What BMi Research does

BMi Research Proprietary Ltd is a full-service market research provider headquartered in Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 50 years of operating history across the South African and Southern African market value chain. The company operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cognition Holdings Limited and serves enterprise clients in retail, wholesale, FMCG, manufacturing, and industrial sectors. Its solution portfolio spans four core categories: Consumer Behaviour and Business Insights (including Brand Gauge brand-health tracking, Ad-Apt attention-based ad testing via a Lumen partnership, CX Online, Product Testing, and Mystery Shopping), AdCheck Ad Monitoring (tracking competitor campaigns across digital, outdoor, print, radio, and TV), Pricing Intelligence (Promotional Price Tracker, E-commerce Pricing, In-store Pricing Solutions), and Market Performance and Market Sizing.

The company's primary proprietary asset is the ROOTS 8.1 consumer survey, described as South Africa's longest-running independent local consumer research programme, covering 107 communities, 25,000 adults aged 18+, and representing 10.8 million adults and 4.5 million households. Field collection relies on modern methodologies including online panels, CATI, CAWI, CAPI, and PAPI. BMi Research monetises through customised project-based and multi-year contracts with enterprise clients, with no publicly disclosed standard pricing. Go-to-market is sales-led, combining direct client engagement, content marketing via its website and news section, and participation in industry events. Named enterprise clients include Coca-Cola, Nampak (preferred supplier since the 1980s), Massmart, Famous Brands, Jumbo Brands, Kärcher South Africa, and Divercity and Ithemba Property. Geographic reach extends into South Africa and neighbouring Southern African countries including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Name

BMi Research

Legal name

BMi Research Proprietary Ltd

Website

https://bmi.co.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

BMi Research is a South African full-service market research firm with 50+ years of history, providing consumer behaviour tracking, brand health measurement, ad monitoring, pricing intelligence, and market sizing to enterprise clients across retail, FMCG, manufacturing, and industrial sectors in Southern Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Competitive & Market Intelligence (Competitive Tracking, TAM/SAM/SOM) (MPAAALAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

B2B / Industrial Market Research (MPAAALAA), Product & Innovation Research (Concept, Pricing, Packaging, Conjoint) (MPAAALAI), Social & Digital Insights (Social Listening, Online Community Research) (MPAAALAK), Qualitative Research (Focus Groups, IDIs, Ethnography) (MPAAALAE), Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Market research services
• Consumer behavior tracking
• Pricing intelligence solutions
• Brand health measurement
• Advertising monitoring

Headquarters

HQ city

Randburg

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Market Research Services: BMi Research generates revenue by providing custom market research services to businesses. As a full-service market research provider, the company offers consumer and B2B research studies, ad monitoring, pricing intelligence, and market sizing solutions on a project and contract basis. Revenue is derived from delivering research reports, insights, and ongoing tracking services to corporate clients across South Africa.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

BMi Research is a full-service market research provider delivering customised consumer behaviour research, B2B research studies, advertising monitoring, pricing intelligence, and market sizing solutions to South African businesses. The company combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies with modern field collection methods (online panels, CATI, CAWI, CAPI, PAPI) and proprietary tools including Brand Gauge, Ad-Apt, AdCheck, ROOTS 8.1, and pricing trackers to deliver research insights on a project and contract basis.

Product overview

BMi Research is a full-service market research provider with more than 50 years' experience across the South African market value chain. The company offers a modular platform of strategic research solutions grouped into four core categories: Consumer Behaviour and Business Insights (including Brand Gauge, Ad-Apt, CX Online, Market Demand and Quantification, Product Testing, and Mystery Shopping), Adcheck Ad Monitoring (including Adspend Analysis, Digital Solution, Competitor Campaign Monitoring, and Competitor Campaign Analysis), Pricing Intelligence (including Promotional Price Tracker, E-commerce Pricing, and In-store Pricing Solutions), and Market Performance and Market Sizing. The company also conducts proprietary research programmes including ROOTS 8.1, South Africa's longest running local consumer survey.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Brand Gauge: BMi Research's brand health measurement and tracking tool that measures brand performance in a competitive context, tracking metrics such as awareness, trial, consideration, usage and loyalty
• Ad-Apt
• AdCheck
• Promotional Price Tracker
• E-commerce Pricing
• In-store Pricing Solutions
• ROOTS

Products and services

• Consumer Behaviour and Business Insights Consumer and B2B research studies using qualitative and quantitative methodologies with modern field collection methods including online panels, CATI and CAWI, delivering insights into consumers and businesses for strategic decision-making by enterprise clients.
• Adcheck Ad Monitoring Comprehensive advertising monitoring solution that tracks and analyses brand campaign executions across digital, outdoor, print, radio, and TV, providing competitive intelligence to improve marketing strategy.
• Pricing Intelligence Price tracking and share of shelf measurement within retail and wholesale landscapes across South Africa and neighbouring countries, supporting strategic pricing initiatives and promotional analysis.
• Market Performance and Market Sizing Comprehensive market size, structure, and performance measurement using robust methodologies, quantifying market size, benchmarking brand performance, anticipating trends, and prioritising investment for enterprise clients.
• Brand Gauge Brand health measurement and tracking tool that measures brand performance against competitors and tracks brand funnel metrics including awareness, trial, consideration, usage and loyalty, distilled into a single Brand Impact Score for marketers.
• Ad-Apt Attention-based ad testing solution delivered in partnership with Lumen, using eye tracking technology to measure online users' gaze time, element order mapping, and overall recall in digital advertising environments for advertisers and agencies.
• CX Online Customer experience assessment for e-commerce sites using trained shoppers who monitor the CX journey from shopping registration to final product delivery, identifying service gaps and competitive edge opportunities.
• Market Demand and Quantification Market insights covering trends, volumes, values, packaging, distribution and growth forecasts across sub-Saharan African countries for FMCG and consumer goods manufacturers.
• Product Testing Qualitative and quantitative product testing solutions for FMCG products from concept stage through unbranded products to branded goods on shelves, including benchmarking against competitor products.
• Mystery Shopping In-store performance and compliance audits using experienced mystery shoppers to track performance, test training programmes, and recognise star performers in retail and hospitality environments.
• Promotional Price Tracker Access to advertised promotional activity and pricing across digital, print, radio and TV media in South Africa, tracking advertised pricing, adspend, number of ads and share of voice via online dashboard.
• E-commerce Pricing Competitor pricing analysis across retailers including online vs offline pricing comparisons, depth of promotion and product availability by retailer, with historical pricing trend analysis.
• In-store Pricing Solutions On-shelf pricing and in-store promotions monitoring within retail and wholesale outlets, including trended pricing, share of shelf, shelf health, facings and stock availability analysis.
• Adspend Analysis Tracking and analysis of adspend activity across digital, print, radio and TV, providing insights into advertising share of voice by brand and media split.
• Adcheck Digital Solution Monitoring of paid-for display, social and video advertising across more than 500 online publishers and platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and apps, covering creative execution, impressions, spend and publisher split.
• Competitor Campaign Monitoring Monitoring of brand campaign executions across digital, outdoor, print, radio and TV with email alerts on breaking campaigns and dashboard access for viewing competitor activity.
• Competitor Campaign Analysis Analysis of adspend with campaign executions providing insights around adspend on different ad types, ad themes, campaigns and product mixes.
• ROOTS 8.1 South Africa's longest running independent local consumer research survey, conducted as a national survey within local communities covering 25,000 adults aged 18+ representing 10.8 million adults and 4.5 million households across 107 communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• High-attention media plans can boost market share growth by as much as 12% compared to low-attention plans, as measured by BMi's Ad-Apt solution
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• LumencoreTechnology or IntegrationBMi Research's Ad-Apt advanced attention-based ad testing solution is delivered in partnership with Lumen, a leading attention measurement company. Lumen's eye tracking technology is used to measure online users' gaze time, element order mapping, and overall recall in realistic digital environments, providing BMi clients with neuroscientific advertising effectiveness insights.
• Spark MediacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerROOTS 8.1, South Africa's longest running and most comprehensive independent local consumer research survey, was commissioned by Spark Media, undertaken by Borderless Access (India-based), and published by Caxton Media. BMi Research draws on ROOTS data to provide trends and analysis of local South African communities for its clients.
• Borderless AccessminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBorderless Access, an India-based research firm, was commissioned to undertake the ROOTS 8.1 survey. The survey was conducted via an online panel with supplementary face-to-face interviews in communities where digital connection was limited.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BMi_Research

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BMi Research