Do we really talk the same language as our customers?

By | 2018-08-01T16:35:31+00:00 August 1st, 2018|Views and insights|

The first requirement in any relationship is to communicate. I was talking to a friend who runs a group for new migrants coming into their community. Most don’t speak English at all, often not one word. She made it abundantly clear to me how hard it is to form a relationship if you can’t talk

Infographic: Is online driving even greater shopper promotional buying?

By | 2018-07-19T10:18:16+00:00 July 19th, 2018|Views and insights|

For the first time, the unique Shopper Intelligence database can produce a robust and thorough comparison of how shoppers approach an online shopping “trip” compared to a physical store. This data (see infographic) compares ‘000s of traditional supermarket visits with Amazon and purchase occasions. We can look at this category by category, retailer by

Infographic: How do shoppers behave at Discounters (Aldi)?

By | 2018-07-18T13:49:28+00:00 July 18th, 2018|Views and insights|

In this infographic built from Shopper Intelligence’s unique database of interviews from thousands of shoppers across the USA, measured retailer by retailer, category by category, we look at what’s different about the emerging “discounter” channel. Everyone knows how strong the price image of Aldi is, and its limited range of mainly own brands, but using

Global brands. Local execution. How do smaller companies win?

By | 2018-06-19T13:20:30+00:00 June 19th, 2018|Views and insights|

The dynamic in global CPG firms are now well established. Invest in the biggest global brands where centralised planning around NPD and advertising can achieve scale and cost efficiencies. But let operational companies in each market focus on executing plans with local retailers using “localised marketing” including the full range of category management work. But

“We can’t afford to do category management anymore!”

By | 2018-05-24T09:50:56+00:00 May 24th, 2018|Views and insights|


The new roof challenge

By | 2018-05-14T09:50:59+00:00 May 14th, 2018|Views and insights|

I had a leak in my roof last year. A clearly identified, defined problem. Something had to be done. Urgently. I called in the roofing guys. Having done a thorough inspection, they told me, “The roof batons are rotten. The nails are corroded.  It’s 50 years old. You need a new roof.” Now here is

The siren song of NPD – should you resist it?

By | 2018-04-17T10:53:30+00:00 April 17th, 2018|Views and insights|

Given the high failure rate of NPD, not least in packaged goods where frankly there is quite a lot of choice already out there, why does it get such a lot of resource and attention? The bald metrics of NPD are not attractive. First, there is the risk of getting it wrong. Then there is

Will just doing more of the same get different results?

By | 2018-03-29T09:28:43+00:00 March 27th, 2018|Views and insights|

I heard an inspiring story yesterday about a musician who despite years of practice and performance started to get worse, not better. Quite dramatically so. He found that more and more his efforts were masking underlying weaknesses and tensions that were building up just out of sight. One day he couldn’t play properly at all.