Marketing effectively in a digital world requires innovative solutions and approaches. Today’s marketing professionals grapple with a wide variety of unique challenges, such as:

• Achieving scale in content marketing
• Capturing the interest of image-conscious consumers in the era of the "selfie"
• Marketing to the iGeneration (also known as Gen Z)

You may be eating one right now. And you’ll probably eat a few later on today. In fact, many health experts recommend consuming multiple servings of these foods each day.

So put down that cereal, pasta, pizza, sandwich, or organic/whole grain/quinoa snack chip that you’re eating, and let’s talk about … grain-based foods.    

Shipments of grain-based foods from US bakeries and factories are forecast to reach $110 billion in 2020, representing annual increases of 2.0% from $99.8 billion in 2015. Population growth will drive demand for such foods, since many of these products serve as dietary staples.

Today’s consumers are looking to fill their grocery carts with food made from clean, natural ingredients. As a result, big brands are modifying their products in hopes of winning over health-conscious consumers, and the baking aisle is no exception.  

“A trend that has really burst out in the last year is what I’ve been calling the ‘better baking trend,’” explains Kara Nielsen, a food trendologist and professionally trained baker. “This makes a ton of sense, when you consider a lot of the baking mixes, jarred frosting, and other items in the baking aisle are very family centered. Kids are the main consumer in many cases.”

Among all of the services and capabilities we offer at Freedonia Custom Research, the most common are market sizing and competitive landscape studies. Important strategic decisions rely on valid data and clear market analysis. Clients come to Freedonia for our reliable and trustworthy market research process and our high level of collaboration. 

These services and capabilities include:

Many participants in the US repair services industry, particularly small independent repair shops, have faced mounting challenges over the last decade. During this period, one key trend has been manufacturers’ increasing control over the repair of their products. Recent events, however, have given pause to this trend and even promise to reverse it.

For many people, marriage is a blessed arrangement, a dream within a dream...

For the jewelry industry, it’s a major driver of sales.

According to some estimates, 95% of couples exchange rings along with marriage vows, and the “gold standard” for the majority of US brides is a ring encrusted with at least one diamond.  

Thus, US personal consumption expenditures (in nominal terms) on jewelry are expected to advance 3.1% annually to 2020 as the number of new marriages continues to grow.  

It’s that time of the year when both kids as well as adult “career enhancers” are heading back to school, but fewer and fewer students are turning to degree-granting for-profit institutions (eg, DeVry University and University of Phoenix) for their post-secondary education needs.

While for-profit enrollment climbed 14% per year on average over the 1995-2010 period (topping out at 9.6% of total post-secondary enrollments in 2010), enrollment fell at an average annual rate of 7.0% over the 2010-2015 period. That performance compares to 1.9% average annual growth in nonprofit private post-secondary school enrollment over the 1995-2010 period, and <1.0% average annual growth over the 2010-2015 period.

Expansion has always been key to the world flat glass industry. Since it’s impractical to ship glass long distances, companies must open a new plant whenever they enter a new intended market. But with the cost to open a float plant with a 500 metric ton per day capacity between $150 and $200 million, flat glass producers must be sure that such a large investment will pay off. As a result, in recent years more companies have been expanding in developing areas, where less mature markets have a greater potential for growth.

In 2014, gymnasium and exercise equipment surpassed golf equipment as the largest sports equipment segment in the US, a position golf equipment had held since 2006. Since that time, many observers have declared the downfall of golf, citing falling participation levels and the millennial cohort’s apparent lack of interest for the game. In addition, the number of open golf courses in the US has taken a tumble in the past decade.

Market researchers are pros at distilling data into conclusions that hopefully better inform their clients’ business decisions. Yet rarely does the industry hold up the same mirror to itself and how its practices are meeting its own changing future.

A new “Market Research Squared” report — market research about market researchers — in a bellwether sector does just that. Its results suggest conventional wisdom about a key market research community — and perhaps, the entire profession — is either wrong, or changing.