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Corporate Firm Resources, GLG Surveys and Qualitative Research

Unlock High-Impact White Space Opportunities with Demand Space Analysis

GLG Research Team

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Key Takeaways:

What is Demand Space?: Demand space analysis maps customer needs by importance and availability to pinpoint white space opportunities.

Use it for: New product development, market entry, and identifying White Space (high-importance, unmet needs).

Common Research Methods: MaxDiff, conjoint, segmentation, and Voice of Customer research.

Outcome: Clear prioritization of innovation efforts and smarter resource allocation.

In the competitive world of product development, success hinges on more than just innovative ideas; it requires a deep understanding of customer demand. Many products fail because companies focus on what they can build rather than what customers actually need. This is where demand space analysis comes in as a powerful framework for identifying customer needs and prioritizing high-growth opportunities.

What Is Demand Space Analysis, and How Can It Uncover White Space Opportunities?

Demand space is a strategic map that plots customer requirements based on two key dimensions derived from customer research:

  1. Customer-Perceived Importance (Demand): How critical is a specific need or problem for the customer?
  2. Customer-Perceived Availability (Supply): How well are existing solutions currently meeting that need?

By conducting a specialized customer needs analysis survey, often using advanced methods like MaxDiff scaling, researchers can quantify these factors. Plotting the results creates a visual map with four quadrants.

Example of a demand space strategic map that plots customer requirements based on two key dimensions derived from customer research. Customer needs are plotted within each four quadrants: white space, battle space, narrow space, and empty space.

  • White space: The most critical quadrant – these needs are highly important but are currently unmet or poorly addressed. White Space analysis is the process of pinpointing these lucrative gaps in the market which represent the ideal launch path for new products and features.
  • Battle space: covers more contested opportunities
  • Empty space: is a less competitive but also important area
  • Narrow space: is contested territory where the stakes tend to be low

 

When to Use Demand Space Research

This form of market demand research is invaluable at key strategic junctures. It is a cornerstone of effective new product development research and is essential for:

  • Prioritizing product innovation efforts: By pinpointing requirements that are both critical and underserved, you can direct resources toward high-potential innovation areas.
  • Strategic positioning: The method can be used to fine-tune strategies to create a competitive edge by addressing specific gaps in the market landscape.
  • Trend detection and assessment: An exploration of multifaceted customer needs helps organizations stay ahead by investing in solutions for emerging requirements.

 

Example of Demand Space in Action Using Demand Space to Identify Unmet Customer Needs

A biotech client wanted to launch a new alternative food ingredient and believed two new features would be a breakthrough. An initial B2B panel using demand space methodology revealed a challenge: while the features were seen as unique (unmet), they weren’t top priorities for the overall market.

However, by diving deeper into the consumer behavior research data, the team performed a segmentation analysis. This revealed two distinct customer groups:

  • Segment A highly valued the new features, placing them firmly in the White Space.
  • Segment B found them unimportant.

This customer demand analysis provided crucial clarity. Instead of a broad, likely unsuccessful launch, the company could focus its product marketing research and launch strategy on the highly receptive Segment A, dramatically increasing its chance of success.

Conclusion: From Assumption to Insight with GLG Demand Space

Relying on internal assumptions about product demand is a risky strategy. GLG Demand Space Analysis provides a disciplined, data-driven framework for growth. By leveraging the right customer-needs-analysis tools and methods, companies can replace guesswork with insight.

This approach ensures that product market research and consumer market research efforts are focused on the highest-value opportunities that are important, unmet customer needs. Whether you’re conducting B2B customer research or broad consumer research, understanding your demand space is the key to building products that customers truly want and driving efficient, successful growth.

Other Recommended Resources:

Discover Customer Preferences with Conjoint Analysis
GLG Case Study: Understanding Research Gaps on Supply and Demand for Alternative Proteins
Understanding MaxDiff Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide

 

 

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Speaker Biographies

Hilary Malone PhD, has over 25 years of experience in global drug development, regulatory &government affairs, manufacturing and commercialization within the biopharma industry. Hilary hassignificant board level and executive committee experience including large scale organizationalrestructuring/transformation/integration, major M&A, biotech start-up, capital raising, investorrelations and pre-IPO.​

Hilary is currently CEO of Stylus Medicine, a private genetic medicine biotech company. Previously sheserved as CEO of a Series-A neuroscience company. Prior to these roles, Hilary served as COO & EVP atValo Health Inc., Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP at Sanofi Inc., and Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP atPfizer and Wyeth. Previous experience also includes senior regulatory and drug development roles atReata Pharmaceuticals Inc., AstraZeneca plc and GlaxoSmithKline plc.​

Hilary also serves on the Board of Directors of Hansa Biopharma and Adthera Bio. Hilary holds a PhD inMolecular Neuropharmacology and a BSc in Physiology.

Dr. Thomas Lönngren is Director at his own company PharmaExec Consulting AB. He is the Chairman of the Board of directors at Egetis Therapeutics AB, Sweden. Dr Lönngren also serves as board member at Compass Pathways PLC, London UK and NDA Group, Sweden. He acts as advisor to the following companies and organizations: NDA group, Sweden, Sweden, Artis Venture, San Francisco, US, Fujimoto Japan, Skin2Neuron Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia, US, Special advisor to the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science (CIRS), London UK. From 2001 until2011, Mr.Lönngren served as the Executive Director of the European Medical Agency. He was previously Deputy General Director of the Swedish Medical Product Agency until 2000. He has a degree in pharmacy and MSc in Social and Regulatory Pharmacy from Uppsala University. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain, Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Honorary Doctorate from University of Bath, UK.

Speaker Biographies

Marie-Anne Aymerich

Marie-Anne has built a portfolio of senior advisory and non-executive roles, following a successful international career in the FMCG and Luxury sectors. She is a non-executive director of Haleon, a FTSE100 company listed in 2022 after the demerger from GSK. She is also chairwoman of Haleon Environment and Societal Sustainability committee. She is the executive director of the Pierre Fabre Group where she also sits on the Strategic Committee, and she is a Board Member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, one of the world’s most prestigious chamber orchestras. She is also an angel investor and focuses her time and investments on start-ups with the strongest purpose and impact.

Marie-Anne is also a regular lecturer at HEC Paris on purposeful leadership, and she has created a serious game called “Planet Purpose” to upskill people on sustainability and purpose. Throughout her 35year executive career she delivered a strong track-record of business performance and growth in brands and portfolio in both developed and emerging economies.

As a senior leader with Unilever, she led a number of different personal care categories across France, Spain and the USA – including managing the Dove brand worldwide and culminating in leading Unilever’s global Oral Care division. She also worked for LVMH as Brand General Manager of Dior Perfumes and Cosmetics worldwide. Marie-Anne was also Vice-President of Imagine for Margo – Children with Cancer for ten years, a charity she helped found in 2011 with the goal of eradicating children’s cancer. The charity is the #1 charity focused on child cancer in France and has fundraised more than €14m since its creation. Marie-Anne is a graduate from HEC Paris. She is married and has two children aged 29 and 26.

Patrick Jephson

Patrick Jephson is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author, based in Washington D.C. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding and crisis communications, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the U.S. State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

With more than twenty-five years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included globally admired brands as well as national agencies and NGOs. He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty. He now writes, presents, and advises on factual and drama TV programs, appearing on every major American and many international networks. He was recently an expert consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown and provided live commentary on the Coronation of King Charles.

Patrick owes much of his practical communications and protocol experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years, responsible for all aspects of her public life, global humanitarian initiatives, and private organization. Having worked for an internationally high-profile woman (and as the father of two professionally successful daughters) he feels a special affinity for cross-cultural, gender and perception issues.

Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a master’s degree in political science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Royal Navy, he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. He is a citizen of the U.K., U.S.A., Ireland, and Canada.