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Custom Research

Market & Category

Before you decide where to compete, you need a clear read on the field you’re actually entering.

The five study types

What sits inside this discipline

A sound market decision starts outside the brand, not inside it. Who’s the audience? How large is the opportunity? Who already leads, and where’s the space nobody has claimed yet? This discipline reads the market itself - sizing demand, tracking behavior, and identifying the shifts worth acting on before they become obvious to everyone else.

Market Sizing & Opportunity

It helps to know how big an opportunity actually is before chasing it.

This study measures the real customer base with genuine interest in a category or market, moving past industry assumptions to a concrete read on demand.

Usage & Attitudes

Sometimes the clearest answer comes from a simple question: what do they actually do?

This study tracks what affluent consumers buy, use, wear, reserve, or plan to buy, and how they think about those choices.

Market Entry & Expansion

An opportunity can look obvious and still not hold up on closer inspection.

This study evaluates demand, competitive positioning, and brand fit before a market entry decision is made.

Competitive Benchmarking

Spotting a competitor is easy. Knowing exactly where they’re stronger is not.

This study compares brands on what affluent consumers actually care about - desirability, quality perception, service, and overall appeal.

Trend & Foresight

The next major shift rarely announces itself in advance.

This study identifies early signals in behavior, values, and emerging affluent expectations, distinguishing what’s likely to matter for years from what’s just a reaction to the moment.

Custom engagement. Fielded once, exclusive to one client, never syndicated or resold.

The Decision Arc

Market & Category across the Decision Arc

Every discipline follows the same five-stage decision. Here is what we study at each stage, and how.

  1. I. Spark · Demand Trigger Detection

    What we study
    What is creating new demand in a market or category - the occasions, influences and shifts that bring new clients in.
    How we study it
    A category-wide trigger inventory, sized by market.
  2. II. Aspiration · Value Frame Elicitation

    What we study
    How the definition of luxury differs across markets, generations and wealth tiers, and what that means for market entry.
    How we study it
    MaxDiff value frames compared market by market.
  3. III. Selection · Trade-Off Choice Modeling

    What we study
    Who leads the category, how buyers weigh the competitive set, and where unclaimed space still exists.
    How we study it
    Competitive benchmarking and preference-share modeling across the category.
  4. IV. Encounter · Expectation-Delivery Gap Analysis

    What we study
    How delivery standards compare across markets and competitors, and where the category as a whole falls short.
    How we study it
    A delivery-gap index benchmarked across brands and markets.
  5. V. Verdict · Retention & Advocacy Tracking

    What we study
    Which markets and categories keep their clients over time, and where demand is growing or quietly softening.
    How we study it
    Longitudinal tracking of loyalty and demand, market by market.

How the Decision Arc Works

Which of these answers your question?

Most engagements begin by naming the decision rather than the method. Tell us what has to be decided and by when, and we’ll scope the right study against it.

Start with the decision