Overview
Government agencies and other public serving organizations need to understand social trends, monitor economic indicators, evaluate public policy programs, and create targeted communications that reach particular demographic groups. The challenge, as always, is to quickly locate timely information, interpret the data, and apply it to critical decisions while being mindful of budget constraints.
At The NPD Group, we are a partner in these efforts. We work with a range of agencies to provide reliable market information and expert data analysis. They use this information as input for evidence-based strategies and data-driven decision-making.
NPD Data and Policy Solutions
Nutrition and Physical Activity
No other company has been tracking what people eat both at home and in restaurants for the past 30+ years. Since the 1980s, NPD has documented what families eat every day, where they eat and their attitudes toward health, nutrition and exercise. National Eating Trends (NET) data in unrivaled in its depth of understanding of individual food consumption; tracking the what, how and where. Used by federal agencies to understand consumption patterns, NET is a commercial gold standard for food consumption data.
Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency
Sales and consumer tracking data that monitors people’s purchases of consumer electronics ranging from televisions to computers and mobile devices provides unique insights into the ongoing, and growing, burden on the power grid in the United States. Understanding what policy interventions (rebates, incentives, promotion) have been most effective in changing consumer behaviors is critical for policymakers around the country. From California to Massachusetts and many states in between, NPD data has been a critical component of public planning and evaluation.
Economic Indicators
NPD currently tracks over $1 trillion in consumer spending every year. With consumer expenditures comprising a significant amount of GDP and economic growth every year, quarterly, monthly and even weekly, data on consumer purchases on different baskets of goods and services can help public officials to measure economic fluctuations. NPD data bases can extract trends for durable and non-durable goods, expenditures on services and changes in price in different industries.
And Many Others
- Food Safety Concerns and Attitudes Product and Menu Labeling
- Cosmetic product use and trends
- Solar energy markets
- Electronics and Cellular Device Use
- Digital Media Consumption
- Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption
- Purchase trends in Durable Goods
Strategic and Public Communications Planning and Segmentation
NPD data and analysis can help you uncover just the right segments for targeting your programs and policies so your time and budget are used more efficiently. NPD’s consumer data, gathered from tens of thousands of individuals allows for greater understanding of a variety of demographic groups including:
- Hispanics
- Infants, Children, and Families
- Millenials
- Seniors
- Men and Women
- Low and higher income populations
Population Profiles – NPD’s Customizable Analysis Tool
The NPD Group can mine decades of data collected through its proprietary consumer tracking services across a wide variety of areas, ranging from those buying clothes and electronics to those making food and nutrition decisions for themselves and their families. NPD’s Population Profiles: Health, Wellness, and Nutrition Research tool can equip public health advocates to tailor their messages, policies, and outreach to their intended populations. The data-driven analysis is designed to assist government agencies in achieving their program goals of enhancing community health and wellness, and later, evaluating program success.
Marketing and Communications Evaluation
Create communications that really resonate with NPD analytics and custom research:
- Understand the impact of outreach campaigns and consumption incentives like product labels and energy efficient certifications.
- Uncover trends in consumer attitudes towards certain messages
Program Evaluation and Benchmarking
How can you tell whether your program is meeting its strategic goals? Prove your program’s success by comparing its performance variables against industry benchmarks. NPD provides the methodological expertise to help your program develop accurate standards to measure progress.
Revenue Projection
Planning to implement a new policy, but not sure how or when revenue will be available? Predict revenue streams with hard, consumer data and tap decades of industry expertise to account for market fluctuations and unforeseen challenges
Tax and Regulatory Analysis
Leverage NPD’s vast and intricate consumer insights to understand how your proposed policy will impact the public. You can perform before and after analyses, case studies, and forecasts to justify regulatory interventions or assess how to proceed. Our data can help you uncover consumer motivations and behaviors, including whether taxes factored into consumer decisions to buy select goods.
Previous Clients
- FDA – Food and Drug Administration
- USDA – U.S. Department of Agriculture
- BLS – Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BEA – Bureau of Economic Analysis
- FTC – Federal Trade Commission
- IRS – Internal Revenue Service
- State of California
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene