Shopper & category insights that move commercial decisions – not reports that sit on shelves.
Story Insights is an Australia-based specialist shopper and category insights agency. We partner with the world’s leading FMCG, CPG and retail organisations to help them sell their products better – in Grocery, Convenience, Foodservice, Digital and every other channel that matters.
We’re a boutique, senior-only team with more than 30 years of experience in our field, working across more than 15 markets worldwide for many of the world’s Top 100 FMCG and retail groups.
When you work with us, you work directly with the people doing the thinking. Our senior-only model exists for one reason: better decisions come from sharper questions, deeper category context, and harder commercial judgement. Those things take experience.
Every project is led and delivered by consultants who have spent decades inside FMCG and retail. The result is faster turnaround, clearer recommendations, and conversations that meet you at the level you need.
Naïve surveys and standalone data sets rarely change behaviour inside a category. We work differently. We’re commercially astute, and every recommendation we make is grounded in what shoppers actually do – not just what they say.
That means store observation, behavioural decoding and structured analysis sit alongside survey craft. We connect what we see in store with what the numbers show, then translate it into a clear, defensible commercial direction your teams and retailers can act on.
From our base in South Melbourne, we operate across Asia-Pacific and Europe – including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and key European markets. That breadth gives our clients a single, consistent view of shoppers across borders, with the cultural and channel nuance that matters in each one.
Who We Are
Story Insights was founded by Mike Cassidy and Julieanne Harmer.
Mike Cassidy
Co-Founder & Managing Director
30 years leading insights agencies around the world, with deep expertise in shopper behaviour, category growth and the commercial conversations that drive both.
Julieanne Harmer
Co-Founder & Director
20 years in psychology, focused on the gap between what shoppers claim and what they actually do — bringing scientific rigour to commercial decisions.
Together with our senior consulting team, we partner with insights, category, brand and commercial leaders who don’t need more reports — they need direction.
Clients usually come to us when something is at stake. A range review is approaching. A launch decision needs validating. Share is slipping. A retailer conversation isn’t landing. They leave with clarity: what’s driving behaviour, what’s blocking growth, and exactly what to do next.
Strong shopper insights remove guesswork. They clarify what’s driving behaviour and what’s blocking growth.
If you’re facing a high-stakes commercial decision, or you’re working with a shopper insights partner and not seeing commercial movement, we should talk. Switching doesn’t mean starting from scratch – it means raising the standard.
Story Insights
6 Albert Place
South Melbourne VIC 3205
Australia