Walmart refines customer-centric research

One of the biggest retailers in America has recently released their findings on consumer insights, based through their wholesale arm, Sam's Club.

The research was commissioned to "excel at synthesizing, integrating, and leveraging (consumer) insights" across their entire business to create a closer connection with current and potential customers. The results of the research were recently presented by Ramón Portilla, the senior director for insights, operations, and membership at Sam's Club.

The "engine" that would drive change, according to Portilla, was best presented in a three-stage process - 

• Analytics: "Think about a company that has more than 200 million transactions a week. We have to be driving analytics. And, in the case of Sam's Clubs members, we have to listen to them. Consumers are telling us, 'You need to know more about me in context if you want to talk to me.'"

The task, in the retail industry, goes further still, as so much of commerce is seasonal. "We need to test at every time of the year," Portilla said, "and we need to find a faster way to apply these results."

• Research: What Portilla called "qualitative and quantitative trackers" have become more important to Walmart in the last 18 months, as America's largest retailer has sought "to leverage more efficient ways across the company" to get closer to the consumer.

"We don't have time to reinvent the wheel," Portilla added. Research resources are thus better spent writing short, precise considerations of market conditions.

• Metrics: In terms of measurement, he continued, "we have to be connected to performance metrics." To that end, Walmart integrates a variety of available research services, ensuring they can be combined to produce useful information.

Putting theory into practice has proved the efficacy of this model. "The results we've seen recently from our membership-experience [program] have been very favorable," said Portilla. "For the second year in a row, we've been in the top five" on an annual list that ranks retailers' performance in this area, he added.

And the stakes change almost every day: "We all hear more and more about big data ... How can we build an infrastructure to support big data?" he asked. "We need suppliers who can help us."

What this means for us

Research is always behind the work we do each and every day, be it from a business, media  or creative standpoint. A robust data set (such as we have with our Everyday Rewards card members) can lead to new and varied consumer insights, thanks to updated data tracking and consumer tracking software.

The task before advertisers is twofold - how to take these vast reserves of data and turn them into actionable insights, and then how are those insights implemented across the entire business. While there are many companies that can be contracted in to work on the first task, the second task can take a much more difficult route. Insights need to be filtered from the business to all relevant parties - agencies, planners, and even store managers. 

Upcoming Trends for 2013

In this article we will cover the upcoming trends that have been identified from the 2013 South by Southwest – Interactive (SxSWi) conference that recently wrapped up in Austin, Texas.

Each year, SxSW examines many different aspects of our ever-converging world, including Interactive (digital, online, etc), Music, Film, and Education. While the 2013 statistics are yet to be released, the 2012 Interactive portion had 24,500+ conference participants from 72 different countries attending over 1000 sessions with 2500+ speakers, across a total of five days.

Some of the major trend to emerge from the 2013 conference include –

Social data to improve retail experiences: data was the buzz word of the whole conference, but some of the most interesting applications were in the retail space. One session outlined a future where discounts, shop window displays and staff suggestions could all be customised based on the data available on your mobile phone. Via near field communication, your smart phone connected to a Facebook account and a payment platform such as PayPal could display a customised retail experience just for you. The potential is staff making suggestions based on your past purchases and digital tags that displayed a unique RRP based on how good a customer you are. A scenario was even given where music within the store could be tailored to the age and male/female mix of those within the retail at space at any given time.

The digitisation of traditionally non-digital things: Google Glass was the device everybody was hankering to get their hands on. Whilst there were no public announcements by Google at the event, Google Glass was mentioned in just about every session. Combined with the release of The Talking Shoe video, demonstrations of a beer vending machine that makes new beer recommendations based on your previous purchase history and talk of contact lenses that would allow others to see exactly what you are seeing, this is sure to be an exciting trend to keep watching.

Big data delivering real business goals: Combine the fact an android smart phone has 67 (60 for iOS) sensors built in with modern day prolific sharing on social media and you have a veritable feast of data that insights can be derived from. Best case examples of big data activation include Starbucks identifying potential business leaders by monitoring the quickness of progression between barista and store manager shared via Facebook and Starbucks, or pharma companies being able to better tailor membership fees based on exercise profiles shared by Nike FuelBand. Big data is already happening – what are you sharing that you aren’t even aware of?

These are only a few of the trends that have been cemented as ones to watch for 2013. As always, we will continue to investigate upcoming trends as well as emerging technologies across our different newsletters. Remember, if something takes your fancy comment below and we can delve deeper into the ideas and opportunities around it.

Online ads boost TV recall

In some of the newest research coming out in the field of online advertising has shown that, with a switch of 15% of their budget from TV to digital, advertisers can increase recall and effectiveness by up to 33%. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) commissioned Nielsen to research whether a mix of digital and TV assisted the advertising process.

The lynch pin behind this is the fact that the creative launched on a digital platform first. As mentioned, recall and went up 33% if the consumer had seen an online video of the same campaign, while that reduces to 25% if they have been exposed to a display ad instead.

In regards to reach, the research showed that using this combination of channels the brand reach increased from between 3.4% to 6.2%, above TV only. The categories in higher end of the reach category included technology, retail, and telecoms – possibly reflecting the tastes of the users who are more exposed to ads in the digital space.

"It's eye-opening to discover that viewers actually have an easier time naming the brand behind a TV commercial if they have had the opportunity to be introduced to the creative first on a digital screen," said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president of research, analytics and measurement at IAB.

The study also looked at ad receptivity and established that the average digital video viewer watches 87% of a video ad, with mid-roll ads having the highest completion rates.

What this means for us

In regards to us a business, this lends greater credence to a multi-channel plan, as well as indicating that a greater increase across the digital platform can reflect in brand and campaign awareness.

Again, the really interesting point is that this is reliant on launching in the digital space first, and not adapting TV into digital elements. 

The new frontier of bonus rewards

As companies fight to retain customers through loyalty programs and personal rewards, Coles Supermarkets have launched a new offensive through their Coles Express petrol stations and the Coles-branded ATMs.

Coles Express customers using its network of 600 ATMs will receive discounts on a range of products available at Coles supermarkets and Liquorland as the fuel and convenience retailer extends its voucher ATM promotion.

The trial, launched in January and featuring vouchers for discounts on beer, wine, mobile recharge, and iTunes gift cards, will now be a permanent fixture. 

New vouchers will offer customers deals such as 15 per cent off all fresh meat from the Coles meat department, $8 off a 6 pack of Heineken beer at Liquorland and $2.50 off Cool Ridge Water at Coles Express.  

This incentive is helping Coles to offer greater reasons for consumers to stay loyal to the brand in an ever fragmenting market. By successfully combining the ideas of grocery shopping and petrol (along with Woolworths), Coles are now adding in not only their ATM network, but their Liquorland brand as well.

When you add the Flybuys partnership into the mix, this holistic view of consumer rewards is definitely leading the way in the Australian marketplace.

ACCC to approve further media mergers?

This week it has come to light that ACCC chairman Rod Sims has flagged the watchdog will more likely wave media mergers through in the digital age, if the government proposal to ease media ownership restrictions comes through.

In a recent interview, Sims said he expected there will be a rush of proposed media mergers as a result of federal Minister Stephen Conroy's proposal to remove the 75% reach rule, which currently prohibits TV broadcasters to reach more than three-quarters of the population.

         

The absolute biggest beneficiary of this will be the proposal of the partnership between Nine Network and Southern Cross. Currently, WINNBN has a partnership with Nine to convey their program offering to Regional areas of Australia, though that deal is set to expire this year. Southern cross currently has regional deals in place with Network 10, as well as Network 7 in areas where Prime does not reach (Tasmania, Northern Territory).

Currently, media companies are forbidden to own more than two out of three media platforms defined as TV, newspapers and radio. However, new technologies may lead to a broader market definition, resulting in more and bigger mergers. The ACCC have mentioned that any merger proposals would be assessed on the present circumstances and not what the future might resemble.

Of course, the other major possible media merger to have grabbed headlines in the last few weeks was a potential play for Ten Network by News Limited, which we mentioned in the last update. While this is still being denied across all of the relevant partners, the thinking is that the merger would make good financial sense in creating another multi-platform offering for advertisers and brands.

What it means for us

This is something that should be monitored closely, as it could help signal a shift in buying strategy across advertisers. Should the Southern Cross and Nine deal become concrete, then the monetary shift of spend in the regional markets will change hugely. Currently, Southern Cross receives the lesser amount of spend from big advertisers due to their lower share of audience. With access to marquee programming such as The Voice and the different sport coverage from Channel Nine, audience share will increase and advertising share will increase. Should the deal appear as if it’s coming closer, we may be cognisant to increase our spend and cement our relationship with what could become a burgeoning power in regional television.