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Evolution (trade segment surveys) Case Study Vision One

Evolution Powertool Research Story

The Challenge

Evolution Power Tools is recognised worldwide as a market leader in the steel and fabrication industry, manufacturing multipurpose saws capable of cutting wood, aluminium and steel. During a period of rapid and sustained growth, the business needed a deeper understanding of its increasingly diverse customer base.

The challenge was to move beyond broad trade and DIY definitions and develop a robust customer segmentation that reflected real behaviours, needs and motivations. This insight was required to guide the next phase of new product development and ensure innovation was aligned with genuine customer demand.

Evolution Power Tools

Research Objectives

The powertools research was designed to create a clear, actionable customer segmentation framework. The key objectives were to:

  • Develop a deeper understanding of trade and DIY customer needs and behaviours
  • Identify distinct customer segments beyond traditional demographic definitions
  • Understand how requirements differ across materials, applications and usage contexts
  • Create clear, usable customer personas for internal teams
  • Identify new opportunities to inform and prioritise future new product development

Together, these objectives aimed to provide a strategic foundation for growth, innovation and communication.

Research Approach

Vision One delivered a mixed-method research programme combining scale and depth. The approach included:

  • Quantitative online surveys among trade and DIY users
  • Qualitative focus groups to explore motivations, attitudes and usage in detail
  • Multivariate statistical analysis to develop robust customer segments
  • Qualitative deep dives to bring each segment to life and add behavioural context
  • Integration of findings into clear, practical segmentation outputs

This approach ensured the segmentation was both statistically sound and strategically meaningful.

Findings

The customer segmentation research successfully delivered a new segmentation framework, creating clear personas for both trade and DIY audiences. These segments revealed meaningful differences in needs, priorities and expectations, challenging existing assumptions.

Importantly, the analysis uncovered several new areas for product development that had not previously been considered, highlighting opportunities to innovate around specific use cases and customer pain points. The findings provided Evolution with a much clearer understanding of who their customers really are and how their needs vary across segments.

Action & Recommendations

The insights from the segmentation programme are now being used extensively across the business. The new customer personas are informing product development, innovation prioritisation and communication strategies, ensuring future decisions are grounded in a deeper, evidence-based understanding of both trade and DIY customers.

Vision One - B2B Research Agency
Kendra Furey, Head of Brands (Vision One)

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