Shiny Happy Market Research Buyers

Market research buyers are much happier with their purchases today than they were just a year ago, according to a new study by a market research career website.

Improvements noted include higher levels of honesty by online panel respondents, research buyers are impressed by the increased depth of analytical insights, syndicated research buyers are much more pleased with price, and online survey tools are much improved.

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Research on Marketing Intelligence in South Africa

BizCommunity.com of South Africa writes about a Bureau of Market Research (BMR) and the Department of Business Management at Unisa study that calls marketing intelligence (MI) an “essential tool for strategic planning and decision making.”  The report focuses on marketing intelligence use by South African companies.

The rise in relevance of the research is because of the increasingly competitive business climate requiring, “sound MI in support of sustainable development goals for South African businesses.”

The study measured user satisfaction and what it terms “value” to the business. The research goal of the project is to provide information on the value of marketing intelligence and how it can improve their business within South Africa.

The 300 company study found the largest market intelligence gaps relate to marketing information regarding customers and competitors.  One of the authors said the study confirms the value of marketing intelligence to South African business that show high commitment toward improved investment in MI in the immediate future.

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Social Media and Daily Deals Affecting Purchasing in US Capitol

Right in Marketresearch.com’s backyard. 

A survey by Capitol Communicator/WB&A market research show consumers in the Baltimore and Washington, DC markets use daily deal websites like Living Social and Groupon, as well as user-generated review sites like Yelp to impact their purchasing decisions.

The study was sponsored by branding and marketing communications agency ZilYen, which asked about a broad range of online activities including daily deal websites, following companies on Facebook and Twitter to scanning QR codes with smartphones.

The Summer survey of 836 households found online coupons through daily deal sites were used about 25% of the time (Baltimore 24%, Washington 30%). Washington, DC residents were more adventurous, buying a daily deal coupon from a merchant they had never tried (25%), as opposed to merchants they had previously used (21%).

Facebook and Twitter are also impacting purchasing behavior with a third of residents using either "friend" or "like" companies on Facebook with another 10 percent using the "follow" or "tag" commands for companies on Twitter.

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MarketResearch.com Partner Toluna Excels

Marketresearch.com partner Toluna was named to the annual Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track awards which ranks British technology companies according to their sales growth.

Toluna came in at 27th in this year's league table with sales growth of 80.79%

Toluna's growth came through organic growth and the acquisition of local and global companies including Ciao Surveys and Greenfield Online.

Frederic-Charles Petit, Founder and CEO, Toluna said: "The success of Toluna lies in its obsession to continually be at the forefront of innovation and pioneering technology. With highly targeted new product developments to meet evolving needs in market research, we have always stayed true to our core; our online community, toluna.com. Today over 1million opinions are posted by members on the site everyday. We are thrilled to be in such good company on the Tech Track 100, it really solidifies the hard work and effort our members of staff have put in to our products, services and solutions across the globe."

MarketResearch.com and it's Publishing brands Packaged Facts and Simba Information use the Toluna data to bolster its reports in the Food and Beverage, book publishing, foodservice and pet topic areas. Because of the unique data the information gives Packaged Facts and Simba Information a perspective that is sui generis.

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Making Market Research Fun

With the stated goal of making market research more fun, a new technology company attempts to help companies solve a market research problem through the gamification "gamification" of the market research process.

Crowdtap  terms itself a network for “Brand Influencer Communities.”  Using technology they allow marketers to “collaborate with and mobilize their targeted brand crowd of influential consumers for real-time research, collaboration or powerful word-of-mouth marketing.” 

Their database of of 150,000 people contribute to polls and online discussions.  They are adding about 5,000 per week to the panel.

To encourage participations the panel receives gift cards, products, or support for favored charities. The more you participate the more opportunities you have to win these prizes.

As the panel shows an interest in a certain product or brand, they are then targeted for their insights on these brands and products.

The two year old New York company  has raised $10,000,000 with which they plan to expand the engineering and sales teams and enhance its gamification features. With the goal of making market research participation into a fun experience, Crowdtap expects to increase its brand influence.

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Ethnography in Market Research

An article in the Globe and Mail nails down the power of Ethnography as a popular topic in market research.  Ethnography is the recording and study of human culture.  However, in the research world it is used, often incorrectly, to describe all kinds of qualitative research.

The column quotes a Marshall Professor who claims it is much more than traditional research, saying ethnography must be more observational, comparative and must use a “cultural frame to provide a deep ‘insider’s point of view.’”

The article follows a case study of a distiller with an ethnographic study of male millennials in the suburbs, their target market.  Previous research attempts had failed to find anything meaningful about the market.  After discussing the limits of previous research the column explains that by focusing on the human behaviour of the target audience and “not on product attributes,” they found “insights on social interactions, norms, (and) habits” that a survey or focus groups would never have revealed.

This approach uncovered a “place” for the product in the lives of those young males.

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Market Research in Emerging Markets

The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka used part of its paper this week to praise the value of Market research, noting it “exists to minimize the risk and uncertainty in the market.”

The article followed a Sri Lankan media roundtable where they discussed the difficulty in predicting human behavior. The article quotes Hilmy Cader of MTI Market Research quoting astronomer James T Adams: “Any astronomer can predict with absolute accuracy just where every star in the universe will be tonight. (But) He can make no such prediction about his teenage daughter”.

A key role for market research in emerging markets, Cader said, is in assessing greater choice in “brands, products, media, channels and financing,” calling them challenges on new ‘social operating’ platforms. It could also help measure the changing perceptions on “ethics, governance, conflict, environment, individualism, social integration and lifestyle.”

Cader said emerging best practices are moving away from large questionnaires to a “single-minded hard question, a one page essence as deliverable."

To make his point Cader used Indian newspaper ‘Dainik Bhaskar as an example, their explosive growth came from a deep understanding of the readership habits, what their readership lacked and what their readers sought. “The readers were made part of the product development team.”

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Five Guys Burgers OR Chik-fil-A

Market research firm Market Force found that Five Guys Burgers and Fries was again America’s favorite quick-service restaurant. The annual consumer ranking comes from a survey of more than 4500 consumers across the country. Second place went to west coast brand In-N-Out Burger, Chik-fil-A was number three.

However, the winners weren’t determined strictly by the number of votes they received. To balance out the larger chains, Market Force took the total number of votes and averaged them according to the number of stores.

Other questions on the survey included features and other attributes that are most important to them as consumers.

Out of 55 potential chains, Chik-fil-A racked up the most votes with more than 10%, Panera Bread came in second with Five Guys in third.

These totals were divided and averaged according to store location numbers giving Five Guys the victory with 7% of the total votes even though that had less than half of the locations of Chik-fil-a or Panera Bread.

The lowest marks for most chains occurred in the friendly service category, McDonald’s ranked bottom for food quality and high marks for speed. Taco Bell won in the Overall Value category, but fared poorly in many areas, the survey said.

In other categories Panera Bread took the best Atmosphere category, Chik-fil-a topped the Accommodating Children, Subway won with healthy choices and Chipotle Mexican Grill is seen as the “most sustainable QSR chain.”

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Trends and Topics Post 9-11

A interesting piece in Foreign Policy by David Rothkopf on the 10 events since September 11th that have been, in his estimation, more important, or had a greater impact on the world than the attacks on America.

Rothkopf doesn’t discount the importance of the day or the lives that were lost, but list the things that rose up while the US was hunting for Bin Laden and spending billions on wars.

In reverse order, 10) The American response to 9-11, 9) the Arab Spring 8) Rebalancing of Asia 7) Stagnation of US and other Developed-World economies 6) Invention of Social Media, 5) Proliferation of cell phones and handheld devices 4) The Crash of 2008 3) The Eurozone crisis of 2011-2012, 2) Failure to address Global warming and 1) The rise of China and other BRICs.

Rothkopf said global warming would have been number one except that we haven’t felt its full effects yet. He notes that the next 100 years will be heavily influenced by “new” powers led by China, India and Brazil.

His point about global warming is that if the temperature rise continues the resulting events will make 9-11 look like “a comparative footnote to an event that could remake the nature of life on Earth and lead to a toll many, many times greater than either 9/11 or the wars it triggered.”

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