Smarter category management with Qloo’s taste intelligence

Category management is all about making sure the right products are in the right places, at the right prices, for the right shoppers. But traditional data sources—sales figures, demographics, and loyalty programs—show which products are being purchased, but often don’t explain the why behind shoppers’ choices—an invaluable input when crafting category strategies.

Qloo’s Taste AI technology brings a deeper perspective by analyzing shoppers’ holistic preferences for consumer brands, restaurants, fashion and apparel, music, travel experiences, and more. We do this by gathering trillions of anonymized consumer data points from sources that capture shopper intent across the path-to-purchase: social media data, user-inputted interests, digital media consumption, online reviews, transaction data, and more. With Qloo’s uniquely comprehensive view of consumer preferences, category managers can go beyond just what customers purchased and make better decisions based on a deeper understanding of shopper interests.

Starting with a more nuanced understanding of customer segments 

Many customer segmentation providers rely on high-level demographics, grouping people by age, gender, or household income. While these factors provide a useful starting point, they rarely reflect the complex reality of purchasing behavior.

Qloo takes a different approach. By analyzing the detailed preferences of any audience, we help category managers build detailed customer personas that include both demographic and, more importantly, psychographic insights. Qloo’s nuanced consumer intelligence is available down to the store level, allowing brands to fine-tune assortments, pricing, and promotions based on what truly resonates with local shoppers. 

For example, this means a coffee brand doesn’t just see where its customers live but would gain a deeper understanding of their broader preferences—what other products they gravitate toward, what media they consume, and how those preferences shift between neighborhoods. With this level of granularity, category managers can create strategies that are both highly localized and deeply aligned with consumer sentiment.

To make this intelligence even more actionable, Qloo’s Persona Builder, available within our  Insights by Qloo^BETA platform, streamlines the process of developing customer personas. Traditionally, brands have spent months and significant budgets—sometimes millions of dollars—on segmentation studies. Our Persona Builder, powered by generative AI, transforms detailed, data-based audience insights into rich, hyper-local personas in a fraction of the time and cost, making sophisticated customer intelligence more accessible than ever.

‍Refining product development

Gaining a detailed understanding of customer segments is an essential foundation, but how can brands anticipate what will resonate with shoppers in the future? Qloo’s AI-driven intelligence goes beyond identifying current interests to uncover new opportunities and whitespace in the market, helping category managers and R&D teams make more informed product development decisions.

For brands launching new products, Qloo provides a data-backed way to validate ideas before they hit the shelves. A snack brand, for example, might use Qloo to identify which audiences are most likely to engage with their brand based on broader cultural and consumer affinities. By understanding which existing products, entertainment preferences, or lifestyle choices correlate with their target audience, the brand can refine its positioning, distribution strategy, and partnerships before committing to large-scale production.

Qloo can also help brands identify unmet needs and develop products that align with emerging preferences. A beverage company, for instance, might be looking to create a new product for retiring Boomers who prioritize energy and vitality. With Qloo, they can analyze which brands, travel destinations, and lifestyle choices are most popular with this audience—perhaps uncovering a strong affinity for Mediterranean cruise lines. This insight could inspire flavors like lemon-mint or apricot, connecting the product directly to cultural touchpoints that resonate with the target demographic.

By surfacing these unexpected but meaningful connections, Qloo gives brands an edge in product innovation—helping them develop offerings that feel intuitive to consumers before they even hit the market.

Smarter distribution, assortment planning, and shelf placement

Getting the right products to the right locations—and ensuring they’re positioned for success in-store—is essential for category managers. Qloo’s intelligence helps brands optimize their strategy at every stage, from high-level distribution planning to fine-tuned shelf placement decisions.

Deciding which products go where is a foundational challenge for category managers, especially when consumer preferences vary significantly by region. Qloo can help brands determine optimal distribution strategies by analyzing regional and store-specific consumer affinities. If a packaged food product performs exceptionally well in high-foot-traffic urban stores, Qloo can help validate whether that success stems from taste preferences, complementary product affinities, or external cultural factors. These insights allow brands to allocate inventory more efficiently, ensuring products land in the locations where they are most likely to thrive.

With distribution mapped out, brands also need to determine the right product assortment for each location. Qloo’s store-level intelligence can help category managers refine assortments based on local consumer preferences. A brand may find that demand for plant-based products is significantly higher in urban grocery stores than in suburban locations, allowing them to adjust their product mix accordingly. These insights help strike the right balance between innovation and familiarity in each store, maximizing sales potential.

The final step is ensuring that once products are in-store, they’re positioned for success. Qloo provides data-backed evidence to support shelf placement decisions, helping category managers strengthen their cases when working with retail buyers. Rather than relying solely on sales history, brands can demonstrate why a particular store’s shoppers are a natural fit for their product, making it easier to secure prime facings and optimize planograms.

By integrating these insights, brands can take a more strategic approach to distribution, assortment planning, and shelf placement—leading to stronger performance and more effective category management decisions.

Enhancing promotional strategy and shopper engagement

Category analysts and insights teams play a critical role in shaping marketing and promotional efforts. The ability to personalize campaigns with more precise audience insights leads to stronger engagement and more effective promotions.

Qloo helps brands refine their positioning and creative campaigns by revealing deeper layers of consumer behavior. If an audience has a strong affinity for sustainability-focused brands, marketing teams can tailor their approach to highlight eco-friendly aspects of a product. If a particular region over-indexes in engagement with certain types of entertainment, brands can integrate those cultural touchpoints into their campaigns.

By aligning promotions with the underlying interests of the target audience, brands can increase the effectiveness of their advertising, drive higher ROI on promotional spending, and create campaigns that feel relevant rather than generic.

Why Qloo’s approach stands out

Most consumer insights platforms rely on first-party transaction data, survey panels, or broad social listening tools. Qloo integrates a much wider range of data sources, including transaction data and proprietary datasets from some of the world’s biggest consumer platforms. This allows for a more dynamic and nuanced view of consumer preferences at a level of detail that other platforms simply don’t offer.

Qloo’s intelligence can be accessed visually through our self-service Insights platform or integrated directly into existing workflows via API. Whether you need a top-line view of shifting consumer patterns or look at the raw data driving specific behaviors, Qloo delivers insights in a format that works for your team.

To see how Qloo can help refine your Category Management approach, schedule a demo today.