How should a marketing consulting firm perform a cluster analysis for a new granola bar?

Cluster analysisis an unsupervised learning technique used to group observations based on similarity. In data-driven decision making, it is commonly used formarket segmentation, allowing firms to identify distinct customer groups with similar preferences or behaviors.

For a new granola bar, cluster analysis helps determine which consumer segments exist, such as health-conscious buyers, convenience-focused consumers, or price-sensitive shoppers. This enables targeted marketing strategies and product positioning.

Understanding reasons for purchase requires survey or causal analysis, not clustering. Competitor benchmarking and trend analysis involve different analytical techniques.

Therefore, the correct answer isB, determining different segments or groups to target.