Reintroduce The Consumer Into The Mix

MediaPost Publications, November 17, 2009 — We have more data on consumers today than ever, but do we really know more about how to market to them than we did 25 years ago? It's not our fault; it just used to be simpler back when the average consumer was easily defined, shopped in fewer places, and print, TV, radio and in-store were the only real options available for communicating with them.

Boost Your Brand by Understanding the Path to Purchase†

To Win Customers, Create a Shopper-Insight Team and Turn That Research Into Strategy

Advertising Age, September 21, 2009 — It doesn't matter much which marketing publication you pick up or which industry trend piece comes across your desk, it is simply impossible to miss the constant attention being paid to shopper marketing these days.

No one should be surprised. With 72% of shoppers deciding what to buy in-store, the marketing world is acutely aware of the importance of the "last mile" and the ultimate moment of truth.

The Race to Be an Early Adopter of Technologies Goes Mainstream, a Survey Finds

A new study shows that wide swaths of America play video games, use broadband Internet and have cellphones and PCs.

New York Times, September 2, 2009 — For decades, the adoption and use of the latest technologies was limited to a subculture: Whether called “tech enthusiasts” or “gadget geeks,” the implication was that most of the world got along fine with older, established products and services, while a smaller group pursued the most leading-edge technology.

But according to a study released Wednesday by Forrester Research, a marketing firm based in Cambridge, Mass., a shift has taken place. What used to be the pursuit of a few has become decidedly mainstream. We’re all gadget geeks now.

Tale of the Tape: Retailers Take Receipts to Great Lengths†

Coupons and Reward Points Extend Tallies; A Wallet-Busting 'Waste of Paper'.

Wall Street Journal, September 1, 2009 — Debra Shigley recently went to a CVS pharmacy in Atlanta and paid $25.39 for two prescriptions, a beverage and a roll of toilet paper. The cashier then handed her a receipt that was almost two feet long.

"As long as my arm," said Ms. Shigley, a 30-year-old author who consults with women on careers and fashion.

Many shoppers have noticed with chagrin store receipts getting longer and longer as retailers tack coupons, return policies, loyalty points and other bits of information and advertising onto narrow pieces of paper that are supposed to be a record of what you bought and how much you paid.

Marketing Pose

New York Times, July 26, 2009 — For its first fiscal quarter of 2009, the chain Lululemon Athletica reported that consumers spent $81.7 million in its stores, which represented a slight increase over the same period in 2008. What were shoppers buying? “Yoga-inspired athletic apparel” is how the company describes its wares. This includes specifically yoga-related gear like mats. But it also includes items whose connection to the practice of yoga is harder to parse: bags, jackets, dresses, even hats.

A Cheap Date, With Child Care by Ikea

New York Times, June 11, 2009 — IKEA’S inexpensive, contemporary furniture has attracted frugal shoppers for years, but a different kind of bargain is luring deal hunters to the Swedish retailer as the economy struggles to recover. And this offer doesn’t even require you to use an Allen wrench.

Over-stretched, money-conscious parents are using the store’s supervised play area as their personal baby-sitting service.

Food Firms Cook Up Ways to Combat Rare Sales Slump†

Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009 — The packaged-food industry has long touted itself as recession-proof. Strapped consumers are shattering that assumption, setting off a frenzy in the nation's supermarket aisles and cooking labs.

In the last quarter of 2008, consumer spending on food fell by an inflation-adjusted 3.7% from the previous quarter — its steepest drop in 62 years, the Commerce Department said. So, food giants are racing to adapt to what they believe is a lasting shift in eating and shopping habits.

From buy, buy to bye-bye

The recession will have a lasting impact on the way people shop

The Economist, April 2, 2009 — “WANT IT!” screamed the words plastered on the walls, counters and shopping bags in the flagship emporium of Saks, a big American retailer, on Fifth Avenue in New York. The same exhortation was emblazoned in huge letters on a giant red and white ball that revolved slowly in the middle of the main sales floor. Saks’s spring marketing campaign, which came to an end on April 1st, made its brazen appeal to greed in a bid to drum up sales in a dire market. But the exclamation mark in its “Want It!” tagline should perhaps have been a question mark instead.

Food choices reflect financial conditions

Home cooking, familiar brands gain in popularity during recession

Chicago Tribune, January 24, 2009 — In the grocery aisles and in kitchens across the country, old school is increasingly in, courtesy of the recession and higher food prices.

Less-expensive comfort foods and classic brands—think Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Hormel's Spam canned meat—are doing bang-up business. White flour and dried beans are hot items as more Americans are making foods from scratch.

And the supermarket sales category with the highest annual growth rate as of early November was—get this—canning and freezing supplies, according to market researcher Nielsen Co.