Understanding tissue and kitchen towel buyers

What is shaping pulp & paper

Paper and packaging demand is shifting from writing and printing grades towards packaging, hygiene and recycled products. Buyers are printers, converters, brand owners and schools, each with different priorities.

• E-commerce is driving packaging demand
• Recycled and sustainable grades are gaining preference
• Price and delivery reliability dominate B2B buying

A tissue products brand, working in Malaysia, Indonesia & UAE. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A tissue products brand

Sector

Pulp & paper

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Consumer panel, Quantitative research, Qualitative research

Private labels were winning share in supermarkets, and the brand wanted to understand what shoppers valued, and whether premium features justified their price. Category growth was strong, but price promotions were eroding margins, and management needed to know where premium positioning still worked.

• Deliver on the brief: understanding tissue and kitchen towel buyers.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of shoppers.
• Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 7 weeks.

The work focused on 1,800 shoppers.

• shoppers1,800

Audiences we typically reach in pulp & paper

Printers and convertersPackaging buyers at brandsPaper tradersSchools and stationery retailersRecycling businesses

Coverage: Malaysia, Indonesia & UAE. Markets: Malaysia, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates.

• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• United Arab Emirates

A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Online survey
3. 3In-home usage interviews
4. 4Insight

We surveyed household shoppers about purchase habits, brand choice, price perceptions and product attributes, then visited homes to observe how tissues and kitchen towels were used and stored. Respondents compared products side by side during visits. In-home interviews were conducted in Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, Arabic and English, depending on the household.

Consumer panelQuantitative researchQualitative research

shoppers

1,800

• Respondents were selected across Malaysia, Indonesia & UAE using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

home visits

24

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping

• Shoppers valued absorbency and softness but could not see differences on shelf, so they chose on price.

Benefits that cannot be seen on shelf need to be shown on the pack.

• Build on the core insight: benefits that cannot be seen on shelf need to be shown on the pack.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: shoppers valued absorbency and softness but could not see differences on shelf, so they chose on price.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The brand redesigned packs with clear performance demonstrations and introduced value packs to compete in key formats.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interview summaries and key verbatims

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: how do schools and parents choose notebooks?