Consumer, Shopper, Retail Expert
Consumer, Shopper, Retail Expert
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 …
Brand loyalty. It’s a phrase that is bounced around meeting rooms and brand plan presentations every day. We get our data analysts to measure it. Or rather we measure share of throat and we call it loyalty. But are we kidding ourselves? As marketers too often we convince ourselves that our brands are more important …
A perennial topic with clients is the ability (or lack of it) of their teams to create ground-breaking insights. Consumer and shopper insight teams are producing lots of understanding, lots of analysis, but sometimes they struggle to find those breakthrough insights that will truly transform the business. Some of this criticism is possibly unfair, and …
Many of the marketing and sales executives I meet have big problems with trade investment. Typically trade investment is large, increasing (often faster than sales) and most acknowledge that the returns from it are dubious. Over the years the money spent on trade investment by many consumer goods companies has ballooned, putting enormous pressure on …
I posted recently about the apparent indifference of consumers and shoppers to many brands: a post that created a large number of responses. And perhaps not surprisingly, either. The idea that consumer and shoppers suggest that they would be quite happy without the vast majority of brands should strike a chill into the hearts of …
“We want to be Category Captains!” was the specific objective of a certain senior sales manager I coached recently. And he is not alone. Despite cases of disappointment far-outnumbering the success stories, the goal of ‘strategic alliance’ between retailer and brand seems to be ever-pervasive. The benefits of collaboration between brand and retailer are well …