Market Research Agency Sydney

From brand strategy to product development, We provide full-service market research for organisations operating in or from Sydney. Deep understanding of Australia's largest consumer market with global perspective.

 

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Kadence is a global market research agency trusted by organisations that need clarity in complex markets. Sydney is Australia's largest city and its primary commercial centre, home to over five million people and the headquarters of many of the country's most significant businesses. For brands operating here, Kadence delivers research that cuts through complexity and informs decisions worth acting on.

 

Australia's commercial capital

Sydney dominates the Australian economy. Financial services, technology, professional services, healthcare, retail and media all operate at scale here, supported by a population that is culturally diverse, digitally sophisticated and increasingly values-driven.

The city's consumer landscape is shaped by several forces. High property costs influence household spending priorities. A large migrant population, with significant communities from China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and the Middle East, creates distinct audience segments with different cultural norms, media habits and brand expectations. Suburbs across Greater Sydney vary enormously in demographics and purchasing behaviour, from the affluent North Shore through to the rapidly growing Western Sydney corridor.

For brands, this complexity demands research that goes beyond surface-level data. Understanding why Sydney consumers make the choices they do, and how those decisions vary across segments and geographies within the city, is what separates useful research from expensive guesswork.

Kadence helps organisations build that understanding. Our research spans customer segmentation, brand strategy, product development, communications testing and market sizing. Every study is designed around the business question, with methodology tailored to the Sydney market context.

Our Global Expertise for Sydney

With offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas, Kadence delivers insight wherever your audiences are. Our teams in Shanghai, Tokyo, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jakarta, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, London, New York, San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh City provide the global reach that makes cross-market research seamless.

For Sydney-based organisations expanding into Asia, this is a significant advantage. Australia's trade and cultural ties to the region mean many Sydney brands look north for growth. Kadence's deep Asian presence, with over 15 years of experience across the continent, means we bring genuine local expertise to every market, not just a desk in a shared office.

For international brands entering the Australian market through Sydney, our team provides the local understanding needed to avoid costly missteps. We know how Sydney consumers think, what they expect and how the competitive landscape is structured.

We’re consistently recognised as a leading market research agency across multiple markets.

AURA Innovation of the Year award

Innovation of the Year

Finalist

— The AURAs, 2021
Agency of the Year Awards, 2021

Market Research Agency of the Year

Winner – Gold

— Agency of the Year Awards, 2021
Marketing Interactive Agency of the Year, Winner - Gold, 2021

Consultant of the Year

Winner – Gold

— Agency of the Year Awards, 2021
Kadence team collecting Agency of the Year award

Consultant of the Year

Winner

— Agency of the Year Awards, 2020
Agency of the Year Awards, 2020

Market Research Agency of the Year

Finalist

— Agency of the Year Awards, 2020
Quirks Supplier of the Year Kadence International

Market Research Supplier of the Year

Winner

— Marketing Research & Insight Excellence Awards – 2019
Kadence International Market Research Agency of the Year Singapore

Market Research Agency of the Year

Winner

— Agency of the Year Awards, 2019
Kadence International is Highly Commended for Global Agency of The Year

Global Agency of the Year

Highly Commended

— Market Research Society Awards, 2019
Market Research Society's Operations Awards, 2019

Best Data Collection (face-to-face)

Finalist

— Market Research Society's Operations Awards – 2019
Best Data Collection, Finalist — Market Research Society's Operations Awards, 2019

Best Data Collection (telephone)

Finalist

— Market Research Society's Operations Awards, 2019
MRS Opperations Awards Trophy

Best Training and Development

Highly Commended

— Market Research Society's Operations Awards, 2019
MRS Young Researcher of the Year

MRS Young Researcher of the Year

Finalist

— MRS, 2023
ESOMAR Best Congress Paper

ESOMAR Best Congress Paper

Winner

— ESOMAR, 2023

Sydney Market Research

From customer understanding to product development and brand strategy, our work is designed to be used, not archived. We help organisations map their Sydney audiences through segmentation, journey research and purchase driver analysis that accounts for the city's cultural diversity and geographic spread. For brands launching new products or services, our concept testing and proposition validation research ensures ideas connect with real consumers before they reach the market.

Brand health tracking and creative evaluation measure whether marketing is delivering against objectives in Sydney's competitive media environment. Our fieldwork team manages qualitative and quantitative studies across Greater Sydney and wider New South Wales, using face-to-face, online and hybrid approaches suited to each audience.

For organisations that need insight across multiple Australian cities, we coordinate national research that gives each market, including Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, the attention it deserves rather than defaulting to a Sydney-centric view.

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FAQs

How diverse is Asia Pacific culturally?

The short answer is that Asia is incredibly rich and nuanced from a cultural standpoint: the multitude of religious beliefs, histories, languages, and other cultural markers means that each market is more different than similar. This can make Asia Pacific market research challenging without the right partner to help you understand the intricacies of each country. That said, though, the ‘urban Asia’ experience is similar to some extent, and popular culture does form the basis to link up a couple of the Asian markets, so there can be ways to seek out common threads amidst the vibrancy of difference.

Do I need to do all my market research in Asia in local / vernacular languages?

As a rule yes. By conducting research in the local language, consumers will have the capability and confidence to express their thoughts and feelings toward the brands, products or services in question. Unlike some market research agencies in Asia, Kadence has a range of languages in-house thanks to our network of Asian offices, so local language moderation is a service we can provide. That said, it is possible to carry out research in English in some markets (e.g. Singapore, India, Philippines), depending on the subject matter and education level of the respondents you want to reach.

For large Asian markets like China and India, how many cities do we need to cover with our research?

We recommend at least a combination of 1st tier and 2nd tier cities, as well as 3rd tier and rural locations, if possible. On top of getting a read on geographic and demographic differences in the reactions to your products and services, lifestyle / intra-market attitudinal variations exist, so the wider you are able to carry out your research, the more comprehensive your resulting understanding of the market will be.

Are there certain research approaches or methodologies that work better in one Asian market, compared to another?

Yes. Cultural differences between Asian markets mean that you need to carefully consider your methodology. For instance, we find that in-depth interviews, rather than group-based discussions, can work better for some topics in markets like Japan, where there can be a tendency to ‘self-censor’. In contrast, the one-on-one format lends itself better to building trust and establishing bonds between interviewer and respondent, often leading to more productive conversations. 

You’ll also need to consider the technological infrastructure of the markets you’re researching. In India, for instance, you’ll need to take a mobile first approach for reaching those outside metros and tier 1 cities. This is also true of mobile-first markets like Indonesia and China. Whilst cultural considerations can be diverse and numerous, we’re on hand to help, based on our long history of conducting market research in Asia.

Does the sequence of which markets I do my research first in Asia matter?

Unless there are specific roll-out plans that have strategic importance for your product or service across markets, our experience has taught us that any order comes back down to organizational preference. Your internal stakeholders may want to start the research in a market that is a stronghold for the brand to establish ground understanding, then venture into unfamiliar grounds to gather ‘new news’, or vice versa. Ultimately, Kadence is flexible in terms of how / when / where to start a piece of research, and in the absence of real preference, is willing to provide our suggestions and justifications for any arrangements.

Our Customers

View all case studies
Bloomberg
Unilever
Samsung
Panasonic
Mitsubishi
Mars
Arla
Discovery Networks Asia Pacific
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FAQs

Can Kadence research audiences across Greater Sydney, not just the CBD?

Yes. Greater Sydney spans a vast urban area with significant demographic variation between suburbs and regions. Our research covers the full metropolitan area, from the Northern Beaches and North Shore through to Western Sydney, the Inner West, Eastern Suburbs and Southern Sydney. We design recruitment strategies that ensure geographic representation across the city.

What makes Sydney a strategically important market for research?

Sydney is home to the headquarters of many of Australia's largest businesses and a significant proportion of the country's consumer spending. Its size, diversity and commercial concentration make it a critical market for brands operating nationally or using Australia as a launchpad for Asian expansion.

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