How to use B2C consumer insights to drive your innovation and investment decisions in industrial B2B settings
14/05/2025
From a B2B perspective, B2C insights like consumer needs, habits or purchase behavior most often seem quite far away from product advancements in an industrial context. However, there are several industry segments, where consumer requirements make their way into the downstream stages of the B2B value chain. We present three case studies where we beneficially applied consumer insights to B2B issues in the areas of innovation, market assessment, and joint development.
There are various input sources for B2B companies to fuel the innovation pipeline. Immediate B2B customer insights help with incremental improvements. Short- to mid-term industry and market trends including competitor insights provide foresight. And long-lasting technical and socio-economic megatrends show the big picture.While many B2B products remain hidden to the B2C consumer level of the value chain, and are discussed only at B2B stages, some features make it through and gain immediate visibility at private consumers. In these product segments, understanding trends, motivations and future consumption drivers help set the rails for innovation endeavors early on.B2C insights can be applied to specific B2B objectives:
Our strategy consulting approach at Schlegel und Partner is strongly data driven: we generate bottom-up market insights along the value chain through research and expert interviews, looking for strategic implications. Though we have a clear B2B focus, we frequently include B2C panel studies, utilizing the additional benefit of a holistic perspective that includes private consumer insights. The following case studies show how we applied different research techniques, how we combined them with insights from other upstream target groups, and how we linked them back to consequences at our industrial clients.Case study 1: assessing market potential for an innovative chemical base material for foam mattressesWe investigated the viability of a new product concept for sustainable PU foam mattresses for a chemical supplier. The large-scale study combined six work streams, where we addressed the perception, requirements and market opportunities at various target groups in European markets and gathered feedback on prospects and requirements at intermediates along the value chain.Two work streams addressed market assessments of B2B players, including foam converters, mattress manufacturers and brand owners, as well as the retail segment. Two further work streams investigated market potentials at public domain segments, including healthcare and hospitality. Work streams five and six finally gathered consumer insights, applying two different methodological approaches: B2C consumer social media forum. Focus groups in three reference countries engaged about 60 participants in discussions on the product concept. One week of tasks and interactions brought valuable learnings: how do consumers approach the product, what is important to them, what level of background knowledge and concept understanding can we expect from them and where might be pitfalls for their acceptance of a new product – some surprising revelations included.B2C online consumer panel. The panel brought quantitative data points to our so far qualitative observations. More than 2,000 participants provided ratings on preference patterns, interest in sustainable products, likelihood of acceptance of the proposed concept, and willingness to pay. The data helped to separate a large group with only superficial interest and a green-for-free attitude from consumer segments that could be tackled with the right message.Obtained consumer insights made our client reconsider how to best access its target markets and how to address several unforeseen concerns and expectations. A market demand model and options for a go-to-market approach confirmed the next step in the investment decision, concluding the project.Case study 2: initiating joint development for a digitally enhanced filtration solutionIn a study for a filter solution manufacturer, we investigated opportunities of a digitally enhanced product offer for automotive applications, targeting customer segments in Europe and Asia. Next to determining the attractiveness of the enhanced product and purchase considerations in the end market, the consumer insights were intended to lay the groundwork for later OEM discussions.B2C consumer online survey panel. We asked more than 2,200 participants in selected countries in Europe and Asia, addressing their customer journey, purchase behavior, attitudes, needs and framework conditions for the targeted product category, and a series of ratings for the proposed solution. The study indicated strong consumer interest and pointed to contextual factors such as urbanization or susceptibility to allergies that intensified the effect.The key findings from the consumer survey were used as basis for a white paper, introducing the product concept and proving its general consumer relevance. This white paper successfully served as door opener in the second stage of our project, where we discussed business opportunities and partnership requirements with various automotive OEMs.The two-staged approach, introducing consumer insights with OEM opportunity screenings, helped to identify promising consumer segments, initiate business opportunities and establish concrete follow-up measures.Case study 3: investigating consumer preferences for product design decisions at automotive replacement partsIn a project for a supplier to the automotive after-market, we investigated requirements for a new, sustainable solution for car batteries. Since the idea was not yet fully developed beyond the general proof of concept, and the project approached a stop-or-go stage, key objectives were to find a beneficial overall product configuration and to determine its likelihood of success.Our primary target group was private consumers. We included automotive repair workshops as a second target group to do justice to their central role in distribution and advisory on the product. As a third target segment, we addressed opportunities at company owned and rental car fleets.B2C consumer survey panel applying a CBC Conjoint Analysis. We gathered broad quantitative data from 2,150 participants in selected reference regions. Based on the results, we could determine product preferences as well as promising configurations and derive consumer segments for further marketing activities.The project led to very precise recommendations on further product development, indicating a likelihood of success that encouraged our client to continue product development.All studies underpinned the beneficial value of integrating perspectives of multiple value chain stages and cross validating their insights, all the way from B2B intermediates, distributors and workshops down to the very consumer.Are you interested in further information?
Please do not hesitate to contact us:Dr. Helmut Weldle
Phone +49 6201 9915 52
Helmut.Weldle@schlegelundpartner.de© Schlegel und Partner 2025
- Scouting for needs-based innovations, including a look outside your B2B company’s portfolio
- Setting up business cases to identify attractive future consumer markets, based on current or future growth, sales potential, or willingness to pay
- Steering investment decisions by validating the current product development
- Informing product development about the relevance of product features, consumer preferences, attitudes, needs, requirements, and pain points
- Informing marketing about requirements, consumer awareness, purchasing and information habits
Our strategy consulting approach at Schlegel und Partner is strongly data driven: we generate bottom-up market insights along the value chain through research and expert interviews, looking for strategic implications. Though we have a clear B2B focus, we frequently include B2C panel studies, utilizing the additional benefit of a holistic perspective that includes private consumer insights. The following case studies show how we applied different research techniques, how we combined them with insights from other upstream target groups, and how we linked them back to consequences at our industrial clients.Case study 1: assessing market potential for an innovative chemical base material for foam mattressesWe investigated the viability of a new product concept for sustainable PU foam mattresses for a chemical supplier. The large-scale study combined six work streams, where we addressed the perception, requirements and market opportunities at various target groups in European markets and gathered feedback on prospects and requirements at intermediates along the value chain.Two work streams addressed market assessments of B2B players, including foam converters, mattress manufacturers and brand owners, as well as the retail segment. Two further work streams investigated market potentials at public domain segments, including healthcare and hospitality. Work streams five and six finally gathered consumer insights, applying two different methodological approaches: B2C consumer social media forum. Focus groups in three reference countries engaged about 60 participants in discussions on the product concept. One week of tasks and interactions brought valuable learnings: how do consumers approach the product, what is important to them, what level of background knowledge and concept understanding can we expect from them and where might be pitfalls for their acceptance of a new product – some surprising revelations included.B2C online consumer panel. The panel brought quantitative data points to our so far qualitative observations. More than 2,000 participants provided ratings on preference patterns, interest in sustainable products, likelihood of acceptance of the proposed concept, and willingness to pay. The data helped to separate a large group with only superficial interest and a green-for-free attitude from consumer segments that could be tackled with the right message.Obtained consumer insights made our client reconsider how to best access its target markets and how to address several unforeseen concerns and expectations. A market demand model and options for a go-to-market approach confirmed the next step in the investment decision, concluding the project.Case study 2: initiating joint development for a digitally enhanced filtration solutionIn a study for a filter solution manufacturer, we investigated opportunities of a digitally enhanced product offer for automotive applications, targeting customer segments in Europe and Asia. Next to determining the attractiveness of the enhanced product and purchase considerations in the end market, the consumer insights were intended to lay the groundwork for later OEM discussions.B2C consumer online survey panel. We asked more than 2,200 participants in selected countries in Europe and Asia, addressing their customer journey, purchase behavior, attitudes, needs and framework conditions for the targeted product category, and a series of ratings for the proposed solution. The study indicated strong consumer interest and pointed to contextual factors such as urbanization or susceptibility to allergies that intensified the effect.The key findings from the consumer survey were used as basis for a white paper, introducing the product concept and proving its general consumer relevance. This white paper successfully served as door opener in the second stage of our project, where we discussed business opportunities and partnership requirements with various automotive OEMs.The two-staged approach, introducing consumer insights with OEM opportunity screenings, helped to identify promising consumer segments, initiate business opportunities and establish concrete follow-up measures.Case study 3: investigating consumer preferences for product design decisions at automotive replacement partsIn a project for a supplier to the automotive after-market, we investigated requirements for a new, sustainable solution for car batteries. Since the idea was not yet fully developed beyond the general proof of concept, and the project approached a stop-or-go stage, key objectives were to find a beneficial overall product configuration and to determine its likelihood of success.Our primary target group was private consumers. We included automotive repair workshops as a second target group to do justice to their central role in distribution and advisory on the product. As a third target segment, we addressed opportunities at company owned and rental car fleets.B2C consumer survey panel applying a CBC Conjoint Analysis. We gathered broad quantitative data from 2,150 participants in selected reference regions. Based on the results, we could determine product preferences as well as promising configurations and derive consumer segments for further marketing activities.The project led to very precise recommendations on further product development, indicating a likelihood of success that encouraged our client to continue product development.All studies underpinned the beneficial value of integrating perspectives of multiple value chain stages and cross validating their insights, all the way from B2B intermediates, distributors and workshops down to the very consumer.Are you interested in further information?
Please do not hesitate to contact us:Dr. Helmut Weldle
Phone +49 6201 9915 52
Helmut.Weldle@schlegelundpartner.de© Schlegel und Partner 2025