Unmet needs are the unfulfilled expectations, latent desires, and functional or emotional gaps that consumers experience but that current market offerings do not adequately resolve. In consumer intelligence, identifying unmet needs is foundational to product development, brand positioning, and innovation strategy, because these gaps signal where real market opportunity exists. Unlike stated preferences, unmet needs are often implicit and require skilled qualitative research to surface, since consumers frequently cannot articulate what is missing until they are prompted through deep, exploratory conversation. Teams that consistently identify and act on unmet needs are better positioned to develop products and messaging that resonate before competitors do.