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
Digital Changes Coming Ahead for Marketers and Consumers
The digital landscape in marketing and e-commerce is fluid and evolving continuously. In the meantime, the patterns and habits of consumer shopping behaviour also keep changing. Most notably in recent times, consumers were driven to modify their shopping behaviour due to restrictions imposed during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. However, consumers have had to… Read More
Differences and Conflicts Between Metrics of Response to Customer Service Calls
First Call Resolution (FCR) is a key performance indicator for service call (contact) centres. The indicator pertains to success in achieving a resolution to a problem or an issue raised by a customer in his or her first call made to a contact centre. The metric of FCR success rate (%) usually concerns phone calls,… Read More
Understanding Consumer Approach to Transformational Vehicle Technologies
Two important technological developments with transformational power in vehicles are taking place side-by-side: electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV). They have the power of transforming consumers’ experiences of driving their cars, or travelling as passengers, and maintaining them, possibly changing the way consumers perceive passenger vehicles in whole. The purposes and functionalities of the… 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
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
An Illusion of Living in the 1970s: The Design and Experience
The cinema film ‘La Belle Époque‘ (France 2019, Director & Writer Nicholas Bedos) is intriguing, amusing, and in some moments fascinating. The story and scenery are quite unusual, having many aspects, and holding some surprises. Beyond the story of this romantic comedy, viewers are introduced to a special experiential production of past periods that customers… 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
Smart Automation in Conflict
Smart automation is an integral part of the digital transformation of operations and services. However, automation goes much beyond the application of digital technologies and data when artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are recruited to fulfill any task. Smart automation entails using capabilities of learning from data (huge amounts of data), adaptation and autonomous execution… Read More
The Personal Transporter of Segway Is Driving Off
The vertical scooter-like vehicle of Segway, the Personal Transporter (PT), takes little space and moves smoothly. Segway’s PT, created by Dean Kamen, introduced an innovative and inspiring product concept in its technology and form, easily recognizable on sight. There is something elegant about the way it looks and moves. Yet, the PT never fulfilled the… Read More
Consumer / Shopper / Customer Behaviour 