OpenBrand Consumer Durables Data: Understand the "Why" Behind Consumer Durables Purchases with OpenBrand Data
From understanding spending patterns to assessing market trends, consumer durables data can be an invaluable tool for academic research across disciplines.
OpenBrand - formerly listed as TraQline data - offers industry-leading consumer data with unparalleled insight into the durable goods market. Dewey is a proud partner of OpenBrand, working together to make their unique products available to the academic research community!
Andrew DeCilles at OpenBrand recently chatted with the Dewey team about their consumer durables datasets and the Durable IQ survey. Andrew broke down what consumer durables really are, what their data coverage is, how the survey data is collected, and more.
Keep reading to learn more about OpenBrand and why their data is among the best in the consumer durables category.
An Overview of Durable IQ Data
Durable IQ is the longest running, largest tracking survey of self-reported transactions and consumer behavior in consumer durables.
It helps people to understand not only what purchases are being made, but also why, through a comprehensive set of questions regarding the transactions, products, and associated shopping behaviors.
OpenBrand calls this the ‘why behind the buy’.
The insights that can be learned from this level of depth is what sets Durable IQ apart from other consumer durables products on the market, which often only cover point of sale or credit card transaction data.
This survey has been run quarterly since 2001.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly are consumer durables?
Consumer durables are typically large purchases with an expected long-term lifespan. Items like home appliances, outdoor power equipment, power tools, fitness equipment, and electronics are all examples of goods that fit into this category. You could also think about it as any major purchase you might make at a Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Walmart.
“If it's something that you don't purchase very often, you pay a lot for, and you're putting a lot of thought into, it's probably something that we track,” says Andrew.
How is the data sourced?
The Durable IQ survey is run quarterly and surveys 600,000 households in the United States each year, or 150,000 per quarter. The survey asks consumers a series of questions about the purchases that they’ve made within the past 90 days and is broken up into three modules.
The first module is about the purchase itself and includes questions regarding what items were purchased, where they were purchased from, and how much they cost.
The second module dives into consumer behavior by inquiring about what other outlets the consumer considered and why they ultimately decided to make the purchase.
The final module asks about highly specific features of the product to allow for more detailed analysis (i.e. did the refrigerator that you purchased also have an ice maker?).
There is an 80% completion rate through module three, meaning all of this data is available at a large, statistically significant sample size for most of the products.
What is the coverage of the Durable IQ data?
OpenBrand has coverage published from the last 40 quarters and the data is updated once per quarter.
Why Partner with Dewey?
A company founded by statisticians, OpenBrand genuinely understands the power of academic research and the value that their data products could add to the research community.
By collaborating with academics, they find value in discovering new use cases for the work that they're doing outside of corporate strategy and contributing to forward-thinking research.
Check out recently published papers that used data from OpenBrand.
Get Started with OpenBrand Data
OpenBrand data is included with all Dewey subscriptions and you can easily create a free account to browse and sample their products today.
You’re also welcome to book a demo for a personalized overview of Dewey’s functionality and data products.