CPG market research
CPG research that keeps pace with how people really buy
CPG market research is how consumer packaged goods brands understand what drives choice across their portfolio, category by category, and where the next decade of growth sits. It spans demand and category understanding, innovation and concept testing, pricing, packaging and claims, shopper research, segmentation and brand health. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for single categories and whole portfolios.
CPG is the most competitive shelf in the world: thousands of brands, wafer-thin margins, and shoppers who decide in seconds, often out of habit, sometimes on impulse, increasingly on what a brand means to them. Winning here takes research that keeps pace with how buying actually works across a portfolio, and reads the next generation of buyers clearly rather than as an afterthought.
The generation driving CPG’s growth doesn’t buy like the last one
By 2030, Gen Z will command nearly $12.6 trillion in global spending, and they’re projected to drive virtually all of CPG’s growth through 2035. But the size of the prize isn’t the hard part. It’s that they don’t buy the way the category was built to sell.
They spend on meaning as much as price, in small and frequent indulgences rather than big planned baskets, and they find products through AI answers and social feeds long before a shelf or a search bar comes into play. The mass-reach, best-price playbook that built CPG wasn’t designed for any of that.
And they don’t play by one rulebook. What wins in snacks, whether that’s impulse, identity or something else, isn’t what wins in laundry, where habit and availability decide, or in spirits, where loyalty looks fixed until something cheaper appears. CPG has always been a portfolio of different games. Now those games are being reshaped, all at once, by a generation that approaches each one differently.
So the brands that win the next decade won’t be the ones with the broadest reach. They’ll be the ones who read each category on its own terms, and this generation on theirs. That’s the work we do.
What great CPG research delivers
In a category this fast and this crowded, research has to do more than describe the market. It has to sharpen the next decision, from what to launch to how to price to who to win.
We help CPG brands:
- Understand what drives choice, category by category, not on average
- Track brand health and equity across the portfolio over time
- Sharpen innovation and get launches right before the money’s committed
- Test claims, packaging and creative before they ship
- Price and position across a portfolio without eroding brand or margin
- Win discovery from shelf to feed, across retail, e-commerce and digital
- Build segmentations and demand spaces grounded in real behavior
- See where Gen Z and emerging audiences are taking your category next
How a CPG study comes together
No one-size template. We build every CPG study around your category and your decision, then choose the methods that answer it.
That usually means a mix. Qualitative work to get inside how a specific category is really chosen. Quantitative research to size demand, model price and rank what moves the choice. Organic Intelligence, our AI and big-data practice, to read across millions of real conversations and reviews and spot a shift before it shows up in sales. Cultural and trend analysis to read how emerging audiences are reshaping demand. And shopper work, through Touchpoint 360°, to follow the choice from shelf to feed across retail, e-commerce and social.
AI runs through all of it, from how we read conversation at scale to how we model demand. The judgment about what it means for your brand stays human.
CPG market research FAQ
What is CPG market research?
CPG market research is how consumer packaged goods brands understand what drives choice across their portfolio, category by category, and where the next decade of growth sits. It covers demand and category understanding, innovation and concept testing, pricing, packaging and claims, shopper and path-to-purchase work, segmentation and brand health. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for single categories and whole portfolios.
How do people choose CPG products?
Fast, and differently by category. A snack is often impulse or identity; laundry runs on habit and availability; a spirit looks loyal until something cheaper appears. Shoppers decide in seconds, increasingly discovering products through social feeds and AI answers before a shelf or search bar. Basis reads each category on its own terms rather than an averaged model borrowed from the one next door.
What does Basis do in CPG market research?
Basis works across demand and category understanding, innovation and concept testing, pricing and packaging, shopper and path-to-purchase research, segmentation, and brand health tracking, for some of the world’s biggest consumer brands. Every project is scoped around the category and the decision in front of you, from a single launch to a full portfolio strategy.
How can CPG market research de-risk innovation and launches?
By pressure-testing concepts, ranges, formats, claims and packaging against real buyer response before the money’s committed. Basis combines primary research with Organic Intelligence to read demand and reaction at scale, so the ideas that reach the shelf are the ones most likely to earn their place, and pricing holds without eroding brand or margin.
How is Gen Z changing CPG?
By 2030 Gen Z will command nearly $12.6 trillion in global spending and is projected to drive almost all of CPG’s growth through 2035. They spend on meaning as much as price, in small frequent buys rather than big planned baskets, and discover through AI and social first. Basis helps brands read this generation on its own terms rather than as an afterthought.
How is CPG research different across categories?
CPG has always been a portfolio of different games. What wins in snacks isn’t what wins in laundry or in spirits, so an averaged, one-size model hides where you actually win or lose. Basis reads each category on its own terms, the specific mix of impulse, habit, identity and price that moves it, rather than stretching one framework across the whole portfolio.
Which markets can Basis run CPG research in?
Basis runs CPG market research in the US, the UK and globally from a single team, rather than stitching together separate local suppliers. That means consistent method and comparable results across markets and categories, with local nuance where it matters, useful for global consumer brands managing a portfolio across regions.
CPG research in action
Helping Avon stay ahead in an ever-evolving beauty landscape
A flexible, global program built to guide smarter decisions across innovation, marketing and product development.
Learn more →
Mapping how today’s beauty shopper really chooses
An omnichannel shopper journey, in a category fragmented by AI and new competitors. The work shipped a new e-commerce platform built to rival TikTok Shop.
Learn more →Why CPG teams choose Basis
We know CPG is a game of fine margins and fast moves, where the difference between a good year and a bad one is a handful of decisions made with more confidence than the competition. So we don’t hand over a deck and disappear. We work with your team to make sure the insight drives the next move.
What we bring:
- Deep CPG expertise, with some of the world’s biggest consumer brands
- A category-specific approach, no one-size template stretched to fit
- Reach across retail and e-commerce, in the US, UK and globally
- End-to-end capability across qual, quant, Organic Intelligence and cultural insight
- The confidence to challenge when it helps, and the focus to move fast when it counts
Build for your growth, not your history
We help CPG brands read each category on its own terms, and the next generation on theirs, so the money goes where the growth actually is.
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