Alex Hunter.Independent consultant · Retail / FMCG / Manufacturing
I connect behavioural insight, commercial thinking and practical experience to help businesses become more profitable.
Shopper behaviour / Category & brand / Commercial leadership / Manufacturing
01 / How I can help
You might have a defined brief, or simply a question you cannot yet answer. I can help frame the problem, lead a focused project, or join your team on a freelance or contract basis.
Why do customers choose you, go elsewhere or stop buying?
I connect what people say with what they actually do to understand demand, barriers to purchase and reasons to return. That gives you evidence of where customers see value and where growth opportunities exist.
Where should you focus, and what should you change?
I combine customer evidence, market context and commercial data to inform propositions, pricing, ranges and investment. The aim is to choose opportunities worth pursuing, protect margins and spend where it can make a worthwhile return.
Know what needs to change, but struggling to make it work?
I help put decisions into practice through clearer reporting, better processes and useful business tools. Drawing on commercial, operational and systems experience, I help reduce wasted effort, control costs and make improvements work day to day.
I can help with one part of this, or follow the problem from evidence through to implementation.
02 / Selected experience
Examples spanning research, commercial leadership and implementation.
Arla · Shopper insight & retail experimentation
Combining observed shopper behaviour, customer research and a virtual store to explore practical changes to the retail experience.
The programme helped inform a Cocio listing, new Starbucks drink formats and a yoghurt proposition.
Read the case studyMorrisons / Visuality
A £1m store-wide behavioural programme, supported by bespoke video-coding tools and a team of analysts.
Weekly reporting informed board and store-concept decisions, translating shopper evidence into changes in store.
Behavioural research · Research technologyBP / Clear M&C Saatchi
Quantitative setup and analysis for four markets within a wider loyalty segmentation, connecting survey evidence with transaction data.
The wider programme underpinned the BP Me proposition as BP moved away from Nectar.
Segmentation · Quantitative analysisAudience Collective
Proposition development, commercial processes and a shared CRM across a group of agencies, with reporting linked to each stage of the sales funnel.
New business volume more than doubled; the shared CRM and dashboards became the primary commercial view for the board.
Commercial leadership · Business systemsHowdens / 2024 contract
Reanalysed brand-tracker data and connected monthly survey responses to actual purchasing behaviour.
The analysis prompted a reset of the trade survey and gave the business a clearer understanding of its customers.
Customer insight · Evidence qualityBooths / Hearth
A Christmas retail perspective started the conversation. It developed into customer research on advertising, healthy eating and why shoppers stopped visiting.
An ongoing relationship connecting customer evidence to practical marketing and retail questions.
Read the case studyHeineken / Visuality
Observation, accompanied shops, qualitative research and a 3,000-person survey explored beer and cider purchase decisions.
A clearer view of shopper needs and category choices to inform education, merchandising and category planning.
Read the case study03 / About Alex
I’ve spent my career working out what matters to customers — and what businesses should do about it.
That has taken me from shopper research and category management to commercial leadership and manufacturing operations. I’ve worked inside businesses and alongside them, leading research, shaping propositions and improving the systems behind delivery.
My main focus is insight and commercial work. The operational and technical experience helps me ask better questions, recognise practical constraints and follow an idea through to implementation.
Based in West Yorkshire. Working with businesses across the UK.
Also building
An independently developed manufacturing execution system, with an ambition to help small factories meet big customer expectations without unnecessary complexity.
Explore FactoryOne04 / Get in touch
Tell me about the decision, the brief or the problem. We can work out whether I’m the right person to help.
alex.hunter@icloud.com