Market research news
The blog of the market research agency IntoTheminds lists opinionated articles, examples of alignment with marketing theory, highlights and bad buzz, carefully selected by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, his team and influential experts.
Can Big Data become a technique to promote transparency and equity
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
On this blog I often took a pessimistic look at Big Data, asking for a revolution in how firms build and use their algorithms. I called for instance for opening up the models behind recommendation algorithms and wondered whether our…
Measuring emotions for a better customer experience management
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Can we measure customer experience ? This is a topic we already discussed here and the answer was no. Let me come with a new proposal that was addressed by Sensum during the CPDP 2017 conference : can our body…
How data vulnerability affects firms’ performance and how to remedy it
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Everyone talks about privacy. But what is it really ? A recent article in French economical journal "La Tribune" built upon two recent BCG reports (here and there) on data protection and privacy to question firms' practices around data privacy…
Academic research debunks the myth of filter bubbles
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The interest for the "Filter Bubble" phenomenon reached an all-time high after 2016 US presidential elections (see our article). The existence of filter bubble was hypothesized by Eli Pariser in 2011, yet it remains at the center of debate on…
How US elections shed light on the filter bubble phenomenon
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Just do a Google search on "Filter bubble" and you'll be surprized of the many results returned. The recent US presidential elections have shed light on this phenomenon first hypothetized by Eli Pariser in 2011, and subject to much debate…
Nissan Electric Café : a popup store where you pay with energy instead of money
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Nissan opened an original popup café to promote XStorage, a product made from recycled Nissan Leaf batteries that aims at storing energy for home usage. Under the hashtag #ElectrifyTheWorld Nissan tries to start the dialogue with citizens on alternative ways…
Market research : how news consumption is evolving
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
You know we love market research and in this article we'd like to discuss and comment the latest results published by Reuters in their worldwide market research on news consumption and mix them with some EBU media intelligence reports to…
Customer experience better than customer satisfaction to predict loyalty
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
We discussed recently the links between customer satisfaction, loyalty and customer experience. One of the conclusions was that, as of today, no reliable scale exists to measure customer experience. This doesn't mean however that nothing has been done on this…
Will Snap Spectacles glasses revive the augmented reality trend?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
My brain suddenly made connections between two completely unrelated events : a market research report issued by App Annie, and an announcement by GetNarrative. App Annie predicted that connected glasses will be on the rise in 2017 and GetNarrative announced…
Customer satisfaction, customer experience and big data
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Improving customer experience is priority #1 of top executives for the next 12 months (Lemon and Verhoef 2016). At the same time Big Data is on every serious company's agenda. How can Big Data contribute to creating a customer experience…
What are the latest conclusions of academics on customer satisfaction and customer experience ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In the Journal of Marketing special issue " Mapping the Boundaries of Marketing: What Needs to Be Known", Lemon & Verhoef (2016) deliver 5 very useful conclusions on the state of customer experience and satisfaction research. These 5 conclusions, taken…
The role of Big Data on society : EBU conference
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
With fellow colleagues of EBU, I organized last week a conference entitled "Big Data and Society"at RTBF, the French-speaking public broadcasting organization of Belgium. As I wrote on EBU website, this event aimed at gathering together professionals from the broadcasting industry…
A roll to spread chocolate : really a good idea?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
One at food fair SIAL 2016 featured inovations was a "choco roll". this product had been selected for its innovative packaging. In light of the debate on the failure rate of innovations in the food sector, we paid a visit…
How novelty and serendipity improve customer satisfaction
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Product recommendations have enabled E-commerce websites to become a place where mass marketing converges with niche marketing. Recommendations are pivotal in enabling less popular products to be discovered by people who are the most likely to like them : this…
Dove opens first popup store in Paris : it’s superb
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Dove opened in Paris its first ever popup store on 9 November 2016 in the Saint-Lazare neighborhood (105 rue Saint-Lazare) and the least we can say is that it was impressive. Unlike other popup stores, this one is just massive…
Are we living in the matrix ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Are we already living in the matrix ? That question may seem odd to most of you. Not to some unidentified silicon valley billionaires who are secretly funding scientists to find a way to escape the matrix. I've been thinking…
Vitality offers Apple watch to monitor your activity : one more insurance into big (health) data
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
A few weeks ago we were discussing on this blog the trend of the insurance market to collect very intrusive data. I had the opportunity to raise my concerns at several conferences and got the impression that people were not…
Thierry Mugler popup store creates sensory customer experience
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Thierry Mugler opened à popup store for a very short period of time to promote his new perfume #HateToLove. This ephemeral retail space was located 14 rue de Turenne in Paris. Despite the limited space available, Mugler managed to create…
Digitalization : why I will not use my insurance mobile application
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Digitalization in the banking and insurance sectors has led to massive job cuts. In this article I discussed this trend in the banking sector and I debated on TV of this trend in the insurance sector (see here, in French).…
Artificial Intelligence : why we need respectful algorithms
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Developments of artificial intelligence are a source of concern for several reasons. First of all AI threatens jobs, privacy and our perceived freedom. Second, 99,99% of the population doesn't really understand what AI is and where it originates. In today's…
Big Data : 4 types of filter bubbles
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The question of the existence of filter bubbles (also called cognitive bubbles) is central to the fields of Big Data and algorithm design. Among different books, I was very much influenced by the Dominique Cardon's book on algorithms and society.…
Re-Belle jams : an ethical project against food waste
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Here is a very nice project we discovered at SIAL 2016 : jams made from fruits and vegatables that were removed from the shelves and that should have thrown into the bin. It can be seen as the extension of…
Food and drink innovation: what are the success factors?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
020At the food fair SIAL 2016 more than 2000 innovative products were presented. In other words some 10% of the world's yearly food innovation was concentrated in one place during one week. Amazing opportunity for a market researcher like me.…
Retail innovation : visit of Paulig Kulma coffee store in Helsinki
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
We just visited Kulma, the newest concept store of Finland-based coffee brand Paulig and it's an amazing place. This experiental store, combining a roastery, a bar, a coffee store, a barista insititude opened at the end of summer 2016 on…
