Consumer Insights & Analytics

Do you aspire to help organizations make better strategic decisions based on data rather than opinion? Does the prospect of analyzing data to reveal insights excite you? Would you like to study why and how consumers interact with the marketplace, products, and services? If so, the Consumer Insights and Analytics (CIA) major may be a great fit for you.

The CIA major develops students to transform consumer data related to buying behaviors into insights and actionable recommendations for organizations. Students learn to present their insights as solutions to business problems and have 24/7 access to a state-of-the-art analytics lab with sophisticated software tools and industry datasets. Active Analytics Club members participate in regional undergraduate analytic competitions.

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Program Overview

Areas of Study

All undergraduate LSBE students are required to take business and economics core courses and concentration courses related to their major.

Core Courses

  • Finance & Accounting
  • Business Law
  • Economics
  • Information Technology
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Psychology
  • Writing & Communications
  • Mathematics 

Major Courses

  • Marketing
  • Marketing Research
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Analytics
  • Big Data
  • Data Visualization
  • Advanced Modeling
  • Data Transformation

See Catalog Page for full course list & descriptions >

Sample Plan

The sample plan linked below is one of several possible ways to complete this degree. Resources are available to customize a plan for your specific career and academic goals.

Consumer Insights & Analytics Sample Plan >

Consumer Insights & Analytics Assessment Plan >

Acquired Skills
  • Use industry software tools to manage, summarize, and analyze consumer and transaction data.
  • Generate insights into consumer needs and identify sales trends and business opportunities.
  • Confidently communicate recommendations to organizational stakeholders.
Career Opportunities

As decision-making becomes more data-driven, career opportunities for Consumer Insight and Analytics graduates exist in every industry sector.

CIA graduates find exciting career opportunities in fields and organizations such as:

  • Marketing & Market Research
  • Digital & Social Media Analyst 
  • Inventory Planning
  • E-Commerce
  • Business Analyst
  • Customer Experience Analyst
Program Competitive Advantage

CIA program advantages include:

  • Selective application process and cohort approach. Each cohort completes all four specialized courses together, participates in off-site analytics competitions, and delivers analysis results to industry partners.
  • 24/7 access to an exclusive computer lab with specialized software and industry-standard data sets. Students utilize Excel, PowerBI, Tableau, SQL, SAS, R, and Python to manage, analyze, and present data.
  • Partnership with coporations on current, real-world industry projects. Sponsors of these projects have included: Hormel, Target, maurices, and Schwan’s food company. 
  • Membership in the UMD CIA Club which invites guest speakers from a diverse range of analytic roles to campus. Club members participate in undergraduate analytic competitions like the Midwest Undergraduate Data Analytics Competition (MUDAC).
  • Dedicated CIA Program Director who works with each student from the time they apply and are accepted into the program through their graduation. The Program Director acts as a coach, mentor, and instructor to ensure students develop knowledge and skills to then identify and apply for internships and full-time opportunities.
  • Committed and active CIA Advisory Board who meet several times a year to interact with students and faculty members for networking and mentoring.
  • Internship in an industry or sector of interest to you. We will assist you in searching for an appropriate position, preparing for the interviews, and networking with analytic professionals. Internships can be a means of securing full-time positions and many students return to campus for their final semesters with employment already secured. Past students have interned at maurices, Target, Best Busy, Supervalu, Kohl's, 3M, Schwan's Food Company, Toro, Hormel Foods, US Bank, AMSOIL, Christopher and Banks, BASF, Polaris, Anderson Window, and Jack Link's.