CPG leaders are constantly seeking new ways to stay ahead of changing consumer needs, preferences, and habits. While many brands rely on quantitative data to track trends, one of the most effective ways to uncover deep consumer insights is through an Empathy Trek – a field-based approach to CPG research that involves entering the world of real shoppers to observe them in their natural environments.

Empathy Treks are a form of qualitative research for CPG brands. They focus on observing – not just asking – how people behave when they're cooking dinner, brushing their teeth, shopping for cereal, or choosing cleaning products. The goal is to gather in-the-moment details that people may not even be able to articulate in surveys or interviews.

Moving From Assumptions to Understanding

Empathy Treks allow teams to leave the assumptions of boardrooms and research decks behind. Instead of asking consumers what they do, brands see what they do. This first-hand observation often uncovers behaviors that contradict stated intentions – a key gap in many traditional research methods.

For example, a shopper might claim to always read ingredient labels, but in the store, they may choose based on price or packaging familiarity. These real-life contradictions hold rich meaning for brands developing effective packaging, product positioning, or messaging strategies.

Building Consumer Empathy Within Teams

Beyond insight-gathering, Empathy Treks are powerful tools for building internal alignment. When team members – from marketers to product designers – experience what consumers go through, they gain a deeper appreciation for the challenges and pain points shoppers face every day.

This shared experience helps activate consumer empathy across teams, turning research findings into emotionally resonant, consumer-led strategies. It transforms abstract "customer personas" into real people with real needs.

Common Moments CPG Teams Explore During Empathy Treks:

 
• What triggers decisions in store aisles or online shopping experiences
 
• How consumers organize pantries, fridges, or beauty cabinets
 
• What products sit untouched versus those used daily
 
• How family dynamics shape product use (e.g., what kids actually eat vs. what parents buy)

Each moment exposes context – a core benefit of in-context consumer research – and helps brands understand not just what shoppers do, but why they do it.

As part of a broader toolkit of market research methods, Empathy Treks complement other forms of consumer intelligence by adding depth, stories, and patterns that are often missed in purely quantitative studies.

For CPG brands eager to connect with modern consumers and keep pace with evolving CPG trends, Empathy Treks offer a clear path: get closer, listen harder, and build from what you observe – not just what you ask.

Among the many environments where Empathy Treks take place, the home, and particularly kitchens and bathrooms rank as two of the most revealing. That’s because these private, often overlooked spaces provide a window into everyday routines where real product interactions happen. For CPG brands – especially those in food, beverage, health, personal care, or household products – insight from these spaces can be game-changing.

Observing consumers in their homes – particularly in the kitchen or bathroom – provides rich context that helps brands understand more than just usage. It reveals unmet needs, habitual shortcuts, emotional triggers, and even deeply ingrained behavior patterns that traditional research might never uncover.

Why Kitchens and Bathrooms Are Gold Mines for Insights

These two rooms are where consumers store, interact with, and actually use many CPG products every day. From toothpaste routines to coffee rituals, the intimate detail of behavior captured in these spaces gives teams fresh, actionable perspectives.

During these in-home visits, brand teams can observe:

 
• Product placement: Where items live tells a story – what's easily accessible, forgotten, or hoarded?
 
• Usage patterns: Is a product used as intended or improvised? How often?
 
• Decision paths: What does someone reach for first thing in the morning or after a long day?
 
• Storage workarounds: Are products being transferred to other containers? Are labels important or removed?

These subtle moments bring precision to the often abstract goal of understanding consumers in their homes. They also highlight how products fit into – or fall short of – people's actual routines.

Examples of Real-Life Shopper Behavior Insights

Let’s say a beverage brand observes that consumers are pouring a bottled drink into a reusable container each morning – this might suggest an opportunity to offer larger formats or design packaging better suited to daily use. Or, a cleaning product may be stored under the sink but rarely used, indicating that it doesn’t fit easily into the consumer’s current cleanup workflow.

In bathrooms, insight into how family members share space can inform product sizing, scent options, or communication as buyers balance preferences and constraints. Seeing dirt-resistant packaging matter more than color, or realizing which features become irrelevant once a product is at home, can drive smarter innovation decisions.

Turning Observation into Connection

These visits are not just about logging behavior – they’re about creating an emotional bridge between brands and people. When teams witness a parent juggling lunch prep with product choices, or a teen choosing a skincare item with visible hesitation, those moments stick. They foster consumer empathy that makes product design more thoughtful, messaging more human, and innovation more useful.

For CPG companies seeking brand insights rooted in real behavior – not just buyer intent – visiting kitchens and bathrooms through Empathy Treks offers unparalleled clarity. It reveals not only how products are used, but how they live within people’s lives – messes, routines, priorities, and all.

That’s where the real power of CPG research shines: not in the perfect data point, but in the meaningful moment observed and interpreted with care.

When it comes to understanding how people actually shop, reading a survey isn’t the same as standing beside someone as they make choices in the aisle. Empathy Treks bring research teams directly into the retail environment, allowing CPG teams to observe real-time shopper behavior in stores – not just what people say they do, but what they actually do. This form of in-context ethnographic research creates space for valuable discoveries that can significantly shape retail strategies.

Spotting Decision Drivers in Real Time

In the grocery aisle or at the shelf, shoppers are influenced by a range of factors – price, packaging, brand familiarity, even shelf height. During an empathy trek in-store, CPG researchers can witness these decision points firsthand and ask follow-up questions in the moment. For example, a shopper may reach for a new brand because the packaging called out “low sugar” or because it was at eye level. These small moments, captured in real time, lead to clearer brand insights.

Understanding Environmental Cues

Retail environments are full of subtle triggers – visual merchandising, promo signage, crowd patterns – all influencing shopper behavior. By physically being present in store, teams can identify how these cues impact decision-making. Perhaps a product was overlooked because a competitor's display captured all the attention. These are the kinds of insights Empathy Treks reveal that surveys often miss.

Building Smarter Merchandising Strategies

When CPG teams see how people engage with products on shelf, they’re better equipped to build strategies that work across merchandising, shelf placement, and promotions. Observations might show that small format displays are being ignored in high-traffic areas, but end caps with touchable samples get attention. These learnings can drive adjustments to planograms, packaging improvements, or point-of-sale messaging.

• See how promotions are actually received
• Identify unexpected shopper pathways through store aisles
• Recognize moments of confusion or hesitation

Ultimately, in-store CPG research anchored in real-life behavior helps brands create tailored strategies that align both with consumer needs and retailer goals.

Traditional market research methods, like surveys and focus groups, are useful tools – but they can’t always capture the full picture. That’s where in-context consumer research steps in. Methods such as Empathy Treks allow researchers to understand consumers in the environments where decisions are made, habits are formed, and products are used. The result? Deeper, more authentic consumer insights.

Seeing Real Behavior, Not Just Stated Intent

In focus groups, people might say what they think is the 'right' answer. In contrast, observing how a parent stores snacks in their pantry, or how they navigate a busy store, reveals unconscious routines and workarounds that drive real-life behavior.

For example, if a participant says they prefer a certain cleaning product because of scent, but always stores it behind child locks and rarely uses it, there's a disconnect. In-home observation can spot that gap – and help brands fill it with meaningful solutions.

Contextual Clarity Leads to Stronger Insights

When researchers are in the home or store, they gain access to the full context around usage. Whether it’s understanding why a cereal box gets left unfinished (the child doesn't like the texture) or noticing that packaging is hard to open, these details would likely be missed in standard interviews. Insights from kitchen and bathroom visits provide a nuanced view of how consumers truly live with products.

Benefits of In-Context Methods Include:

• More accurate understanding of use occasions and routines
• Uncovering unmet or unspoken needs
• Building consumer empathy within internal teams
• Validating (or challenging) assumptions from quantitative data

While not a replacement for traditional methods, Empathy Treks and ethnographic research amplify the effectiveness of overall CPG research programs. The combination of data and in-the-moment observation is what gives teams both confidence and creativity in decision-making.

Empathy Treks do more than just uncover insights – they energize teams with the human stories behind the data. For CPG companies, embedding product developers, marketers, and brand strategists into the consumer’s world sparks empathy, creativity, and a more intuitive understanding of what truly matters to people.

Bridging the Gap Between Data and Human Experience

When team members see firsthand how a shopper chooses one product over another or the daily annoyance of hard-to-open lids, it becomes personal. These moments move the conversation from “How can we increase share?” to “How can we make this easier for them?” Whether it's standing in a cramped apartment kitchen or trailing shoppers through a value store, seeing the world through the consumer’s eyes builds meaningful consumer empathy.

Creating Breakthrough Ideas Grounded in Reality

Insights drawn from understanding consumers in their homes or in stores often reveal frustrations or habits no one had considered. For product teams, this might spark packaging adjustments that make kitchens less cluttered or improve grip for elderly hands. For marketers, it may inspire messaging that speaks directly to how people feel at point-of-use, not just point-of-sale.

Building Cross-Functional Connection

Empathy Treks can serve as a unifying experience where cross-functional teams – from R&D to creative – connect through a shared understanding of the customer. This not only strengthens collaboration but also ensures that what’s built reflects real needs, not just assumptions or trends.

For example, a product claim like “cleans faster” becomes more powerful when the team has watched a parent with three kids juggle meal prep and chores. Teams leave these experiences not just informed but inspired.

Ultimately, these treks act as a catalyst – translating ethnographic research for CPG brands into practical solutions and memorable brand moments. Insights become more than facts; they become fuel for innovation.