Dive into how people actually use your products or services in their daily lives. Habits & Practices (H&P) studies go beyond just what people buy to uncover how, when, where and why they use it – revealing routines, rituals, frustration and unmet needs along the way. These insights help you spot untapped opportunities, improve your products and messaging and create strategies that fit seamlessly into real consumer lifestyles.
Our client, a leading manufacturer within the automotive industry with ambitious growth targets, aimed to secure a position as one of the top two manufacturers in their industry by 2030. Achieving this required directly challenging established market leaders and overcoming strong consumer preference for a handful of key competitors, as well as lack of shelf availability. While key competitors outperformed them in a couple areas critical to their target consumers, our client performed well on many other purchase drivers. They needed to differentiate themselves from competitors on attributes related to improving their product’s performance and durability.
The foundation for growth was strong. They already enjoyed high brand awareness and consideration among key target audiences, potentially boosted by a halo effect from their strength in a parallel product category. Their current customers were satisfied, demonstrated by a high conversion rate from purchase to making the client’s product their ‘used-most-often’ brand. While target customers generally prioritized brand preference, our research showed they were open to switching for compelling reasons like necessary features, competitive pricing and positive reviews.
To close the gap and capture greater market share, our H&P insights identified three critical areas for focused effort: Performance messaging, availability and boosting trusted recommendations. Firstly, we developed a strategy focused on elevating performance and durability, recommending aggressively promoting superior performance features and differentiating the brand specifically on product durability. This addressed the core competitive gap. Secondly, to remove purchase barriers, our client needed a plan to maintain robust store inventory to remain competitive. And lastly, we recommended harnessing professional endorsement from key industry professionals and actively promoting reviews to significantly boost consideration among the target consumer base.
By identifying and addressing the critical gaps in product differentiation, shelf availability and professional validation, we delivered a clear, actionable roadmap for market share acquisition. The three-pillar strategy was designed to move the client from a well-regarded option to an undeniable industry leader, setting them firmly on course to achieve their future goal of becoming a top-two manufacturer by 2030.
