SmartMarket Segmentation: Finding Your Target with Affordable, Agile Market Research

When we at C+R envisioned our A+U NOW^® attitude & usage DIY market research tool, it had to meet specific market needs for real time consumer insights. We considered companies with smaller brands looking for an agile A&U consumer insights tools with affordable pricing, or their need to explore adjacent categories, or start-ups looking to understand a particular marketplace. 

From our legacy as a custom market research firm, it was important that the design of the DIY Market Research tool had to: 

• Align with our data quality standards
• Provide plenty of customization and flexibility 
• Deliver results that are presentation-ready
• Be affordable and priced at a fraction of the cost of a custom A&U study 

And, even though we successfully launched the first phase of A+U NOW with food and beverage consumer insights in the fall of 2020 and received positive feedback from our clients, “this really isn’t DIY market research – it’s much easier than other DIY offerings I’ve used – they require much more work from me.” our work didn’t end there. We have continued to improve and evolve this agile market research tool. In fact, we’re exploring other categories beyond consumer packaged goods (CPG) consumables and next month we’re excited to introduce a segmentation overlay to accompany any A+U NOW study, the SmartMarket™ Segmentation. 

Why a segmentation overlay? Well, given that most segmentation solutions are usually developed from Attitude & Usage studies, it made perfect sense for us to include this value-add component to the A+U NOW market research tool. More importantly, we know that the companies who would use this market insight tool won’t have the budget for a “full-blown” segmentation study. So, with a little more of an investment, these companies can obtain a segmentation solution that will help them identify new growth opportunities, refine or expand their brand’s target, and market more effectively.

And, just as we leveraged our decades of A&U experience to develop A+U NOW, we tapped into our extensive expertise with segmentation research to develop this compelling solution. In fact, our brilliant Advanced Analytics team did most of the heavy lifting here with the data analytics – we want to give credit where credit is due!

The SmartMarket segmentation identifies six distinctly different segments based on the attributes included in every A+U NOW study. In fact, respondents are “tagged” on the fly and assigned to their appropriate segment based on their responses. The six segments are:

• Taste-driven Chefs
• Conscious Cooks
• Watchful Nutritionists
• Convenient Indulgers
• Value Nurturers
• Simplicity Seekers

Each SmartMarket segment comes with a detailed attitudinal and behavioral profile, giving you the ability to determine which segments offer the most opportunity for your brand. 

Learn more about our segmentation approaches in order to get the consumer insights you need to target efficiently and drive growth.