Consumer goods market research companies, and when to run the interviews yourself

Consumer goods market research answers two questions for a packaged brand. What already sold, and why a concept, a pack, or a claim might sell. The firms on this page cover the first question, and some of them cover the second. You can also run the interviews yourself.

CPG market research companies and FMCG market research companies are the same kind of firm. CPG means consumer packaged goods, and it is the name most teams in the United States use. FMCG means fast-moving consumer goods, and it is the name most teams elsewhere use. Both mean packaged goods people buy often.

This page lists 8 firms, in alphabetical order. The order is not a ranking. It is not every firm in the category. Each fact below comes from the firm's own site, checked in October 2026. A number that is not on the linked page is not here. Those pages do not publish a custom project price, so this page does not compare cost.

What these firms sell

Three kinds of work show up on their sites.

• Measurement of what people bought. Circana, NielsenIQ, Numerator, and SPINS.
• Published tracking of what launched. Mintel and Innova Market Insights.
• Product, pack, claim, and price studies. MMR Research and SKIM.

Usercall is not a research firm, so it is not in the list or the table. The last section is for teams that want to run the interviews themselves.

8 consumer goods market research companies

1. Circana

Use when: you need what sold in store and online, not a one-off interview.

Circana's solutions page is built around measuring demand. Complete Market is point-of-sale measurement for in-store and online sales across consumer packaged goods, including how the order was fulfilled and the product code. Complete Food and Beverage brings retail, consumer packaged goods, foodservice, and what people eat and drink into one place. The page names Liquid Data as the platform. The same page says 7,000 brands choose Circana.

2. Innova Market Insights

Use when: you need what is launching in food and drink, including ingredients and packs.

Innova's homepage describes the company as market intelligence for food and beverages. It combines consumer, category, product, ingredient, flavor, and packaging insights. It says fresh data is captured daily by 1,200 in-country researchers. That is a published database, not an interview project you commission for one claim.

3. Mintel

Use when: you need a published view of product launches across many economies.

Mintel's about page says that every month it tracks 40,000 product launches in 86 of the world's leading economies, covering more than 270 fast-moving consumer goods subcategories. A custom interview study is a different job.

4. MMR Research

Use when: the question is how a product tastes, smells, or feels, or how the pack fits that product.

MMR Research works on sensory science, product testing, packaging, and innovation. The company page says it has done this for over 30 years, and that sensory science and consumer insight sit together. It lists 9 research hubs, including London, New York, Shanghai, Singapore, São Paulo, and Durban.

5. NielsenIQ

Use when: you need measured buying across consumer packaged goods, not a new concept interview.

NielsenIQ's solutions page covers market measurement for consumer packaged goods and for tech and durables. It describes who buys, how they shop, and what they buy, across channels and stores.

6. Numerator

Use when: you need who bought, and a survey tied to that purchase.

Numerator's about page calls the company the global leader in consumer understanding. Headquarters are in Chicago, at 24 E. Washington Street. In 2025 it acquired Worldpanel. The combined company operates in more than 50 countries, and Numerator and Worldpanel support clients independently, with local teams. The CPG page covers food, beverage, and health and beauty, and it describes purchase-triggered surveys that tie attitudes to a purchase.

7. SKIM

Use when: the question is a claim, a pack visual, or a price, and you want a specialist firm to run the study.

SKIM's consumer goods page is about decisions before a launch. It covers price architecture, which claims or visuals will convert, portfolio choices, and which innovations will resonate. The page names Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars, and PepsiCo.

8. SPINS

Use when: the category sits in natural and specialty retail, or you need product attributes on top of conventional sales.

SPINS sells point-of-sale data. The page says data from natural, regional, and specialty retailers is exclusive to SPINS, and it lists 1,900+ natural stores. Conventional multi-outlet, grocery, drug, and convenience data is in partnership with Circana, and the page lists 110,000+ conventional stores. Product Intelligence adds product-level attributes, including ingredients.

Comparison

Firm	Use when	What the linked page says	How you start
Circana	What sold in store and online	Point-of-sale measurement for consumer packaged goods, plus food and beverage consumption	Contact the firm
Innova Market Insights	Food and drink launches	Consumer, product, ingredient, and packaging data, captured daily by 1,200 in-country researchers	Contact the firm
Mintel	A published view of launches	40,000 product launches a month, in 86 of the world's leading economies	Contact the firm
MMR Research	Taste, smell, feel, or pack fit	Sensory, product, and pack work, with 9 research hubs	Contact the firm
NielsenIQ	Measured buying	Market measurement for consumer packaged goods and for tech and durables	Contact the firm
Numerator	Who bought, and why they say they did	Consumer data in more than 50 countries, plus purchase-triggered surveys	Contact the firm
SKIM	A claim, a pack visual, or a price	Price architecture, claims, visuals, and innovation studies	Contact the firm
SPINS	Natural, specialty, or attribute-level sales	Natural and specialty point-of-sale data, plus conventional data with Circana	Contact the firm

When to hire a firm

Hire one of these firms when the decision needs their data or their lab.

• You need sales by retailer, channel, or country.
• You need a sensory lab, or a trained panel on the product itself.
• The study has to carry a named firm's methods and database.
• The question is what already sold, not how one concept lands.

When to run the interviews yourself

The longer guide to shopper interviews is CPG Market Research: How Consumer Brands Get Real Shopper Insights (Not Just Survey Data). This section is the short path for a concept, a pack, or a claim.

Usercall runs AI-moderated interviews. Each one is a real person. The participant is told the interviewer is AI. You show one concept, one pack, or one claim, and the interviewer follows your guide.

A concept test is 15-30+ interviews, with quotes back in 48 to 72 hours. That count is for one concept test.

We can recruit participants for you, or you can bring your own. Recruiting uses a 4M+ panel.

Interview length is 12, 25, or 45 minutes by plan, and up to one hour on request. Plans are from $89 a month. Your first interview is free. The interviews run in 50+ languages, and every plan includes every language.

For a pack route, see First-Glance Consumer Packaging Testing. For how a consumer packaged goods team checks an idea before launch, see CPG Concept Testing: How Consumer Packaged Goods Teams Validate Ideas Before Launch. To hear one person on one concept, see Concept testing. If you lead consumer insights at a packaged goods company, the page for that work is CPG & FMCG Consumer Insights Leaders. See Pricing from $89 a month. Your first interview is free.

Hire a firm when you need measured sales or a sensory lab. Run the interviews yourself when the decision is one concept, one pack, or one claim, and you can write the guide.

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