Shopper and Store Activation

Affordable Ways to Find Underserved Consumer Markets

While growth pockets exist everywhere, emerging brands succeed when they can recognize which opportunities deserve their limited time and resources. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can achieve this by using accessible data to target consumer segments with a high or unique propensity to purchase their products.

By

Katelyn Bertsos

16 Apr 2026

Not all growth comes from the obvious places. Some of the most valuable opportunities live in underserved consumer segments – groups of buyers who do not fit neatly into traditional marketing personas or who do not consume mainstream media but show strong buying potential when you look at the data. They might be Gen Z consumers who enjoy making home-cooked meals, multicultural households who explore a wider range of flavors and formats, budget‑conscious households who respond well to targeted promotions, or buyers who are fiercely loyal to independent grocers, among other examples.

Finding these shopper segments that slip past traditional marketing gives scaling brands a chance to optimize spending and build a foundation for longer-term growth.

Why Targeting Overlooked Consumer Groups Matters

Many brands begin with general sense about who their shoppers are, often building broad personas around common archetypes like a millennial professional or a suburban family, for instance.

However, retail data consistently shows that real shopper behavior is far more nuanced. Preferences shift across life stage, lifestyle, shopping mission, and even the stores consumers choose. Brands need to look past basic age and gender profiles and take steps to understand the complete consumer view:

1. Analyze total basket data: Look at what other items your target buyer purchases across the entire store, not just within your specific aisle.

2. Study cross-purchase habits: Look closely at both total basket reports and cross-purchasing behaviors to pinpoint white spaces tied to underserved buyers. For example, data may reveal that a 24-year-old Gen Z male might be an ardent fan of premium household cleaning supplies. Another shopper might buy all their fresh meat at an upscale organic grocer but purchase paper goods and basic pantry staples exclusively at a mass or discount store.

3. Examine store-level nuances: Look at how local traffic patterns, neighborhood borders, or street layouts change a store's core shopper base. Two stores across the street from each other may have notably different buyers.

4. Challenge your assumptions: Don’t assume that a high-income demographic only shops at premium stores; they often split their baskets across multiple retail formats.

5. Understand price and promo response: Shoppers vary widely in their sensitivity to price, willingness to trade up, and reaction to promotions. Understanding which segments buy full‑price, which wait for deals, and which over‑index on premium products helps refine assortment, pricing, and promotion strategy.

Reach and Engage with Underserved Consumer Segments

Once brands determine who their underserved shoppers are, they can work to meet them where they actually shop. There are several ways to connect with high-propensity audiences and the retailers that serve them:

1. Prioritize the right doors: Use highly granular geodemographic data to choose specific store locations for new product launches, rather than just picking a broad geographic region.

2. Support local and independent retailers: Recognize the power of independent retailers. These smaller locations often serve highly specific, loyal, and underserved communities and are often willing to work with similarly smaller suppliers.

3. Streamline ad dollars: Shift investments away from highly saturated, expensive demographics to these overlooked, high-value groups. By matching ad vehicles to the specific platforms and formats your underserved segment actually uses, you can make inroads to generate sales and foster loyalty. 

4. Track retail dynamics: Keep up with mergers, acquisitions, and store closings to ensure your distribution strategy matches the current retail landscape.

5. Be open to unexpected findings: Stay flexible as data may uncover new, high‑potential audiences beyond your original target.

Spot High-Potential Gaps with Liquid Data Go

When brands combine these signals – who their overlooked shoppers are, how they build their baskets, where they shop, and what influences their decisions – they can direct their efforts toward the stores, channels, and moments where those consumers already have momentum.

By recognizing and engaging the consumers others miss, brands can spend smarter, show up where it counts, and open new pathways to sustainable, long‑term growth. Consumer Insights in Circana’s Liquid Data Go® provide visibility into shopper behaviors, demographic reports, and precise store-level data, in an affordable, accessible, and turnkey package.