can help you uncover:
- Market share for each brand and model sold
- Floor position for each model
- Website ranking and change over time
- Model pricing at each of the top retailers – what was the average price for the month? What were the high and low prices?
- How has appliance market share changed over time, by brand, SKU, and retailer?
By examining these sales trends and insights, you can see how your products stack up versus the competition.
How HPOS Data Estimates Model Performance
TraQline Hybrid POS includes a comprehensive set of synthesized data that can be manipulated, visualized, and filtered for actionable insights. For example, you can use this tool to calculate how price changes or retailer positioning affects a product’s share. Within the tool, you can quantify the results of things like
- How sale prices have affected shares at a retailer
- Which floor placements are most ideal for your product
- Whether having a featured spot on retailer websites affects share
Floor location, website layout, pricing, features, and discounts are all factors that influence consumers making a major appliance purchase. However, many manufacturers and retailers enter the market blindly, making decisions based on rough estimates and “gut feelings.” HPOS data provides detailed insights on how merchandising decisions affect sales—allowing you to stay ahead of changing trends in the major appliance industry.
TraQline Hybrid POS
The market research experts at TraQline have all the tools you need to stay ahead of major appliance trends—including our new Hybrid POS system. We invite you to contact our market research professionals today to learn more or to get started today.
TraQline Tracks the Trends in Average Price Paid During the Pandemic
Between the pandemic, supply chain challenges, and changes in consumer demand, it feels like prices everywhere have been increasing. Even with manufacturers and retailers trying to absorb some of the rising costs, costs incurred by buyers have been going up. In fact, TraQline has seen a 13% increase in average price paid between Spring 2019 and Spring 2022 across all categories. What does that mean for the brands and retailers selling in the Home Improvement Industry? Here’s a look at how the market has been affected.
Which categories of products saw the highest rate of change for Average Price Paid?
Certain categories have faced much higher pressure over the past few years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of these products rely on lumber costs to determine the price consumers will ultimately pay. The categories in TraQline that saw the highest rate of change include:
- Windows & Doors (36% increase between the average price pre and post pandemic)
- Kitchen Cabinets & Countertops (34%)
- Building Materials (32%)
- Flooring (25%)
What factors contributed to these stark increases in average price paid?
Building materials were significantly affected by the challenges created by the global Covid-19 pandemic. This category includes products such as drywall and gypsum, lumber and plywood, insulation, roofing, and gutters. Among these products, roofing and composite decking materials represented the two categories with the highest average price paid. However, the products that saw the largest rate of change in this category are lumber and plywood. Costs had been holding steady in 2018-2019, but Q1 2020 signaled the beginning of an increase in average prices. This increase in lumber costs reverberated throughout the home improvement industry. According to the IMF: “Truck drivers and ship crews couldn’t cross borders because of public health restrictions. Pent-up demand from huge stimulus programs during extended lockdowns overwhelmed the capacity of supply chains. Besides causing delays in getting goods to customers, the cost of getting them there surged.” In addition, tariffs on lumber from Canada complicated an already challenging manufacturing environment for companies manufacturing wood-based products.
For kitchen cabinets and countertops, the price consumers paid initially fell during the height of the pandemic in 2020. However, by Q1 2021, product prices were back on the rise. The kitchen cabinet and countertop industry faced the same challenges as other home improvement industries, including labor shortages, increased transportation costs, and lumber tariffs. The increased demand left mills unable to cope, driving the cost to consumers higher than ever.
Even though the flooring industry has seen a 25% increase in average price paid, demand for new flooring has been on an uptick among consumers who are eager to remodel their homes after having been stuck in them for the better part of two years. As with other categories dependent on lumber, hardwood flooring has seen the most volatile price changes over the course of the pandemic. There are also increases, although less remarkable, in prices paid for laminate, vinyl, and ceramic flooring. However, laminate and vinyl may see future costs start to fall as manufacturers have been investing in US factories for these products.
How have these prices affected consumer shopping behavior?
For the windows and doors market, the most notable – but expected – change has been in the number of buyers looking at other, smaller outlets rather than big box retailers such as Home Depot or making purchases through contractors. This change extends not only to purchases, but also to how consumers shop. While it may seem counterintuitive, consumers were more willing to shop around (online or in store) at two or more stores during the pandemic in order to find product in stock. As restrictions have eased and supply has started to return to pre-pandemic levels, consumers are shopping around less.
In the kitchen cabinets and countertop category, despite the average price paid in 2022 being 34% higher than it was in 2019, TraQline data does not show any real upheaval in how consumers shop. They’re going to the same places at the same rates and aren’t shopping any more stores than they did pre-pandemic.
Flooring retailers with a smaller percentage of the overall market (such as Menards, Walmart, Amazon, and Costco) saw a boost in their flooring sales during the pandemic. However, TraQline data shows that consumers went to the same number of stores as they did pre-pandemic.
Top building materials retailers, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, have retained their positions despite the challenges that the pandemic has presented. However, purchases made through a contractor have had a lift since 2020. It’s likely that this is due to two reasons:
- Homeowners have been bullish on remodeling. In that case, it would be prudent to make orders through contractors since they’re doing the work already.
- There have been long lead times and limited availability of products such as 2x4s and plywood. Some pros indicate that their timelines are long, and will continue to be so since lockdown restrictions have lifted and as homeowners feel more at ease letting strangers come in to work in their homes.
These products have seen some of the most extreme increases in average price paid among our available data. However, other categories are not seeing such dramatic increases.
Not all increases are equal: Categories that saw smaller price increases when comparing post-pandemic prices to pre-pandemic prices
There are TraQline categories that saw moderate average price paid changes when comparing pre- and post-pandemic prices. Some of those categories include:
- Major Appliances (7% price increase between the average price paid pre- and post-pandemic)
- Nursery (7%)
- Lawn Power Equipment (5%)
- Heating/AC (4%)
What factors contributed to these price increases?
For consumers purchasing a major appliance, there were a variety of changes to their shopping experience. While most products saw a steady increase in average price paid, many consumers noticed supply side issues leading to low stock, long lead times, and the virtual elimination of the on-sale appliance. Some of the products with the most noteworthy increases include wall ovens, refrigerators, and built-in ranges. Major appliances have been hit particularly hard by the semiconductor shortage. These products rely on chips for vital functions, whether or not they are “smart” products. The ongoing chip shortage has affected production times, which is exacerbating the long wait times consumers now face to receive their products.
Nursery and lawn power equipment have likely seen increases in demand as homeowners have invested in outdoor living due to the pandemic. With outdoor gatherings being deemed safest, many consumers have prioritized spending more money and time on their outdoor spaces, whether that’s adding new plants to a yard or buying equipment needed to care for their space.
Have these price changes affected consumer shopping behavior?
For major appliances, more than half of all buyers shop only one store. Like all products that were hard to find in stores during the height of the pandemic, major appliances were also in short supply. As a result, there was an increase in shoppers visiting three or more stores, but that has tapered off in the past year. Lowe’s and Home Depot remain in the top positions, but outlets such as Costco and Amazon have seen increases in their appliance sales over the course of the pandemic. However, as restrictions have eased and more consumers are feeling comfortable going to brick-and-mortar stores, Amazon has lost some of the share it gained in 2020 and 2021.
Major retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s have been able to keep their place at the top for lawn power equipment, but since the start of the pandemic, Ace Hardware has experienced significant growth. Amazon also saw a lift in 2021, but its growth rate has slowed as pandemic restrictions have eased across the country. While the majority of lawn power equipment products are purchased in retail stores, online sales saw a significant lift during the pandemic that has remained high even as more consumers are willing to go out to shop again. Despite a rise in costs, consumers don’t appear to be eager to shop around, either. Nearly 62% of consumers shopped only one store.
Which categories have seen prices increase more slowly in the post-pandemic period?
Despite most categories seeing price increases, some products have had price declines over the past two years. It is important to note that these price changes have not been equal. Categories that saw decreased average price paid include:
- Tool Accessories (10% decrease between the average price paid pre- and post-pandemic)
- Cleaning Chemicals (4%)
- Personal Comfort – a category that includes humidifiers and air purifiers (2%)
What could be contributing to this decline in costs?
Cleaning chemicals and personal comfort products saw a surge in demand during the pandemic, and companies were able to rise to the challenge. Many companies were able to shift focus to new product categories, increasing competition and filling store shelves with new products. Some highlights include distilleries that were able to convert some of their product to hand sanitizer and other disinfectants.
Have these price changes affected consumer shopping behavior?
While Walmart remained the top retailer for personal comfort products, Amazon continued to gain steady ground during the pandemic, as did retailers with smaller shares of the market, including both Costco and Best Buy. Some of Amazon’s increase may be due to the rate at which consumers switched to purchasing online. While rates have fallen some, online shopping rates are still 10 points higher than they were pre-pandemic.
Conclusion
The past few years have caused both businesses and consumers to recalibrate to a new normal. For consumers, at least, part of that new normal is higher prices. While there are a variety of causes—from supply chain issues to staffing shortages to overall inflation—consumers have largely not changed their shopping behavior, except in being more willing to purchase online. However, savvy retailers and manufacturers can keep an eye on trends that matter to consumers. For more information on the “whys behind the buys” of home improvement shoppers, contact TraQline today!
Traditional POS Systems vs. TraQline HPOS™
For more than 25 years, TraQline has been fueling top brands and retailers in the major appliance industry with vital market share data. TraQline’s years of innovation paved a strong foundation for our latest tool—TraQline HPOS™. Our hybrid point-of-sale system is unlike any other tool on the market. Let’s take a closer look at how TraQline is unmatched by traditional POS systems.
1) Relying on Retailer Participation vs. Advanced Data Collection
Traditional POS systems rely on retailer participation—you need retailers to voluntarily give you their data. However, this process can be quite burdensome. Their participation requires an aggregator to navigate a complicated landscape of legal contracts and jump through compliance hoops. For those retailers who decide not to participate, the traditional POS system will not include the retailer’s data, giving you an incomplete look at the market.
TraQline HPOS uses purchase data independent of retailer participation. How? Major appliance sales data is available without retailer participation; however, this raw data requires an expert in consumer durables and appliances to turn this data into sales estimates. We approach major appliance data collection from every angle—allowing us to fill data gaps of other POS systems.
2) Transcending Traditional Reporting Limitations
Traditional POS systems rely on proprietary data. When a retailer opts into the reporting process, they continue to own and control that data. As such, traditional POS systems have strict rules and limitations constricting their reports—both at the store and brand levels. Often these reports strip the data of retailer-specific information and key insights.
TraQline HPOS transcends these limitations. Our major appliance HPOS system can tell you which SKUs are sold at which retailers. Our detailed SKU-level insights also apply to brands, including private label and derivative brands, allowing us to transcend traditional reporting limitations.
3) Consistency of Data
When retailers consent to participate in data collection, they can choose to revoke this consent at any time. Each retailer shift—in leadership, marketing, branding, and inventory—causes retailers to monitor their data under a microscope. If they find any insight or advantage they want to hide from other retailers, they will immediately revoke their contracts with traditional POS systems. In this case, the entire system has to be recalibrated and recalculated—while also leaving holes in the insights.
Because TraQline is independent of retailer participation, the data is more consistent.
4) Industry Authority
TraQline is an industry authority—we have spent decades building our tools in the major appliance research market. Our history, experience, and authority have helped us transcend the limitations of traditional POS systems to build an unbelievably sophisticated and accurate tool. In addition to the purchase data, our information is validated and informed by other TraQline products and tools—such as our comprehensive SKU Metrix product, Planogram, and proprietary data modeling methods.
Our team at TraQline has over 40 years of appliance industry expertise. We can confidently say this is the next generation in tracking shares. Hybrid POS provides insights years ahead of traditional POS systems.
TraQline HPOS: SKU Data for the Major Appliance Market
TraQline is here to provide unmatched insight to major appliance businesses. In addition to TraQline HPOS, you can round out your data with SKU Metrix™ and our quarterly survey insights. Contact our major appliance market research experts for more information or to get started today!
Outdoor Non-Powered Products Market Infographic
What are the best brands and outlets in the US Outdoor Non-Powered Product market share? – An infographic
TraQline answers the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, and “how” for Outdoor Non-Powered Product market shares. Our quarterly survey will help you understand who’s buying Outdoor Non-Powered Products, where they’re buying them, and what drives their decisions. Our Outdoor Non-Powered Products Market infographic will help you answer the following questions about the US market and how it is changing…
Which Retailers are leading sales in the market?
Our infographic will give you greater details, but for now, here’s what you need to know about the market leaders for Outdoor Non-Powered Products:
- With a small but significant increase from last year, Home Depot remains the unit share leader for Outdoor Non-Powered Products
- Although Home Depot has seen a small decline year over year, it remains the dollar share leader for Outdoor Non-Powered Products
How much do consumers spend?
When buying Outdoor Non-Powered Products, the industry average price paid for these products is $45. However, the average amount spent at different retailers can vary. For example:
- Shoppers purchasing Outdoor Non-Powered Products from Amazon spend $49 on average.
- Shoppers at Lowe’s, on the other hand, spend about $41 on average.
What demographic is buying Outdoor Non-Powered Products?
Just who buys Outdoor Non-Powered Products? TraQline’s census-balanced respondent pool has given us insights like:
- In 46 percent of all Outdoor Non-Powered Product purchases women take the lead
- The South region over-indexes on Outdoor Non-Powered Product buyers
Outdoor Non-Powered Products Market – Online Sales Trends:
Online purchases have declined compared to a year ago - 15 percent of Outdoor Non-Powered products are bought online.
- A little under a quarter (24 percent) of buyers shop online for Outdoor Non-Powered Products
- Amazon is gaining ground as a retailer, winning 32 percent of the online market
Outdoor Non-Powered Products Market Share Facts:
Curious about other information TraQline’s survey has uncovered? Here’s another preview for you:
- 68.6 percent of Outdoor Non-Powered Products buyers only shop at one store
- 9% of all online purchases are shipped to the store.
- Home Depot and Amazon have increased significantly during that same time period
To see everything we’ve included on our infographic, fill out the form below and download your own copy:
5 Key Shopping Behavior Metrics You Need to be Tracking
Understanding how consumers shop can give retailers and manufacturers valuable insight into who their customers are and what they’re looking for in a shopping experience. These shopping behavior metrics provide an edge when it comes to winning shoppers in the market. And as we've seen throughout the pandemic, tumultuous times can alter the retail landscape and be an agent of change for buyer behavior. Because the TraQline survey is specifically designed to measure the key elements of consumer behavior that are not available anywhere else, users can go beyond market share and develop a clearer image of how consumers are shopping.
1. Number of Shoppers
What It Is:
This information lets you know whether a buyer was shopping on their own or if others were part of the decision-making process.
Why It Is Important:
Why is it important to consider how many people are shopping together? How consumers band together (or not) to shop for items will influence how these products are marketed. If a product is frequently purchased with the entire family unit’s input, for example, retailers will create marketing copy to appeal to all ages. TraQline’s data reveals that, on average, two-thirds of consumer electronics (CE) purchases are made by single shoppers. This has been true historically, and we have seen consistent year-over-year significant increases. Armed with this knowledge, manufacturers and retailers both can drill into the specific demographics to further refine their messaging to their target audience.
How It's Collected:
This TraQline variable allows you to quantify not only how many people are involved in the purchase process as well as collecting demographic information about these purchasers.
What You Measure:
This TraQline variable allows you to quantify not only how many people are involved in the purchase process but also their age, PEW generation, and gender.
2. Why Behind the Buy
What It Is
“Why buy” can include many triggers for purchase. It is important to understand three critical decisions regarding a customer’s purchase journey:
- Why does a consumer buy at a specific store
- Why do consumers buy a specific brand
- Why does the consumer buy a specific product
These three questions work together to illuminate the psychology involved in the buyer journey. All three variables can influence the messaging used to target potential buyers
Why It Is Important:
These shopping behavior metrics are valuable to track. Armed with this information, retailers and manufacturers alike can pinpoint how they can best serve their ideal customers, as well as identify areas where their rivals are succeeding. For a more concrete example from “Why Buy Brand” specifically, during the height of the pandemic, there were three consecutive quarters with significant year over year decreases for competitive pricing being a main purchase driver for CE products. At the same time, there were also quarters that saw significant increases in consumers looking for specific features. There was also a minor, directional uptick in consumers who placed increased value on the product’s quality. To use TVs as an example, knowing that features and quality were highly valued during the pandemic gave manufacturers and retailers insight into how to pitch their products to consumers. Understanding their buyer’s behavior primes them for success. The data that’s highlighted in “Why Buy Store” can shed some light on other considerations. For example, another, though smaller, purchase driver for consumers has been the availability of financing. While many restrictions have lifted over the past year, the supply chain is still in a snarl, resulting in higher prices for consumers. Knowing that affordability is important can help retailers who offer financing options know how to pitch that particular offering.
How It's Collected:
Since this metric is motivation-based, the only way to collect this information is to ask buyers. They are asked each of these three questions, with some options changed to reflect the typical needs for certain purchases.
What You Measure
For each of the three purchase motivators, the percentage of each response is calculated. These questions allow you to give weight to the different reasons behind a buyer’s choice and how that is changing over time. In conjunction with other variables, these will unlock greater insight into your available shopping behavior metrics.
3. Number of Brands/Stores Shopped
What It Is:
Not everyone goes into a consumer durables purchase with a plan. TraQline’s syndicated survey reveals how many stores and brands a consumer shops. This is measured for both online and offline purchases
Why It Is Important:
Most brands would prefer to be the only brand a buyer considers during their purchase. Similarly, a retailer would prefer to be the only location buyers shop. The most loyal buyers only consider a single brand or retailer, but there are often multiple stores or brands shopped. This data can be used together with the “Why Buy Brand” and “Why Buy Outlet” data discussed previously. For example, you may also look into “First Store Shopped” to determine if it’s important to be the first store or brand the consumer considers, and what other factors will come into play to help you win the sale. As seen in available data, since it was difficult to shop around due to pandemic restrictions, consumers were more likely to get the item they needed as soon as they could find it in stock (fewer stores shopped). Alternatively, they researched beforehand so that when they went to make their purchase, they knew exactly what they needed and where it was in stock. Understanding these nuances can help either way, tracking these shopping behavior metrics shows how consumer processes were streamlined.
How It's Collected:
This question is asked of every consumer taking the TraQline survey for every product they indicate they’ve purchased.
What You Measure:
The information allows you to determine, on average, how many brands or stores consumers will shop before they make a decision and how that may be changing over time and for different categories.
4. Shop Online
What It Is:
Online shopping has taken root in nearly every consumer goods category – from groceries to consumer durables. To better understand how consumers are shopping for products, TraQline asks respondents if they shopped online for their consumer durables, regardless of whether they ultimately purchased online.
Why It Is Important:
The “Shop Online” variable is valuable both on its own and when used in conjunction with other shopping behavior metrics. The pandemic accelerated already increasing online shopping and buying behaviors. In fact, TraQline’s data can map a very clean year-over-year increase in online shopping for five quarters during the height of the pandemic. And while those numbers fell once the vaccine became widely available and restrictions were eased, the rate for online shopping is still higher than pre-pandemic.
How It's Collected:
TraQline asks all respondents if they shopped online for each product they indicate they’ve purchased.
What You Measure:
With this variable, you’re identifying how often consumers turn to the internet before buying a product (whether they ultimately make that purchase in a brick-and-mortar store or online).
5. Online Activity
What It Is:
This information is used in conjunction with “Shop Online”. It breaks down how consumers are using the internet in their search for a specific product, from doing general research to looking for sales and reviews.
Why It Is Important:
The more that consumers turn to the internet as a key component of their shopping strategy, the more important it becomes to understand how they’re using the internet. Again, combined with other shopping behavior metrics, you can get a clearer understanding of your buyers. In our CE example, we see a significant increase in searches for a website to shop at during the pandemic. Due to store closures and supply chain disruptions, consumers needed to be able to find places that were open to make a purchase in the first place.
How It's Collected:
TraQline asks this question of all respondents for each product they indicate they’ve purchased. The question allows for multiple responses so you can get a full view of how consumers are shopping online.
What You Measure:
This allows you to give specific weight to the different activities shoppers engage in when searching online for product and retailer information.
Conclusion
Understanding how to use shopping behavior metrics can open up a deeper level of insight into both your market and your buyers. Using the data found in the metrics above alone or together as part of a more refined data set will allow you to craft a better experience that’s more closely aligned to how your consumers are making decisions. If you’re ready to start looking into TraQline for more than market share, contact us today to learn how to navigate the data available at your fingertips.
7 Steps to Performing A Market Analysis
The market analysis process is complex, involving a lot of data and insight. This data comes from both inside and outside your company. It includes information about your products and services, data about your competitors, and information about your target customers, which often involves conducting research and even asking salespeople who interact with the end users.
A full, in-depth market analysis can take weeks or months and will vary based on where you are in the product life cycle, the type of product you sell (i.e., a toaster vs jarred pasta sauce), your target market, and many other factors. However, there are some key steps of market assessments that are important for nearly all companies to perform. A market analysis is the process for identifying whether you have positioned your product or service for success in the marketplace. A market analysis is typically conducted when developing or evaluating product strategy, facing a new competitor, or introducing a new product or feature. There are at least seven key steps to performing a market analysis. You need to identify the following:
- Unmet needs
- Which barriers to entry exist
- Size of the market
- Target customer
- Competitors in the space
- Current price points
- Distribution model
As with any project, process, or business plan, you need to start with the more strategic “whys” and finish with the more tactical applications. We recommend you start with the needs of the customer.
1) Identify unmet needs
Sales teams say that your products or services should meet an unmet need—or create one. The same applies to performing a market analysis. Does your product or service fill a need or create a new one? Both roles require informing the consumer you exist and educating them on the benefits of your product or service. Creating a need requires substantially more education for the consumer and arguably more resources as well. Regardless, step one is to determine what the marketplace need is and whether your product meets these needs. If you aren't already manufacturing your product or you’re looking to refine your market position, you can also determine if there are other needs that your product or service could meet.
Not sure where to start? If you’re already in the marketplace, ask the customers you’ve already won over what they like about the product. If someone else is in the space, ask their customers. If nobody is in the space yet, then you need to identify your target market and ask them. You’ll end up refining your target as you get answers in each case. Be sure to collect as much information on the consumers giving you feedback as possible. This will allow you to build segments if you have enough data. This is one area where contacting a research contractor can help immensely.
2) Identify existing barriers to entry
Understanding barriers to entry can help with pricing, distribution, product updates, and more. If you have a product with low barriers to entry, it is much easier for rivals to come in at any time and develop a competing product. One way to differentiate yourself from competition (and even increase the barriers to entry for competitors who come after you) is to create added value in your product or service. If there are higher barriers to entry, you will likely have fewer competitors and less price elasticity because rivals aren’t chipping away at your margins. In fact, in the right situation, high barriers to entry can be a benefit. You may find that you are uniquely positioned to overcome barriers that the competition cannot. For example, you may have a factory already capable of manufacturing a product with minimal retooling or 2,000 retail locations ready to sell a new product. These situations mean you have a clear advantage to overcoming production or distribution barriers to entry.
Don’t know where to start? Break down the manufacturing and distribution process into its components. How hard is it to educate consumers on your product or service? Where are significant investments of time, money, or other resources needed? Do you have unique assets that will offset these investments?
3) Identify the size of the market
There may be a market for garlic-scented perfume, but how large is it? Launching a new product won’t do you any good if there are only a half-dozen potential customers. Understanding the size of your potential customer base, or the “size of the prize,” is critical to determining whether it’s worth pursuing your new product or service. Use trusted resources, such as industry association statistics or government data. Many research firms hire economists who can build models of industry size and seasonality based on the factors those data sources account for. Even trade journals will often calculate market size – often through subjective discussions with their user base. While some methods may give you a rough size of the industry rather than a precise one, you’ll still know if you’re working toward millions of customers or just a handful.
But market size isn’t the only consideration. Having a good forecast of the market can be a huge bonus. If the market for your product or service is currently small but growing, it may be a great time to get on board. On the other hand, you may be tempted to capitalize on a product that’s currently popular, but it could be a fad that’s waning or its market could be saturated with competition. This is where coming up with a differentiation strategy can be helpful.
Not sure where to start? Market sizing is rarely something you can calculate on your own. Start by searching online with keywords such as “What’s the size of the [PRODUCT] market” to see what resources are already available. Evaluate each source for credibility and thoroughness. If you get stuck, contact TraQline for help in evaluating, modifying, or creating market sizing and forecasts.
4) Identify the customer
As we discussed in step one, when you identify unmet needs in the market, you’re starting to identify the customer your product or service will help. There are three main ways to identify and understand your customer: demographic, geographic, and psychographic.
Demographic:
Demographic differences provide critical information. Consumers of varying generations, ethnicities, or genders may respond differently to competitor products or services. Their responses or preferences may lead to gaps your company can fill or help narrow the target market of your products or services. Understanding which demographics are purchasing which products/features and those demographics’ purchase drivers can lead to impactful messaging to target groups.
Geographic:
Understanding trends in a geographical area provides immediate insight into how the market is likely to behave within that area. In a brick-and-mortar environment, prices tend to vary by geographic location. Understanding those metrics allows companies to balance profitability with competitiveness. When used in combination with demographic data across your target markets, the resulting data can help you understand how consumers might behave if you enter a new geographical area. And with resources such as PRIZM, MOSAIC, or VALS, you can divide metropolitan regions into neighborhood level demographics, attitudes, and trends rather than providing uniform geographic blocks to study. Such granular data may highlight how marketing approaches that work well in one neighborhood can fall flat in another.
Psychographic:
Psychographic data goes beyond the “who” and “where” of a market’s characteristics (demographics and geographics) and looks into the “why” behind a purchase—the consumers’ purchasing behaviors and reasons for purchasing. This data may not always be directly related to why they purchased a specific product, but can also examine their overall behavior, lifestyle, or attitudes toward certain concepts.
Psychographics help you build a robust picture of a customer who buys certain products or services and empower effective marketing to those customers.
Don’t know where to start? As in step one where you identified “needs”, your own customers are the best place to start. Identify the demographics of customers of an existing product. If no one is in the space yet, identify a product that is similar and test your product with these consumers. You may end up refining your target consumer as you get answers in each case. You can get psychographic data from marrying demographic data to behavioral data such as PRIZM, MOSAIC, or other behavior-to-demographic tools. You can also develop custom questionnaires, asking questions such as “On a scale of 1 to 10, please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements: I am a value shopper, etc.” We recommend using a research provider for this type of questionnaire. Skilled research providers will ensure your questions and the resulting answers are worded and analyzed appropriately.
5) Identify the competitors in this space
It should go without saying that, to perform a market analysis, you need to identify your competitors. This process is more involved than a Google search for other companies that provide similar products and services. You need to know information such as:
- which companies sell products and services that attempt to serve the same needs as you
- what is their share of the market
- what features of their products sell best
Calculating market share is not an easy task, and there are many ways to do it. But once you know the competition’s shares, you can dig deeper into the “why” and the “what”. Understanding your strongest competitors will help you break down how they market, to whom they sell, and most important, which markets are currently underserved.
Not sure where to start? There are many ways to collect a list of your competitors. Googling your product and searching shopping sites is only the beginning. Make sure you quantify what each competitor does best, so you don’t try to compete against someone who has cornered a niche that doesn’t matter to you. Using a market share provider who can comprehensively measure and understand your data is your best bet to accomplishing this important task. If you have behavioral data that pairs with that market share, you’re already ahead of the game. This information will allow you to measure demographics and behavior of your competition’s shoppers.
6) Identify the current price points
Many articles have been written on how to price your product. While it might seem more like a customer component of your competitive strategy, it’s also a key part of your market analysis process. Understanding price points that are currently on the market allows you to calculate profitability and determine if there’s room for another player in the marketplace. Understanding price across many products in the market may help you to identify areas where competition is weak, allowing you to gain a foothold in the industry.
The Harvard Business Review suggests using a positioning map to identify who is in the market and what price points they occupy. It will provide a nice visual that places you in the context of your competitors within your market. Additionally, you may find that certain price points are missing from your map, enabling you to scale features up or down to fit within this niche. This is a particularly useful approach for line reviews with retailers that are hoping to gain share in a market.
Not sure how to start? While the internet is a great tool for collecting price points, be careful. Web scraping can give you directional information, but cart and sales prices may be missing. Collecting point of sale data from the retailer or your own sales is a good step but may provide an incomplete picture of the marketplace. In some cases, you may be able to use a competitive product library to help build out a positioning map. Build your positioning map and footnote it with the appropriate features. Don’t forget to account for different prices on your map.
7) Identify the distribution model
A distribution model is not just about putting a product on a truck and distributing it to the retailer or end consumer—it also involves the strategy behind the process. These days, just about everyone is selling their brand online. Understanding strategically how you want to get your product or service to the customer is critical to ensuring you aren’t competing against yourself (or against your best retail partners). Many options are available, from direct distribution (cutting out the middleman as Purple mattresses or Warby Parker glasses have done) to more conventional distribution (manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer). There can be strategic benefits to direct distribution, such as reducing costs. But this may also mean you lose access to salespeople who can communicate the benefits of your product to consumers. One way to determine opportunities and identify best practices in the marketplace is to look at your competitors’ distribution strategies. What makes their strategy successful? Are there ways it can be improved upon? You may choose to follow a similar strategy or find an opening for a new one.
Don’t know where to start? The internet again provides a great place to begin researching and understanding the market’s distribution model, but you shouldn’t stop there. Key steps in this part of your market analysis process should include factoring in both brick-and-mortar distribution as well as different online verticals (such as direct-to-consumer, marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart, and retail sites such as Bestbuy.com or Lowe’s.ca). From there, build a spreadsheet that lists the distribution of your top five to ten competitors and where you can buy their products. Include an option for online vs. brick-and-mortar. This process may require some “boots on the ground” to shop at retailers, but understanding this component will be well worth the time.
Conclusion
The market analysis process may seem overwhelming, but by beginning with a framework like the one provided, you will start to see where the pieces fit together – and more important – where they don’t. Talk to others who know your market and can provide insight. Do your research, either by using a research firm or diligently planning and researching on your own. Make sure you connect the dots – overlooking factors such as why key competitors are so successful or what unmet opportunities exist for distribution can be the difference between failure and success.
Contact us to learn more about our competitive offerings.