Case Study: Leading Pet Food Company achieves rapid, actionable consumer insights to optimize product assortment across retailers with GutCheck

How a Leading Pet Food Company Used Agile Research to Uncover Consumer Expectations for Pet Food Products

A leading pet food company wanted to better understand pet owners’ expectations when shopping for dog and cat food—specifically product assortment, perceived quality, and which exclusive or mainstream brands consumers expect to find at boutiques, pet superstores, and grocery stores. The team also sought to determine whether shoppers perceived a meaningful difference between two major pet superstores, labeled Pet Store X and Pet Store Y.

The company engaged GutCheck to run two simultaneous one-day online Instant Research Groups, gathering fast, moderated qualitative feedback from targeted cat and dog owners. Results showed shoppers prefer pet superstores for convenience, variety and value, expect boutiques to carry higher‑end/niche items with limited variety, and see little differentiation between Pet Store X and Pet Store Y; insights were delivered within days and used to make consumer-driven assortment and merchandising decisions for each retailer type.