What if, for once, we reversed the roles?
At Leger, we are used to asking questions, analyzing answers, and uncovering insights that inform decisions. With The Pollster Polled, we shift perspectives: we give the floor to those who are usually behind the surveys.
For this fifth installment of the series, we met with Luc, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Insight. With more than 25 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative market research, notably in customer experience, usability, product development and innovation studies, Luc is a seasoned focus group moderator.
As a senior member of the consulting team at Leger, he acts as a strategic advisor to the firm’s clients and as a media spokesperson for a multitude of topic such as customer journeys, new product research, market studies, brand image and positioning.
As Artificial Intelligence Continues to Evolve, What Does the Future Hold for Market Research and Polling?
Let me speak to that from my perspective as a researcher who operates primarily in the retail space.
AI will absolutely change how we do research. It will help us process customer feedback faster, synthesize large volumes of information, and identify patterns across the customer journey more efficiently. For retailers, that speed matters because decisions around assortment, experience, loyalty, pricing, communications, and innovation often need to be made very quickly.
But I do not think AI changes the fundamentals of how research should be consumed, interpreted, and acted on. That still requires human understanding of the category, the physical store environment, its experiential or service aspects, the customer, and the operational realities retailers face in different markets.
Retail expertise comes from more than data. It comes from conversations with retail leaders, category experts, operators, and consumers. It comes from store visits, from observing how people actually shop and how their journeys vary depending on which mission they are on, and from understanding the pressures retailers deal with every day. AI can help connect the dots, but it cannot replace having boots on the ground.
For me, the future of retail research is AI helping us get to insight faster, while human expertise remains essential to knowing what the insight actually means and what retailers should do with it.
What Are You Most Proud of?
What I am most proud of is the trust we have built with clients over time. In retail especially, clients are not just looking for a supplier who can run a survey or moderate a group. They are looking for someone who understands their business, their customers, their stores, the decisions they are trying to make, and most importantly – their hopes and aspirations.
I am proud of the fact that many of our client relationships are true partnerships. We are often brought in early, when the question is still being shaped, not just at the end when someone needs a report. That is where I think we can add the most value: helping clients clarify what they really need to learn, designing the right approach, and turning the results into something they can actually use.
I am also proud of the practical nature of the work. Good research should not sit on a shelf. It should help retailers improve the customer experience, strengthen their brand, test new ideas, and make better decisions in a competitive market.
How Does Leger Help Its Clients Translate Insights Into Action?
For me, translating insights into action starts with understanding the decision behind the research. In retail, the same data point can mean very different things depending on the category, the market, the format, the competitive context, or the customer segment. So our role is not simply to report what consumers said. It is to help clients understand what matters, what is changing, and what their different teams should do next.
That means combining strong methodology with real category knowledge. We look at the numbers, but we also consider the customer journey, the store experience, the brand promise, and the operational realities that may affect what a retailer can actually implement.
The most useful insights are the ones that lead to clear choices. Should a concept move forward? Is a customer pain point worth fixing? Does the brand positioning still resonate? Are shoppers responding to the experience the way the retailer intended? That is where Léger can help: by moving from findings to implications, and from implications to practical recommendations that clients can act on.
With The Pollster Polled, we will continue to spotlight the perspectives, expertise, and vision shaping the future of market research. Because behind every data point are people—and behind every great survey is a passionate team turning information into informed decisions.
