Choice-Based Conjoint and MaxDiff (i.e., Maximum Difference, also known as Best-Worst scaling) are advanced methods for measuring and estimating consumer preferences by means of choice experiments and discrete choice models. Conjoint Analysis is a veteran methodology, initiated in the early 1970s, for measuring multi-attribute consumer preferences, based on ranking order or rating evaluations of product… Read More
Globus: A Department Store Changes Its Face
A visitor returning to the flagship department store of the Swiss chain GLOBUS in central Zurich after a long absence is headed for a surprise. The visiting shopper is about to encounter on entry a completely different landscape — bright and flashy, with a large avenue stretching from the front entrance (on Bahnhofstrasse) to the… Read More
Marketing-Driven Financial Valuation of Brands
Assessments of the monetary value of brands has long interested and motivated the management of firms, and their investors. From a business perspective, the financial value is a preferred measure of brand equity or return-on-investment in brands. But a brand is a marketing-driven and consumer-based entity, and hence one cannot detach the financial value of… Read More
Working Towards Display of Less Merchandise in Stores
As consumers purchase online more frequently, and in larger volumes, the experience of shopping in brick-and-mortar stores is changing. Consumers these days could be looking for something different than before when shopping in stores; and so, the roles of physical stores also have to be modified with the changes in consumers’ tastes and shopping behaviour.… Read More
A Road Map to Customer Insights
In the crossroads of marketing research and customer research, a field of customer insights is flourishing. Instead of talking merely about research findings and conclusions, practitioners (managers and professionals) are developing and discussing customer insights. The term ‘insight’ does sound deeper and more clever, with potentially more ingenuine and farther-reaching meanings and implications. Especially when… Read More
Facilitating Shopping With Visual Search
Consumers frequently tackle a difficulty when trying to trace a product similar to one they have seen somewhere and they wish to purchase. It could be a product already in their possession at home and they want to replace or complement it with a new one that looks alike, or it may be a product… Read More
Is Inflation in Consumer Prices Lurking for a Bite?
Countries face several economic challenges while they are trying to recover from the coronavirus pandemic: recuperating the economy from a traumatic recession (shock-induced shutdown and negative growth); increased budget deficit, possibly leading to larger debt; combatting high (and stubborn) unemployment, together with changes in the job market. But reigniting the economy might be tied with… Read More
Retail in Recovery
Wherever relief from COVID-19 is evident, we can see signs of recovery in offline retail, that is at physical stores and shops. In the first months of 2021 countries have lapsed again into third and fourth waves of COVID and lockdowns, which caused a reversal of earlier signs of recovery experienced. But where a recent… Read More
Designing Customer Experiences Around Personas
When mapping customer journeys, it would help to design and direct them with regard to personas of customers, ‘profile’ concepts of plausible types of customers that seem real and approachable. Having the image of a customer before one’s eyes with human traits, background, attitudes and preferences, can make it easier to plan and prepare for… Read More
A New Opportunity Arises for Pop-Up Stores
Temporary stores pop-up in recent years more frequently in different retail locations such as central shopping districts (e.g., on high-streets or inside urban quarters) and in malls; as you might expect, they are called Pop-Up Stores. These stores or shops may operate for as short as a few days to as long as two or… Read More
Consumer / Shopper / Customer Behaviour 