From Global Trends to Local Insights: Understanding the Consumer

Ahmed Samir Ragab, Food Marketer, Founder & MD of Food-Xperts

Success in the world of restaurants and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) comes from weaving together multiple elements: understanding global trends, analyzing supply chains, competitive deep studies accompanied with local market environmental studies and most importantly, truly knowing your customers. Each piece of the puzzle matters, and when it all comes together, the result is a strategy that resonates deeply with your audience.

Before we can understand the consumer, though, the groundwork must be laid. For any business, the process begins with a thorough understanding of the market landscape—starting at the global level and narrowing down to the local environment. definitely, it starts with understanding the international trends and assessing the feasibility of supply, the availability of resources, and the local conditions that will influence your strategy.

For instance, when developing a project for a restaurant or FMCG brand, the first step is to study supply. Whether it’s the availability of raw materials, technology, machinery, or skilled labor, this analysis ensures that the concept is grounded in reality. Overlooking supply dynamics can lead to costly mistakes later in the process, even if demand signals are strong.

Once the local environment has been evaluated, it’s time to shift the focus to the market itself—understanding the size, potential, and competition. But instead of stopping there, we go deeper, to the part that truly shapes success: listening to the consumer.

From Market Data to Real People

The next step is moving beyond numbers and statistics to understand the people behind the market. This starts with meeting the target audience face-to-face to hear their thoughts, preferences, and experiences. For restaurants, this often means conducting exit interviews. Speaking to customers immediately after they’ve experienced the brand”s” provides fresh and honest feedback.

At Temry Chicken, customer feedback revealed that the fresh, clean scent of the chicken—free from unpleasant odors—was just as important as its taste and price. This insight led to complete transformation for launch and communication plan.

At El Abd Patisserie, customers shared different needs throughout the day. Some preferred croissants or savory snacks for breakfast, while others came for cakes or gelato in the evening. They also asked for more variety inspired by trends they saw on international series of TV and social media although they were initially considered as off-products target mistakenly by the management. While they loved the gelato, they found waiting in line with the other customers asking for full offerings inconvenient. To solve this, we created a sub-concept shop for easier access, which has become highly successful.

Exit interviews provide an invaluable first layer of insights, but they’re just the beginning.

Profiling and Segmenting the Consumer

Once these initial impressions are collected, the focus shifts to profiling and segmenting the audience. But this isn’t about broad categories like “A-class” or “B-class” consumers—these traditional labels often fail to capture the nuances of real people’s lives. Two individuals with the same income and social background can have completely different lifestyles, priorities, and purchasing habits.

Instead, segmentation starts with understanding the individual. Who are they? What drives their decisions? What values, habits, and preferences shape their behavior? Only after collecting this detailed information can we group consumers based on shared characteristics “pooling commonalities”

For example, at Spuds Chips, research uncovered that customers associated specific flavors with particular occasions. Some flavors were linked to casual, solo snacking, while others were a staple at social gatherings. These patterns informed not only product development but also marketing campaigns that highlighted how Spuds Chips fit seamlessly into these moments.

For Shaheen Coffee, the focus was on understanding how coffee fits into people’s daily lives. While some customers valued the bold flavor, others appreciated the high level of customization that Shaheen offers in their blends.

From Quantitative to Qualitative Research

After profiling the audience quantitatively, the next step is to explore their motivations and attitudes in depth. This is where qualitative methods like focus groups and in-depth interviews come into play.

In this layer of insight comes from exploring how customers use a product, their attitudes toward the category, and the decisions behind their purchases.  this will involve understanding the triggers that drive someone to choose a brand and the barriers that might prevent them from returning.

Also we can reach here detailed level of knowing which online platform they use for entertainment and which influencers they follow and who are influencing their decisions.

Turning Insights Into Action

The ultimate goal of all this research is develop strategies that truly resonate with the consumer. Whether it’s tailoring a menu to meet the needs of health-conscious diners or creating marketing campaigns that reflect the emotions tied to a product, or using the right channels and even for a tiny detail like choosing the right influencer, the focus is always on connection.

A Continuous Process

Understanding the consumer isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing journey. As markets evolve and customer needs change, staying connected to the audience ensures that businesses remain relevant and competitive.

At its heart, success isn’t just about products or services. It’s about understanding the role those products play in people’s lives—and creating experiences that make those moments even better.