4 Global Trends

Disrupting Market
Research
ZANDI BREHMER AND LISA HOLMES
Not to be distributed without permission.
4 Global Trends
Disrupting Market
Research

Zandi Brehmer and Lisa Holmes

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© 2018 Euromonitor International

Contents

1 Introduction

3 Automation and DIY Tools: A New Need for Unprecedented Speed

Why automation and DIY is our future
What does continued automation and DIY mean for the market research
industry?
Strategies for embracing and integrating automation and DIY approaches

6 Big Data and Predictive Analytics: Making Humans More Important

than Ever
Big data as the new reality
How will big data integration impact the market research industry moving
forward?
Strategies for big data success

9 Transparency and Trust: Baring it All

With great power comes great responsibility: The growing need to be an
upstanding data user
How to become the trusted partner of tomorrow

12 Partnership 3.0: Upping the Market Research Game

Further evolving the role of market research
How to become tomorrow’s best in class partner

14 Pulling it all Together

15 About the Authors

17 How Can Euromonitor International Help?

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Introduction

Market researchers understand that the pace of global change today is unprecedented. Technological
developments, shifting economic power, population change, environmental pressures and evolving
consumer values underpin disruptions in nearly every industry worldwide. Market research is no
exception.

According to ESOMAR’s Global Market Research 2017 report, the market research industry as a whole
continues to see annual growth between two and three percent from a $44.5bn base. Seemingly slow
and steady at the surface, market research has never been viewed as a fast paced industry. However,
these growth rates mask dramatic shifts and innovations within the industry as technology collides with
traditional research approaches. Over the backdrop of this shift, clients seek competitive advantage
through faster, deeper insights, often resulting in three conflicting demands:

•• Accuracy and speed

•• Leveraging technology and maintaining research integrity

•• Robustness and storytelling

Market researchers are increasingly asked to be all things at once: accurate yet fast, tech-savvy yet
methodologically pure, robust in detail yet able to quickly and succinctly deliver visual insights.

© Euromonitor International
2 Introduction

The market research industry is at an exciting moment of evolution with disruption occurring in both
research execution and delivery. To help make sense of this change, Euromonitor International identified
the four biggest global trends impacting the role of the market researcher of tomorrow:

Automation Big Data and Transparency Partnership 3.0

and DIY Tools Predictive Analytics and Trust Upping the MRX Game
A New Need for Making Humans More Baring it All
Unprecedented Speed Important Than Ever

This white paper explores the major global trends disrupting the market research industry through 2030,
providing actionable recommendations to market researchers on how to set themselves up for success
and meet the evolving and tensioned needs of tomorrow’s client.

© Euromonitor International
Automation and DIY Tools: A
New Need for Unprecedented
Speed

The world is more competitive than ever and clients increasingly look to
market research partners to make quick, informed decisions to stay ahead
of the competition. Investment in technology such as automation and
client-facing do-it-yourself (DIY) tools is a critical component to delivering
on-demand insights and solutions. The rapid investment in automated
technology and sustained proliferation of DIY tools will continue to create
some of the largest changes for the market research industry for years to come.

Why automation and DIY is our future

An always-connected culture and 24 / 7 news updates have shortened timeframe expectations. Clients
increasingly want data as close to real-time as possible. “Agility” has also grown as a buzzword, emerging
from the tech space and the agile software development framework.

More market research and insights departments are reporting directly into strategy and the c-suite,
enabling faster decision-making at the highest levels of the company. Simultaneously, market research and
insight tools are also moving to frontline employees. Companies are decentralizing the decision-making
process and empowering mid-level employees to innovate faster, clearing bottlenecks and streamlining
reporting and approval structures.

Successful automation and DIY strategies for market research will increasingly limit or eliminate manual
research “busy work” and let clients build their own story without sifting through pages of tables and
analysis. Executed correctly, these strategies lead to more satisfied clients and more engaged researchers.

What does continued automation and DIY mean

for the market research industry?
Growth in automation will improve the work lives of researchers and insights professionals by freeing
their time to focus on crafting insights addressing critical client problems. Developments in artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning already enable faster text analytics and report creation, allowing
researchers to focus their time on storytelling and problem-solving. When done right, automation is
more than simply time and cost savings for the client, it is about going deeper into insights and solutions.

© Euromonitor International
4 Automation and DIY Tools: A New Need for Unprecedented Speed

Automating where possible helps smaller, resource-tight insights teams serve a wider, growing set of
customers.

Providing client-facing DIY tools has a similarly positive impact on the researcher and client experience.
DIY tools have the power to put information into the hands of front-line decision makers exactly when
they need it. These tools also create new challenges such as potential misinterpretation from users who
have little time for long reports or presentations, making both design and education a critical component
researchers must spearhead.

Consumers everywhere now conduct their own research before buying a product, selecting a restaurant or
planning a vacation. We are becoming a DIY culture. These self-service and DIY approaches have made their
way into market research, with clients seeking to explore and manipulate data independently. This desire
for self-service reinforces the “on demand” nature of client needs. Just as travel aggregator sites such as
Expedia sort search results for users and enable more detailed filtering, successful researchers give clients
topline findings and implications alongside the tools, quickly answering additional business questions.

© Euromonitor International
 Automation and DIY Tools: A New Need for Unprecedented Speed 5

Strategies for embracing and integrating

automation and DIY approaches
Market researchers should focus on three core strategies to embrace and integrate automation and DIY
technology:

Get comfortable with uncertainty and flexibility

Successful market researchers of the future must become comfortable living with uncertainty as they
integrate more technology and automation into their process and deliver insights on a faster schedule.
This quick delivery means giving 80% of a solution, rather than the 100% of the past. This also means
honing in on usable and applicable insights, rather than building a comprehensive project for the sake of
being complete.

Here, market research can take a lesson from the tech start-up world and adopt the agile process of:
start, pause / review, change direction, re-start and repeat as needed. In this way, iteration and speed go
hand-in-hand, forcing market researchers to become more nimble and adept at building faster insights to
drive decisions, even with imperfect data.

Stay focused on using the right tool for the problem

The number of tech-based research tools available is overwhelming. The risk of overcorrecting from zero
automation and tech integration to too much is real; researchers need to stay in control and keep the
client problem front and centre. This means not only asking and ensuring an understanding of the client’s
problem but why they are trying to solve it.

Be the expert and educator

Market researchers are still the experts. Understanding and explaining tool limitations will be just as
important as knowing their proper use and strengths. As DIY tools democratize and expand market
research to many roles, becoming an educator will be critical for the market researcher of tomorrow.
Teaching end users and decision makers what tools or information types to use and when to use them
ensures proper use and, more importantly, avoids misuse.

© Euromonitor International
Big Data and Predictive
Analytics: Making Humans
More Important than Ever

Technology advances enable market researchers to collect and store vast

amounts of consumer and market data faster than ever. “Big data,” “AI,” and
“machine learning” have become buzzwords in the industry. But what does
it mean for market researchers?

Big data, in its simplest form, refers to a massive volume of data which can
be either structured, highly organized and searchable, or unstructured,
non-coded and unsearchable. Big data is typically analyzed computationally
using machine learning, revealing patterns, trends and associations in human behaviour and business
operations. The power of big data and machine learning is the ability to conduct predictive analytics
and develop models that learn from the data, identify patterns and make decisions with minimal human
intervention.

Technology enables the market research industry to collect vast amounts of data in real time and predict
where and how consumers and markets will evolve next. This creates major changes for the industry in
the years to come.

Big data as the new reality

As businesses look to find competitive insights faster, most are placing strong bets on big data and
predictive analytics to get there. Thirty-nine percent of companies plan to invest in AI in the next five
years and 40% of professionals think their company is setting the industry pace in digital transformation,
based on Euromonitor’s 2018 Digital Consumer Industry Insights survey. According to IDC’s Worldwide
Semiannual Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide, investment in big data and business analytics
software will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.9% from 2017 to 2020 to reach
more than a $210 billion dollar industry. We expect the impact on the market research industry to follow a
similar pattern as companies not only invest in internal technology to support big data, but in application
programming interfaces (APIs) that allow their data to interact directly and seamlessly with the programs
and datasets of their suppliers.

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 Big Data and Predictive Analytics: Making Humans More Important than Ever
How will big data integration impact the market
research industry moving forward?
Big data and predictive analytics will shift the
market research process significantly over the
next ten years, acting as a filter to collect and
highlight changes in real time with less resources
spent capturing the “what” and more time
spent determining “why” and “how to use this
information.”
Technology will enable market researchers to
collect, store and analyze amounts of data never
before imagined and in real time. New, unexpected
sources of data will emerge from non-traditional
suppliers. This is a huge shift for the industry. The
market research toolkit is expanding, and several
new jobs emerge to make big data a successful
reality. Beyond standard tech and implementation
roles, increased support on data cleaning and
quality control will become critical in order to
analyze a large collected dataset. Today, analysts
spend up to half their time just cleaning and
readying data. Tomorrow, automation tools and
machine learning will streamline this step. Human
7
maintenance and checking will still be required to
ensure these processes are executed correctly, but
time spent will be minimized.
Further, traditional market research tools such
as surveys, focus groups and industry data will
remain a critical ingredient for explaining the
why behind the numbers. Growth in big data
and predictive analytics will result in a strong
complement to their use, streamlining when and
where they are needed.
An even greater gap will remain in making sense
of data to drive decisions. Without a human at
the helm to determine what actions to take, data
is useless. There is a risk for decision makers to
get lost in the numbers or worse, make poorly
informed decisions by relying too heavily on data
that is incorrect.
© Euromonitor International
8 Big Data and Predictive Analytics: Making Humans More Important than Ever

Strategies for big data success

Successful market researchers of the future will not only accept big data use as an increasing reality for
the industry, but get ahead through the following steps:

Understand its power…and limitations

Read up on its use and application, and what new technology and services are evolving as a result in the
market research industry. While big data and predictive analytics will fundamentally shift companies
from gut instincts to data-driven decision making, it is not the end all be all. A human element must exist
to ensure both inputs and outputs are user-friendly, accurate and lead to an action that is right for the
business.

Focus on goals and filter out noise

Maintain the lead, rather than letting the data drive. Develop logical, user-friendly frameworks to capture
the most important data and link to how to drive business decisions. As with automation and DIY tool use,
understand your destination before you embark on your journey, both in design of big data infrastructure
and analysis.

Be the bridge between tech / data scientists and decision makers

Market researchers will play a key role in understanding how to interpret big data, communicating
results and recommending actions. As market research firms and clients hire more data and technology
specialists, the most successful market research professionals will collaborate across disciplines. Basic
tech / data literacy and the ability to communicate complex ideas that drive action will be critical for
clients to take full advantage of large scale, real-time data.

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Transparency and Trust:
Baring it All

Our growing ability to collect masses of virtual data and easily scrape, analyze
and share information creates immediate demand for tighter standards and
transparency. On the back of big data, equally big concerns around what is
collected and how it is used are rampant. Further, the era of “fake news” is
proliferating alongside a steep rise in market research tools and alternatives.
Market researchers must proactively meet both growing concerns on privacy
and scepticism in data sources on two fronts: first, by providing clients with
radical transparency at every stage of the research process and second, by fostering close partnerships
based on trust.

With great power comes great responsibility:

The growing need to be an upstanding data user
Market researchers depend on consumers either actively or passively sharing their thoughts, behaviours
and preferences with researchers. Every day a new data breach or scandal reminds consumers just how
much of their personal data is circulating and in use by companies hoping to target them with ads, track
behaviour or reach a broader network.

The EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) launched with the intention of adding
transparency to consumer data storage and use and has spurred tech giants such as Facebook to adopt
the practices globally. While the direct implications of GDPR and similar regulations on market research
manifest in stricter guidelines for consumer data collection and storage, the industry should arguably
be paying more attention to the underlying trend of greater demand for transparency. Building and
maintaining the trust of consumers sharing their data is critical to having quality research inputs. Market
researchers should do more than the minimum required by GDPR or other governing regulation and be as
open about their usage of consumer data with consumers as they are with clients.

© Euromonitor International
10 Transparency and Trust:
Baring it All

How to become the trusted partner of tomorrow

There are three ways market researchers can integrate transparency and trust into their research:

Build transparency in data collection and methodology

Always be straightforward and open with clients and partners about data collection methods. This may
be as simple as documenting how you will find the right sample for a survey and ensuring data quality
throughout the collection. It also means walking the client through the methods used to collect data and
triangulate to solve their business question. Being open about the process helps clients feel confident in
data gathering and reinforces the research team’s position as the expert.

Develop client trust in analysis and insights

Clients need to trust market researchers to come up with smart insights and recommendations, but
should not revere the analysis process as “magic” or a black box. A lack of transparency in how insights
are developed can lead to doubt and second-guessing, particularly if an insight or recommendation is
unexpected or goes against client assumptions. Instead, successful researchers should walk clients step
by step through their analysis without resorting to complicated jargon. The best research partners can
explain their process in simple terms, engendering confidence and getting clients on board with their
proposed solution or recommendations.

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 Transparency and Trust:
Baring it All 11

Stay ahead of what’s next

Continued developments in both consumer data protections as well as tools which enable that protection
are certain. Expect markets beyond the EU to adopt similar regulations as GDPR and for protections to
continue expanding as consumers become more vocal advocates for their digital privacy. The emergence
of blockchain technology is another manifestation of the growing demand for transparency and has
potential application in market research data collection and verification. Initial application is likely to be
by panel companies, using the technology to verify respondents, accurately re-target for follow-up and
securely pay for participation.

© Euromonitor International
12 Partnership 3.0: Upping the Market Research Game

Partnership 3.0: Upping the

Market Research Game

The preceding trends shed light on how market research is set to get more
technical and complex. New tools, inputs and best practices will blur as
users tap directly into market research to speed decision making and stay
competitive. This new environment creates a need for market researchers to
redefine how they partner in the future.

Further evolving the role of market research

Market researchers have always been the trusted providers of critical business information. This started
with being asked to gather specific data points, designing a method to do so and returning with the results.
In order to be more effective, solve the right problems and push the industry to operate as partners, not
suppliers, market researchers have slowly progressed their level of engagement with key decision makers
and end users of insight.

As a result, market researchers today have shifted to “partnership 2.0” and are better communicators
throughout the entire research process. They are more engaged in asking “why” up front to drive stronger
solution design, proactively deliver preliminary results, react and reshape next phases of research based
on their expertise and learn alongside their clients in real-time. This has facilitated greater co-ownership
of projects, stronger final results and happier clients.

The shift to “partnership 2.0,” which stole from the books of management consulting, was necessary
for market research to deliver even greater value for clients. While this precedent will remain, the
fast evolution of the market research landscape now calls for a similar rise to action to fill new, more
challenging gaps for clients.

In the necessary evolution to “partnership 3.0,” market research must provide more guidance than ever.
This will be one of the largest fundamental shifts from today and, as aforementioned, requires staying the
expert while guiding and educating clients on which tools to use as options proliferate. This means getting
involved even earlier and helping clients strategize their investment. But the job will not stop there.
Market research partners of tomorrow must get more hands-on as they help clients maintain focus and
work toward actions, not just insights.

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 Partnership 3.0: Upping the Market Research Game 13

How to become tomorrow’s best in class partner

In addition to the aforementioned shifts, market research partners of the future will tell bold stories that
solve clients’ most critical issues, drive tangible actions and push boundaries for themselves and their
clients:

Deliver a bold, consultative story that solves the client’s main problem
No matter how excellent the customer service throughout the process, market research will ultimately
be judged by the results. To deliver a great final product, the strongest partners will focus on solving the
main client problem from start to finish of the project, cutting noise and distraction all the way to the
final delivery. Further, an excellent partner will become synonymous with being an excellent storyteller
and trusted advisor. This means laying out the “so what?” for clients supported by relevant research facts.
Beyond the “so what?,” the best partners of tomorrow will push storytelling to “now what?” and even
“then what?” recommendations.

Engage to drive action

Push from simply presenting insights and recommendations to facilitating a dialogue with decision
makers, ensuring not just understanding of results but buy-in and alignment on next steps. This could
be as simple as having planned discussion points or facilitating a workshop designed to drive results into
immediate action plans. The key will be to include the right stakeholders and decision makers in final
engagements.

Experiment and grow together

Continue to push the envelope for both clients and the industry. To be a true partner, market research has
to learn and grow with clients in both success and failure. Be creative and daring enough to try new things
that lead to smarter, faster and more cost-effective solutions. Develop processes to experiment with new
tools and pilot new methods or programmes. Start small, learn and iterate before scaling. If something
isn’t working in the best interest of the client, be transparent and shift gears accordingly. Decision makers
appreciate and reward partners who challenge the status quo and focus on consistently strong growth and
thought leadership.

© Euromonitor International
Pulling it all Together

Market researchers are more pressed than ever to deliver accurate, insightful solutions for clients with
shorter turnaround times and smaller budgets. To be successful, researchers should embrace new
technologies available for streamlining and automating data collection and analysis, freeing time for
higher-level problem solving and storytelling. Researchers who rise from being considered a provider
to a true partner will have the advantage with greater latitude to explore the right methodologies and
solutions. This approach, however, is easier said than done. New technology means mastering new tools
and developing skillsets outside of the traditional researcher’s background. Faster delivery times can
mean trading reports and tables for shorter, to-the-point visuals. Reliance on “big data” often means
working with huge amounts of consumer information that now needs to be handled transparently. At a
high level, the growing tensions facing market researchers can be boiled down to the following:

•• Accuracy versus Speed

•• Leveraging technology versus Maintaining research integrity

•• Robustness versus Storytelling

Long-term success in market research will be striking the right balance across each of the items above,
while remaining nimble enough to drift toward one end of the spectrum or the other depending on
immediate client needs. True partners will coach clients to move toward the middle and trust the
researcher to find the right balance.

Though challenges and change lay ahead, there will always be a need for smart, flexible market researchers
who teach and empower their clients. While technology and automation may be encroaching on the
market researcher’s territory, people are needed to uncover key insights, implications and context. The
best insights teams of the future will combine tech experts with client problem-solvers to provide bold,
story-led solutions and push the boundaries of tomorrow.

© Euromonitor International
About the Authors

ZANDI BREHMER
Head of Client Innovation
Euromonitor International
Connect on Linkedin

Known for her strategic thinking, Zandi executes Euromonitor’s most unique projects. Her
experience spans across the entire innovation process, including exploratory trends mapping,
workshop-led idea generation, sizing the prize, and concept testing. She is an expert in megatrend
analysis and helping clients to build innovation frameworks that facilitate long-term, proactive
thinking that avoids disruption. She has worked with FMCG, packaging, retail, finance, and other
service clients. In addition to leading a team of project experts, she is responsible for developing
and promoting new methods for conducting research that support clients’ unique innovation needs.

Prior to joining Euromonitor, Zandi was a senior analyst for GfK Strategic Innovation in Chicago.
She has been published in the Journal of Applied Business and Economics and has a Bachelor
of Business Administration (Marketing) and a Bachelor of Arts (Spanish) from the University of
Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In 2018, Zandi received her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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16 About the Authors

LISA HOLMES
Survey Manager
Euromonitor International
Connect on Linkedin | Twitter

As Euromonitor’s Survey Manager, Lisa oversees a team of survey specialists whose work includes:
survey development, fieldwork management, data cleaning, rigorous data analysis, and insightful
reporting. While at Euromonitor, Lisa has reported on a wide range of topics, including technology,
shopping trends, economic outlook and consumer types. Lisa specializes in synthesizing the results
of Euromonitor’s global consumer surveys into reports, articles and datagraphics that highlight key
findings and business implications, particularly focusing on the consumer path to purchase and
consumer segmentation.

Lisa joined Euromonitor in 2012 and became Survey Manager in early 2017. Prior to joining
Euromonitor, Lisa was Senior Research Analyst at a high-profile private wealth management
research firm. Lisa has worked closely with clients and industry experts to develop surveys and
reports that help clients better understand the market and serve their customers. Lisa earned her
bachelor’s degree in Economics from Carleton College and her MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg
School of Management.

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