The Category Review Narrative offers a snapshot of the key dynamics, trends, and opportunities shaping your category. It brings together shopper, channel, retailer, and product perspectives to help you assess category health and understand what’s driving changes in performance.
Prompts
To run this Narrative, you’ll be prompted to select two parameters:
Required: Category and Date Range
Topic Cards
This section will review each topic card within the Category Review Narrative answering the following questions for each card as well as an example for each:
Which report is the card sourced from?
How would I prompt that report to investigate further into this data?
How do [Selected Category] Shoppers compare to all shoppers demographically?
How do [Selected Category] Shoppers compare to all shoppers demographically?
Report sourced from: Advanced Shopper Profile
How to Prompt the Report:
First make a People Group of Category shoppers.
Run the report for:
How did Category Shoppers People Group compare to All Shoppers during the Selected Date Range period?
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: the same order they show up in the Advanced Shopper Profile report
How did panel metrics impact the YOY change in [Selected Category] spend?
How did panel metrics impact the YOY change in [Selected Category] spend?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison → Basic Metrics tab; and Shopper Metrics
How to Prompt the Report:
This report prompting requires multiple reports and calculations. For help on recreating this data please get in touch with your Numerator contact.
Where do shoppers buy the [Selected Category] category, by channel?
Where do shoppers buy the [Selected Category] category, by channel?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison → Top Stores tab
How to Prompt the Report:
First make a People Group of selected Category shoppers.
Run the Shopper Comparison for:
How did People Group of selected Category shoppers buying Any Product in selected Category at Any Store compare to All Shoppers buying Any Comparison Product in Any Category at Any Store during the selected Date Range period?
After running that report, reprompt and run the same report for one year prior.
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: descending % of spend in the selected date range period
Where do shoppers buy the [Selected Category] category, by retailer?
Where do shoppers buy the [Selected Category] category, by retailer?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison → Top Stores tab
How to Prompt the Report:
First make a People Group of selected Category shoppers.
Run the Shopper Comparison for:
How did People Group of selected Category shoppers buying Any Product in selected Category at Any Store compare to All Shoppers buying Any Comparison Product in Any Category at Any Store during the selected Date Range period?
After running that report, reprompt and run the same report for one year prior.
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: descending % of spend in the selected date range period
What is the extent of lapsed, retained, and new shoppers in the [Selected Category] category?
What is the extent of lapsed, retained, and new shoppers in the [Selected Category] category?
Report sourced from: Lapsed Retained New → Total Composition tab
How to Prompt the Report:
Who stopped (or started) buying Any Product in selected Category, from Any Store, during the selected Date Range period?
Which census divisions contribute more than expected to [Selected Category] category spend?
Which census divisions contribute more than expected to [Selected Category] category spend?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison → Basic Metrics tab; and Advanced Shopper Profile
How to Prompt the Report:
This report prompting requires multiple reports and calculations. For help on recreating this data please get in touch with your Numerator contact.
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: the same order they appear in the Advanced Shopper Profile report
Which generations contribute more than expected to [Selected Category] category spend?
Which generations contribute more than expected to [Selected Category] category spend?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison and Advanced Shopper Profile
How to Prompt the Report:
This report prompting requires multiple reports and calculations. For help on recreating this data please get in touch with your Numerator contact.
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: the same order they appear in the Advanced Shopper Profile report
How is [Selected Category] spend distributed by month?
How is [Selected Category] spend distributed by month?
Report sourced from: Shopper Comparison → Timing tab
Run the report for:
How did Category Shoppers People Group compare to All Shoppers during the Selected Date Range period?
Note: % of spend figures are aggregated by month name, even if the selected date range is longer than one year. e.g. a date range of 7/1/2023 to 12/31/2024 would still have 12 month buckets, the July bucket would account for both years’ July data.
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: chronological by month
How are top brands in [Selected Category] doing in terms of household penetration and buy rate?
How are top brands in [Selected Category] doing in terms of household penetration and buy rate?
Report sourced from: Shopper Metrics
Run the report for:
What were the key metrics for Any Product in selected Category broken out by Parent Brand purchased at Any Store, during the selected Date Range period?
By default, in-platform results are sorted by: descending Household Penetration by Parent Brand
Key Metrics
Index: A way to compare data against a baseline average
Calculation: (% of Focus Group Households / % of Benchmark Group Households) x 100
Household Penetration – The percent of households that match your selected criteria during the time frame divided by the total number of households during the time frame. Calculation: [Number of Households Meeting Criteria] / [Total Projected Household Count]
% of Households: The percent of total Households that purchased the product.
Projected Sales: The total amount spent on a selected item during the time period analyzed, projected up to the entire United States level. Calculation: [Buy Rate] x [Household Penetration] x [Total Number of US Households]
Projected Households: The estimated number of households who purchased the item. Calculation: [Household Penetration] x Total Number of Households
Purchase Frequency: Number of times a Household or Panelist buys the product (category, segment, brand, etc.) during the selected time period. Calculation: [Total Number of Transactions with Brand] / [Total Number of Households Buying Brand]
Spend per Trip: The average amount spent on the item each time the item is purchased during the time period analyzed. Calculation: [Total Brand Sales in $] / [Total Number of Transactions with Brand]
Buy Rate: Average spend per Household
Spend per Unit: Average spent on each unit purchased at the selected store
Units per Trip: Average number of units purchased per trip at the selected store
% of Spend: The percent of the total Household spending on the selected product at the selected store
Lapsed Shopper: Someone who purchased the selected product in the pre-period but not the post-period.
New Shopper: Someone who purchased the selected product in the post-period, but not the pre-period.
Retained Shopper: Someone who purchased the selected product in both the pre and post-period.
Need Help?
If you're having trouble using Narratives or recreating any of the prompting above please reach out to the Support Chat in the bottom right of your reporting or your Numerator Contact if you need help with calculations.
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Last Updated 11/13/2025