Empowering your marketing strategy with data-driven insights
Trace Research is an independent full-service market research and consultancy company based in Auckland, New Zealand, established by Dr Andrew Zhu in 2011. The company also consists of an academic advisory board with two university professors who provide academic assessments and validations for our empirical works - full integration of theory and practice.
In the early stages of the company’s development, Dr Zhu focused mainly on providing contract-based research and consultancy for other major domestic research agencies and business clients. The company has also worked for global businesses that have establishments in the Asia Pacific, such as Chevron/Caltex and AIA. Political polling analysis for TV3 Newshub Poll has been one of the most exciting projects in the company’s portfolio. The results have received considerable public attention (the most accurate political poll in New Zealand).
With Dr Zhu's substantial research background in Chinese consumer behaviour and trend, Trace is the first Chinese business-focused research establishment in New Zealand. Trace has the largest database of immigrant Chinese consumers in New Zealand. In 2016, Dr Zhu was motivated by the safety concerns among the Chinese community in NZ and conducted the ground-breaking social polling among 11,675 Chinese, which was the first-ever large-scale social polling conducted among Chinese in NZ’s history. The results attracted public attention and were reported by more than 20 mainstream media domestically and internationally, which impacted the government’s policy-making significantly. In 2017, Trace conducted 1st Asian leaders survey among New Zealand Asian Leaders' (NZAL) members, and Mai Chen presented the results to Prime Minister Bill English; 1st political poll among Chinese communities for WTV (WTV-Trace Chinese Poll), the polling results were reported in both mainstream and Asian media in New Zealand and 1st Chinese immigrants life and work survey for the University of Auckland.
Trace has a strong ability to conduct research in the NZ Tertiary Education sector for both domestic and international students. It has access to one of the largest Chinese international student panels in New Zealand. All surveys conducted among international students are in their mother language, which enables the reliability and validity of the research outcomes. Trace is also one of the service providers to the High-Value Nutrition - A National Science Challenge (2016-2017).
Since being established in 2011, we have built a reputation with businesses, academic institutions, not-for-profit organisations and government agencies for being approachable, professional and affordable research partners.
Our Research Team
Dr Andrew Zhu PhD CStJ MRSNZ
Company Director
Dr Andrew Zhu has undertaken both academic and business researcher roles in New Zealand, which were strongly underpinned by advanced statistics and consumer psychology knowledge. In 16 years of his market research and consultancy career, Dr Zhu has completed over 200 projects for over 80 clients in many different industries and countries. His expertise includes quantitative research methods, multivariate data analysis, statistical modelling, brand positioning and tracking, political polling and strategic marketing, etc. Dr Zhu is also one of the leading researchers in Chinese immigrant research in New Zealand and the most accurate political pollster in New Zealand. Besides his role as a business researcher, Dr Zhu is also an Independent Director of the National Youth Theatre, a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and a regional trust board member of the Order of St John.
Donella Parker
Research Associate - Strategy
Donella Parker is a market researcher with over 20 years of experience designing and implementing research programs to provide businesses and organizations with facts, priorities and focus for action. She held multiple research effectiveness awards and international conference presentations and was an ad-hoc reviewer for the American Marketing Association's Journal of Marketing.
Dr Loic Li
Research Associate - Social Research
Loic Li currently completed his doctoral degree from the department of marketing at the University of Auckland. His research interests focus on the interplay between negative and positive customer engagement on online and offline service platforms. His expertise involves applying longitudinal case analysis to provide business insights and using multivariate data analysis to solve business problems. He has publications and is an ad-hoc reviewer in leading marketing conferences and journals. He is a member of AMS and ANZMAC.
Logan Sun
Research Associate (Intern) - Data Analytics
Logan Sun graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Statistics, from Miami University and studying towards a Master of Science degree at Boston University. Logan specialises in data analytics in the property industry; he has been a data & due diligence analyst at multiple Real Estate development companies internationally. Logan joins the team as an intern to help tackle the housing affordability issues in New Zealand by utilising his analytical skills and experience in the property market.
Our Research Partners & Key Clients
Trace Aims to Build Collaborative Economy with Industry Partners & Clients
Just list a few recent ones
- Asian Family Services
- Argus Engineering
- Air New Zealand
- Baseline Consultancy
- BenthamLawrence Consultancy
- CCB (NZ)
- Chevron (Caltex)
- Director & Editor Guild NZ
- Fresh Info
- Fiftyfive5 (AU)
- Glem Dimplex
- High-Value Nutrition
- Health Promotion Agency
- IAG (NZ)
- ICBC (NZ)
- Incisive Research
- Ipsos (NZ)
- Marketing Minds
- Massey University
- Metlifecare
- New Zealand Asian Leaders
- NZ Drug Foundation
- Plant & Food Research
- QBE(NZ)
- Sharing Shed
- SRW Laboratories
- Stats NZ
- Swiss Deli
- Touchpoint Group
- Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA)
- TRA
- TV3 Newshub
- The University of Auckland
- UnionPay International
- University of Canterbury
- Winston Nutritional
Areas of Research Expertise
- Fuel & Lubricants;
- Power & Energy;
- Food & Beverage;
- Banking & Insurance;
- Telecommunications;
- Political & Social Polling;
- Social Media;
- Tourism;
- Airline Service;
- International Education;
- Retailing & FMCG;
- Cross Border E-commerce;
- China Market & Chinese Consumer.
