Back in the day, one of the first more strategic exercises I did for my first employer (United Biscuits, a food company from the UK) was to build a model which predicted future retail dynamics, and the impact that might have on the business. So far so normal, right? Well, you’d be wrong. The results […]
Retail Dynamics – Time for What If Analysis Read More »
One of the biggest demands we get as a company is for help with creating insights. “I want my team to be able to create insights” is a popular refrain. And as data becomes more and more available this demand is likely to increase. Managers speak to me of their frustrations: conducting research only to
Creating Insights – What’s stopping your team from creating better insights? Read More »
A new study by Engage highlights significant trends in the UK indicating that, as retail bases continue to shift and as shoppers make new choices about where and what they buy, many branded manufacturers may well face far-reaching challenges. In the past the consumer goods industry has been able to create value through an exceptional
Skills shortage threatens UK brands growth and profit Read More »
Fundamentals. We all know that they are important yet often, they are easy to forget or overlook. Ask any Sales Director or Sales Manager: “How important is it that your team really understands its customers?” Most, if not all, would agree that this is massively important. Yet in our work with clients, we find again
Retail Customer Understanding – How well do you know your customer? Read More »
One of the biggest challenges facing shopper marketing teams, especially as they are trying to get established, is getting consumer marketing teams to take them seriously. While not universal, shopper marketers speak of disdain, or being ignored, of not getting the data, information and support they need. Some consumer marketing teams are brilliantly supportive, others
Eight reasons why consumer marketing teams should support shopper marketing Read More »
Have you noticed how defensive some marketers can be whenever the topic of zero based budgeting comes up? Why is that? It seems to me that zero based budgeting makes a lot of sense in most circumstances. And in the fast-changing world we live in, more scrutiny of investments surely makes sense. Part of the
The biggest misconception with Zero Based Budgeting Read More »
There is nothing more frustrating than when a retailer says ‘no’ to one of your wonderful shopper marketing campaigns. At our workshops, it is the most common source of frustration for clients and shopper marketing agencies. And that is understandable. So how can shopper marketers avoid this frustration and improve the chances of their brilliant
Shopper Marketing Campaigns – Why the retailer says ‘no’ Read More »
It is a question that comes up frequently. When I talk to General Managers, CEOs, and sales leaders: “All is good, but my trade marketing team is a little tactical – what should I do about it?” Sometimes they substitute shopper marketing team, or category development team for trade marketing, but the message is still
Trade Marketing – What do we mean by Strategic Trade Marketing? Read More »
It is clear that e-commerce disruption is a massive force of change in the consumer goods world. Even in markets where e-commerce share is still relatively small, it is changing shopper behavior in quite remarkable ways, and that in turn is putting pressure on the relationships between manufacturers and retailers. But there is more disruption
So much buzz about seamless customer experience. So much talk about omnichannel presence. And yet sometimes the experience the shopper receives is far from seamless. As an example, I’m going to use a recent shopping experience with Harvey Norman (a large Australian retailers with a presence in many parts of the world, selling appliances, consumer
A Seamless Customer Experience? – A Click and Collect Fail! Read More »
