Modern consumers build baskets based on needs – not categories. A parent shopping for back-to-school may grab snacks, cleaning wipes, vitamins, and pens all in the same trip. These baskets reflect household priorities, seasonal routines, and value perceptions. When you're crafting a strategy across product categories, understanding how these behaviors overlap is crucial.

Yet, too often, insights teams approach each category in a silo. Individually, shampoo trends look different from cereal trends. But to craft a successful multi-category strategy, you need to step back and look at the household logic behind those individual decisions. What drives bundling trends? When do people trade up in one category and down in another? Why is one purchase motivating the next?

Cross-category thinking unlocks new types of insight

Instead of focusing only on product-level analytics, cross-category insights zoom out to observe overarching customer behavior. Key questions include:

• What recurring bundles are customers building across different trips?
• Do purchase shifts in one category foreshadow trends in another?
• Are certain categories gateways to larger baskets or loyalty?
• How are households prioritizing with inflation or seasonality in mind?

These kinds of questions go beyond standard KPIs. They help uncover hidden linkages across aisles and departments – leading to more effective media targeting, product innovation, and in-store optimization.

Why Numerator data adds value – if used the right way

Numerator is a powerful source of retail data. It allows researchers to analyze actual purchases over time, across millions of households, revealing deep patterns in consumer purchase behavior and household buying patterns. But without a structured workflow or cross-category lens, teams can miss out on the broader picture. Similar product types might be analyzed differently by different teams, making it hard to unify insights or spot bundling trends.

This is where strategic planning becomes essential. Connecting category-level trackers with lifestyle segmentations or shared moments (e.g., back-to-school, holidays, wellness journeys) can reframe how you see the data – and open the door to richer strategy.

On Demand Talent makes it easier to connect the dots

If you’re trying to level up your Numerator workflows or rethink your multi-category strategy, SIVO’s On Demand Talent can help. These are experienced consumer insights experts who can quickly step in to help your team:

• Synthesize multiple data sources with a lifestyle-based view
• Create standardized frameworks to analyze categories together
• Teach your team how to extract cross-category insights
• Fill expertise gaps without the cost or delay of hiring

Cross-category thinking takes practice – but when done right, it arms teams with insight that’s not just interesting, but truly actionable across the business.

DIY market research tools like Numerator have transformed the way insights teams collect and analyze retail data. They offer on-demand access to granular panel data, flexible dashboards, and faster turnarounds than traditional research approaches. But while this flexibility is empowering, managing robust research workflows – especially across multiple categories or teams – can quickly become overwhelming without the right systems in place.

Here are some of the most frequent issues teams run into when working with Numerator across product categories:

1. Fragmented workflows and inconsistent methodologies

A common mistake in multi-category research is treating each category in isolation. If teams or brand owners approach Numerator data on their own terms – using different filters, timeframes, or trip definitions – the resulting data becomes tough to compare. This makes it harder to consolidate insights or tell one cohesive brand or shopper story.

Possible Fix: Build shared workflows across teams. Set consistent parameters for data pulls, definitions, and trip groupings. Partnering with On Demand Talent ensures methodological discipline – critical to getting high-quality, cross-comparable results from a DIY tool.

2. Overlooking cross-category links due to filter bias

Numerator allows you to drill deep into barcodes and trip types, which is great for category specialists – but also introduces tunnel vision. You may dive too deeply into a category, missing what else was in the basket.

Possible Fix: Include a cross-sell review during analyses – what else appeared in these trips? Did certain promotions or category shifts affect others? Experts in retail data analysis can help uncover these patterns, helping teams pivot from a product-centric to household-centric view.

3. Misinterpreting household behavior without context

DIY tools are data-rich but context-light. Teams sometimes misread the data without fully understanding the scenario that led to certain purchases. Was this coupon behavior? Stock-up behavior? A lifestyle switch?

Possible Fix: Layer in contextual analysis to interpret the 'why' behind the 'what'. On Demand Talent can bring behavioral expertise to help understand actual household purchase logic, making your insights smarter – not just faster.

4. Hitting upskilling walls in your team

With more companies investing in DIY platforms, insights professionals are being asked to learn and use tools like Numerator quickly, often without formal training. This leads to missteps in data setup, missed opportunities in analysis, and delays in surfacing insights.

Possible Fix: Bringing in seasoned experts as short-term support or mentors. SIVO’s On Demand Talent can guide internal teams – not just by delivering projects, but by teaching your staff how to use Numerator more effectively long-term.

Used correctly, tools like Numerator are incredibly valuable for strategy. But like any powerful solution, they require structure, skills, and collaboration to unlock their full potential – especially in a multi-category environment.

One of the biggest opportunities in cross-category market research is understanding how consumers make household purchasing decisions across multiple categories. Tools like Numerator provide access to retail panel data that captures real-world purchase behavior, but pulling actionable insights from this data – especially across categories – requires more than downloading reports. You need to uncover the underlying logic: why people buy what they buy, when, and how it fits into their broader lifestyle.

Moving Beyond Product-Level Data

Numerator can show which products are frequently bought together. While this bundling trend is useful, it’s just the beginning. The real impact comes from interpreting patterns that reflect:

• Family routines (e.g. breakfast items bought with lunchbox snacks)
• Health-conscious choices (e.g. natural cleaning supplies and organic foods)
• Impulsive vs. planned purchases across different retail trips

Recognizing these cues can help brands position multi-category solutions that reflect a household-first understanding, not just a category-by-category view.

Look for Repeatable Cross-Category Signals

When working with Numerator workflows, always ask: Is there a pattern in how households buy across weeks or seasons? Do certain life stages (college students, young families, retirees) show consistent cross-category behavior? These are critical to developing strong shopper marketing and innovation strategies.

For example, a fictional health brand found that many of their target consumers often bought vitamins along with fitness drinks and gluten-free snacks – insights that wouldn’t have surfaced from looking purely at one category. This led them to develop co-marketing strategies across those segments at high-traffic retail moments.

What Makes Cross-Category Insights Hard

DIY market research tools like Numerator can surface thousands of data points, but they rarely connect the dots automatically. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or stuck looking at siloed metrics – household penetration here, brand loyalty there – with no clear narrative. That’s why cross-category insights require synthesis, not just analytics.

Without layering on qualitative thinking, key signals around bundling behavior or lifestyle shifts can get lost. You need researchers who can step back and ask the right human-centered questions: What's the role of this product in daily life? What else does this household prioritize?

Not every team has the time, resources, or skillset to navigate complex cross-category workflows. And while tools like Numerator offer extensive data, they don’t come with a built-in strategist. That’s where working with On Demand Talent can make a measurable difference – especially when the stakes are high and your internal team is stretched thin.

Why On Demand Talent Is Different

Unlike freelancers or short-term contractors, SIVO’s On Demand Talent network includes highly experienced insights professionals. These are experts who’ve run large-scale tracking studies, interpreted massive retail datasets, and supported go-to-market strategies across industries. They’re ready to plug in quickly and deliver real value – no long onboarding or guesswork required.

If your team is facing any of these scenarios, it could be time to bring in On Demand Talent:

• You’re facing a large multi-category product launch and short on analytical bandwidth
• Your team needs coaching on getting more from DIY market research tools like Numerator
• Insights are stuck in silos and leadership wants one cohesive, household-level story
• You’ve invested in the tool, but still seeing limited strategic use

Flexible Support That Builds Capabilities

Our On Demand Talent experts are not just temporary boosters – they act as mentors, upskilling your internal team while filling gaps in market research or analytics. This means your team becomes more confident in managing Numerator workflows, synthesizing cross-category insights, and telling better data stories over time.

Whether for a few weeks, a few months, or a tailored phase of a project, this approach gives you agility without adding permanent headcount. You get access to top-tier expertise exactly when and where you need it – no long hiring cycles, no compromise on quality.

In today’s fast-moving consumer landscape, success with DIY research tools increasingly depends on the human hands managing them. Having the right professionals on your side can mean the difference between raw data and meaningful action.

Developing a strong multi-category strategy doesn’t stop at collecting data – you need workflows that connect the dots clearly, efficiently, and insightfully. Optimizing your Numerator workflows is key to moving from reactive reporting to proactive decision-making.

Start with Strategy in Mind

Before diving into dashboards, pause and define the strategic questions you need answered. Are you trying to understand which product categories drive household loyalty? Do you want to explore bundling trends or seasonal purchase shifts? Knowing these goals upfront keeps your retail data analysis tightly focused.

When planning Numerator workflows across product categories, always organize your dataset in a way that mirrors your customer’s life – not your internal product hierarchy. This means tracking trips, baskets, and behaviors over time, not just performance per SKU.

Watch Out for Common Workflow Issues

Many insights teams run into roadblocks like:

• Siloed category reporting with no mechanism for synthesis
• Inconsistent variables across product teams (making comparisons tricky)
• An overload of unprioritized metrics, leading to “insights clutter”
• Underutilized platform features that could automate time-consuming tasks

These issues often lead to underperforming insights functions – not because the data is bad, but because the workflow isn't set up for integration or actionability.

Tips for Building Smarter Workflows

Here are ways to improve your Numerator setup for sharper cross-category insights:

1. Build repeatable templates

Create core dashboards or frameworks that consistently track bundling trends, household buying patterns, and seasonal shifts across multiple categories – not just individual ones.

2. Centralize key metrics

Use shared definitions and centralized scorecards to avoid discrepancies between category teams and ensure alignment across the organization.

3. Automate recurring analysis

Leverage Numerator’s capabilities to pre-load filters and logic so you can easily spot shifting consumer purchase behavior without starting from scratch each time.

From Data to Daily Decisions

Ultimately, a well-planned Numerator workflow enables faster, clearer decision-making. When your reports map directly to customer behaviors and lifestyle patterns, you’re better equipped to shape promotions, media targeting, innovation pipelines, and more. And when paired with the right experts – whether in-house or via On Demand Talent – DIY tools become a meaningful lever for business growth, not just operational reporting.