Consumer, Shopper, Retail Expert
Consumer, Shopper, Retail Expert
I was speaking to a client the other day who said, “We’re not too focused on e-commerce right now. It’s only growing by a couple of percentage points a year.†True enough, we were in a market where online is relatively small, and my clients business online was tiny. And despite the myriad articles making often …
Bricks and mortar grocery retailers have long realized that physical stores alone will not be enough to prosper in the coming decade. So where exactly is the excitement in the news that Sainsbury, the supermarket operator, is looking to buy a non-food retailer Argos? What does this acquisition have to do with omnichannel? Pretty much …
Unilever announced this week that they will adopt a ‘zero-based’ approach to setting and allocating marketing spend budgets. The announcement met with a reception that surprised me. It was seen as drastic, and an ‘austerity’ approach. Why? Zero-based budgeting is, as far as I can tell, a best-practice approach to managing any spend, so why …
A New Year! 2015 was an ‘annus horribilis’ for many bricks and mortar retailers, large and small. What might 2016 hold for them? It appears Landor, the branding and design company, think that 2016 will see a resurgence in brick and mortar retail. But before you go off and buy shares in Tesco and Wal-Mart, …
I was in conversation recently with a friend who works at a large shopper activation agency, and we were talking about the briefs they receive from clients. I was surprised that in many cases, one of the key goals was ‘to delight shoppers’. Really? Apparently, yes. For many shopper marketers their goal in life is …
Yes, I did say consumer. It’s not a mistake! Those of you who have subscribed or followed my posts for some time will know that I am a strong advocate for understanding the differences between consumers and shoppers, so I guess this might seem strange. But I’ll say it again. If you really want to …
Have you conducted shopper research projects? If so, have you sometimes been less than energized by the results? If so, you are not alone. Too often a first piece of shopper research can lead to not much more than a large PowerPoint deck and a vague feeling of disappointment. The agency reels off a whole …
If anyone was in any doubt that shopping is undergoing one of its biggest shifts since the invention of self-service, the unveiling of Amazon’s new offline store surely nails it. This store is evidence that shopping in the 21st century isn’t just about a move online. It is about shoppers finding that they have more …
I love marketing with a passion, and always have. I’m utterly convinced of the importance of marketing in driving massive value for businesses, so when I see headlines which comment on the lack of marketers on Executive Boards at most of the largest companies in the world, it does make me wonder why. Why do …
Survey after survey suggests that shopper marketing is becoming a bigger priority for organizations, with more focus and more spend. Yet many of these companies ask shopper marketers to work with a blindfold on, not investing sufficiently in shopper research to build a really clear understanding of the target shopper, how they behave and how …