Brand perception study that shows why shoppers choose your rivals.

A brand perception study is research that measures how shoppers see a brand against its competitors on the factors that decide a purchase, and why they switch between brands. Brand perception is how shoppers rate a brand's price, range, pack and story against each rival, which sales and share data cannot show. Nextyn builds each study from interviews and surveys with the category's shoppers, including those who have already switched, and has researched shoppers in 85+ countries.

A Nextyn brand perception study delivers three outputs: a brand scorecard against your chosen rivals, the switching reasons for each shopper group, and an assortment and launch comparison. Each output comes from primary research in which the category's shoppers rate your brand and each rival, not from social listening or sales data:

• Brand scorecard: where the brand leads and trails each rival on the factors that decide purchase
• Switching reasons: why shoppers move to or away from the brand, by shopper group
• Assortment and launch comparison: how shoppers rate each rival's range and recent launches against yours

Nextyn interviews the three shopper groups that decide a brand's share: its loyal buyers, the buyers of each chosen rival and the shoppers who have recently switched between them. Each study matches the sample to the category, channels and markets in scope, and adds the trade view where it explains what shoppers see:

• Loyal buyers, who show what the brand must protect
• Rival buyers, who show what competitors do better
• Recent switchers, who explain why they moved and what would bring them back
• Retail buyers and store managers, who see range and launches perform at the shelf

Nextyn runs brand perception studies in the United States and Canada, among other markets, and the retail and CPG practice has researched shoppers in 85+ countries and 50+ languages. Markets are agreed at scoping, and the same questions can run in several countries so brand scores compare like for like, with each market's own rivals and channels. Recent Nextyn examples include a 20-country household-care study comparing formats, channels and shopper needs.

Nextyn recommends a brand perception study when share slips without a clear cause, when a rival launch starts gaining ground, or before a repositioning or range review. At those points the study shows whether price, range, pack or story is pulling shoppers away, before a price cut is made to fix a problem that price did not cause. Nextyn sends a research plan within 48 hours of the brief.

A Nextyn brand perception study runs in four steps, from brief to read-out, and nothing is commissioned until the client approves the plan. The client sees the sample, method and price before any fieldwork, and reads every interview with the Nextyn team at the end.

1. Submit the brief: the brand, the rivals to compare and the decision the research must settle.
2. Receive a plan within 48 hours: who Nextyn will interview, how, and what the work costs.
3. Approve the plan: fieldwork starts only after sign-off.
4. Review the read-out: every interview read together, showing where loyal buyers, rival buyers and switchers agree, where they conflict and what is still open.

Nextyn sends a brand perception study plan within 48 hours of receiving the brief, stating who will be interviewed, how, and what the work costs. The plan sets the fieldwork length for the markets, rivals and shopper groups in scope, so a one-market, two-rival study and a multi-market comparison each get their own timeline. Nothing is commissioned until the client approves the plan.

Nextyn's brand perception study asks the category's shoppers directly why they choose and switch brands, while social listening counts what a vocal minority posts online. Listening shows what people are saying, and the study shows what actually decides the purchase at the shelf.