As private label offerings continue to win over consumers, brands are under growing pressure to understand how these products impact their market share, shopper loyalty, and category dynamics. That's where tools like Numerator come in. Brands increasingly use Numerator analysis to study private label trends across channels, uncover shifts in basket composition, and explore why shoppers may be leaving their products behind.

Numerator’s panel-driven retail analytics platform offers highly detailed data on purchase behavior, price sensitivity, channel preferences, and switching patterns. It allows companies to understand not just what shoppers are buying but who they are, how often they buy, and what leads them to try something new – often a store brand.

What Makes Private Label Research Important Today?

Private labels are no longer the low-cost, low-quality alternatives of years past. They’re now key category players with increasingly solid branding, innovation, and shelf presence. Private label research helps answer questions such as:

• How much of our share loss can be attributed to private label growth?
• What segments are more likely to make the switch – and why?
• Is this a temporary response to inflation, or a long-term shift in loyalty?
• What motivators (value, quality, availability) are driving trial?

With the right setup, Numerator can help brands track these variables over time and spot emerging risks or opportunities. But simply pulling data isn’t enough. The value comes from how the data is interpreted – and whether the research questions are aligned with business needs.

DIY Tools Offer Speed – But Require Strategic Set-Up

Many insights teams are adopting DIY research tools like Numerator to move quickly and operate within tighter timelines and budgets. But brand success hinges on more than speed – it depends on whether the analysis is accurate, action-focused, and designed to tell a clear story.

That’s why it’s crucial to ensure the right expertise is in place. Using experienced On Demand Talent to support your Numerator study can help your team:

• Frame the right hypotheses to test shopper behavior change
• Use the tools more effectively to extract category-specific insights
• Build narratives that drive decision-maker trust and action

In a time when private label growth is accelerating across grocery, household, beauty, and beyond, understanding what keeps shoppers loyal – or triggers a switch – is a competitive edge. And tools like Numerator, when used thoughtfully, put that power directly into brand teams’ hands.

DIY research tools like Numerator give brand teams a user-friendly way to explore shopper behavior. But without the right planning and experience, it’s surprisingly easy to make mistakes that lead to inaccurate interpretations of shopper switching behavior. These missteps can result in flawed strategies or missed growth opportunities – ultimately causing teams to misread what’s really happening on the shelf.

Misidentifying Switching Behavior

One of the biggest challenges in Numerator analysis is figuring out whether a shopper has truly “switched” brands or just temporarily tried something else. DIY users often rely too heavily on short-term purchasing patterns and assume they signal permanent shifts. But without context – such as out-of-stock conditions, promotions, or lifestyle changes – this assumption can be misleading.

Quick Fix: Layer in longitudinal analysis and behavioral context. Look beyond a single trip or short window and assess whether repeated purchase of a private label actually takes root over time.

Overlooking Motivations Behind the Switch

DIY tools typically show what was purchased, but not always why. When you see a shopper move from a national brand to a private label, is it about price? Value perception? Product quality? Was it a deliberate trial or a forced choice?

Quick Fix: Combine Numerator tracking with either survey overlays or qualitative follow-ups. Consider bringing in On Demand Talent to integrate behavioral and attitudinal data and provide more nuanced shopper insights.

Using One-Size-Fits-All Buyer Definitions

Many DIY analyses treat all “switchers” the same, even though they may behave very differently. For instance, a budget-driven family shopper might exit for good, while a more experimental buyer could cycle through brands frequently without ever truly defecting.

Quick Fix: Refine your definitions. Classify your private label shoppers by switching intent (e.g., trial, value-led, loyal defectors) instead of grouping everyone into a broad category. This allows for more targeted marketing and retention strategies.

Letting the Tool Drive the Insights

DIY platforms are rich in data visualization, but that doesn’t mean every chart tells the full story. Some teams rely too heavily on what’s available “out of the box” in the dashboards, without digging into deeper analyses that might uncover more meaningful conclusions.

Quick Fix: Start with your business question, not the dashboard. Work backward from your goals to define the analysis needed. If your team is short on bandwidth or expertise, tapping into On Demand Talent can help craft customized use of the tool – unlocking more strategic value from your data.

Whether you're exploring how to use Numerator for private label tracking or trying to understand deeper shifts in your shopper base, avoiding these DIY tool pitfalls will help keep your research on track. Experienced support doesn’t just save you time – it ensures your insights fuel action-oriented decisions.

It's no secret that private label brands are rising across retail categories, but understanding why shoppers are making the switch is often trickier than it seems. Many Numerator users focus solely on switching rates – like how many shoppers choose a store brand instead of a national one – without uncovering the motivations behind those shifts. When DIY research tools are used without a clear analytical lens, important nuances get missed, leading to surface-level insights.

What Causes Shoppers to Prefer Private Label?

Some common factors include:

• Price sensitivity - Private labels are often seen as better value.
• Product satisfaction - Shoppers returning if they perceive equal or better quality.
• Increased availability - Retailer promotional strategies or limited national brand options.
• Changing perceptions - Private labels gaining trust or premium positioning.

When your Numerator analysis focuses too heavily on “what changed” (like purchase frequency) without the “why,” it's easy to misinterpret natural seasonal swings or short-term promotions as long-term behavioral shifts. That’s where framing research objectives clearly can make or break your analysis.

How to Capture Motivations Accurately

To dig deeper into the factors driving private label growth, you can:

1. Layer quantitative switching data with qualitative coding of shopper responses inside Numerator (if available). Even verbatim comment segmentation can reveal attitudes and emotional drivers.

2. Classify buyers beyond “switchers” by developing personas like “dual users,” “motivated switchers,” or “promotion-only switchers.” These groupings help teams understand intent rather than just behavior.

3. Set KPIs that go beyond market share. Look at basket composition, brand reentry rate, and repeat behavior, which paint a more strategic picture of loyalty and satisfaction.

Bringing the 'Why' to the Forefront

For early-stage teams working with DIY research tools, it’s helpful to have someone experienced in framing these questions and hypotheses. The right private label research doesn’t just count shoppers – it captures their mindset. Understanding why shoppers switch to private label gives researchers and brand teams stronger levers to influence future decisions and brand equity.

Working with experienced professionals – like SIVO’s On Demand Talent – means you get help designing your research in a way that surfaces these hidden drivers clearly. And that can make all the difference between reactive reporting and actionable strategy.

DIY research tools like Numerator empower consumer insights teams to access data faster and take action quicker. But even the best tools can fall short without the right human expertise interpreting the output. That’s where many teams get stuck – powerful platforms in hand, but unclear how to get the most meaningful insights from them.

Where DIY Research Often Falls Short

Here are some common challenges teams face when running private label studies on their own:

• Data overload – So many tabs and filters but little clarity on what drives the business story.
• Misinterpreting switching behavior – Mistaking promotional response for long-term loyalty shifts.
• Not aligning data with objectives – Running generic queries that don't map to strategic brand questions.
• Overestimating internal bandwidth – Teams often underestimate the time and expertise needed to analyze thoroughly.

These breakdowns can lead to misinformed decisions or missed opportunities. That’s why support from expert insights professionals – even for a few weeks or a project duration – can help you turn “good enough” data into business-changing narratives.

What On Demand Talent Brings to the Table

SIVO’s On Demand Talent connects insights teams to experienced market research professionals who are well-versed in tools like Numerator and beyond. These aren’t freelancers or consultants doing one-size-fits-all work. You get seasoned pros who know how to:

- Set up studies aligned to your product or category questions
- Optimize filter logic and segmentation to highlight switching dynamics
- Interpret private label shopper behavior accurately and avoid common traps
- Coach your internal teams for future projects so your capabilities grow long-term

Whether you need help re-analyzing a rushed report or designing a reliable tracking framework from scratch, On Demand Talent acts as an extension of your team, not a temporary fix.

By pairing DIY research tools with expert human judgment, you ensure your private label strategies are backed by insights you can trust. It’s not about replacing your systems – it’s about getting smarter, more efficient use from what you already have.

Planning a private label shopper study in Numerator or similar DIY tools doesn’t just involve launching a quick data pull and hoping for clarity. To avoid missteps and make smarter use of your platform, it’s important to embed strong research planning from the start. When your goals, segmentation, and interpretation plans are clear, Numerator becomes more than a reporting system – it becomes a strategic advantage.

Start With Specific Business Questions

Quality outcomes begin with clarity. Before diving into filters and dashboards, define what you’re truly trying to understand. For example:

- “Which shopper segments are showing sustained switching behavior to private label?”
- “Are repeat private label buyers across more categories, or sticking to one area?”
- “What role do retailer promotions or in-store signage play in trial behavior?”

These types of focused questions allow your Numerator study to be structured intentionally, from sample design to how success is measured.

Build the Right Segmentation Strategy

An effective private label analysis goes beyond brand A vs. brand B. It organizes shoppers into meaningful buckets – recurring private label buyers, dual-loyalty consumers, and promotion-driven switchers, for instance. This kind of segmentation brings more depth to your analysis and surfaces actionable tactics, like targeting dual-loyalty shoppers with cross-promotion strategies.

Validate and Align Findings with Context

Any Numerator analysis should be checked against macro trends (like inflation, category disruption, retail strategy shifts) to ensure findings are rooted in market realities. To avoid confirmation bias:

• Cross-check findings with other data sources or internal brand studies when possible.
• Involve stakeholders early to align on definitions like “switching behavior” or “loyalty.”

Planning with structure and alignment improves the odds of tying insights back to brand growth goals – something DIY platforms alone can’t do out of the box.

Boost Rigor With Experienced Guidance

If your team isn’t confident in how to set up a reliable private label study, loop in support. Many brands are turning to SIVO’s On Demand Talent to strengthen planning. These experts help with initial design, share best practices from other categories, and build custom templates that your team can reuse across future studies.

Reliable, repeatable private label research is possible – even in fast-paced environments. It just takes the right setup, a thoughtful strategy, and sometimes, a guide to help you build it right the first time.