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.
Some innovating ideas around customer satisfaction and loyalty
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I recently attended an internal BPost event where externals speakers went to give a speech and inspire the audience. This event had been organized at the initiative of BPost COO Peter Somers and it was a great opportunity to better…
Do High-Tech startups deserve so much support? What about Low-Tech firms?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Hi-tech startups receive a great deal of attention in the press and from official authorities; they are sexy, make cool products, are usually launched by talented young guys with excellent engineering / business degrees. The purpose of my post today…
Innovation in the postal industry : the self-service trend
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
We reported that the postal industry, not see by many as one of the most innovative sector, is actually trying new ways to better fit into consumers’ behaviors. Two recent Esmerk press releases confirm that the self-service trend is extending…
BSE Academy: first prize awarded to bugs’ food project
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The first prize of the BSE Academy was awarded on 12 June to Brecht Vanhecke and Jasper Peeters for their novel food project. Brecht and Jasper’s project revolves around insects and aims at transforming them into food that can be…
Mono-product marketing strategies: the exemple of l’Atelier de l’Eclair
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
There is no such difficult thing than to start a successful business with only one product. Yet, we have noticed recent initiatives in the retail sector of innovative mono-product marketing strategies. We visited last month “L’Atelier de l’éclair” in Paris,…
Avoid biased results when measuring customer satisfaction
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Measuring satisfaction of clients is a widespread practice among large companies as we showed in an earlier post. A new practice is however to link employees’ salaries to customer satisfaction scores. We’ve had the opportunity to witness this practice in…
Will Boco revamp the food-served-over-the-counter sector?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
BOCO is one food-served-over-the-counter concept that is currently attracting a lot of attention in Paris. Launched by the Ferniot brothers (Simon is a business guy who has sold his latest food complement company; Vincent is a well-known journalist and TV…
How to decide on the location of a store when doing market research
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Location is a key criteria to study within market research. The HORECA sector (HOtels-REstaurants-Coffee shops) has paid a heavy tribute to the crisis. Official sources announced in April that 1945 companies in this sector had filed for bankruptcy in 2012…
How to use customers’ habits to increase customer loyalty
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Customer satisfaction is now subject to controversy as far as its effect on customer loyalty is concerned. As we recalled in a presentation on loyalty strategies, customer satisfaction accounts for a maximum of 10% in customer retention. What this means…
Abercrombie & Fitch accused to sell only to thin people: good or bad marketing strategy?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The press covered extensively the charges against Abercrombie & Fitch to sell only "small" sizes to avoid getting obese clients among its customers. The famous American brand has recently opened a store in Brussels, which has reinforced the local impact…
What you should know about (online) surveys and market research
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
There is one key message that we repeat again and again to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs when we coach them: sending an online survey is not doing market research. Market research is far more than that. Yet, this message seems…
“42” School: why Xavier Niel’s initiative may fail
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Non-French people are likely not to know Xavier Niel. He is however a famous tech entrepreneur, a billionaire and the CEO of Free, the telecom company that has been shaking the grounds of telecom competition landscape for years. Xavier Niel…
Merci : the recipe for a concept store that attracts millions of visitors
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The Merci concept store, located in Paris, has been a pioneer in responsible retail since 2009. This article explores its unique model, the challenges it faces in 2025, and the lessons to be learned from its approach.
50% of companies do not apologise when they respond to a complaint
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Research conducted on 226 companies showed that 50% did not apologize when dealing with a customer complaint. This is the opposite of good customer satisfaction practice.
Is the future of online pure players in brick-and-mortar shops?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The question may seem provocative but the reign of pure online strategies may slowly come to an end. Consider the following 53% of all EU retailers are selling through the internet In Ireland, Denmark and the UK, between 88% and…
4 advices to remember when measuring customer satisfaction
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The Heathrow airport has installed devices to measure satisfaction after the security checks. Yet, we think did not get customer satisfaction right. The biggest mistake they did was to put the device too far away from the lane, making it…
Create a discipline to become more creative
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Sharing thoughts with our clients Nicolas and Christophe the other day, we discussed the very interesting topic of how to find time, as an entrepreneur, to be creative. We had invited Christophe and Nicolas offsite for a Design Thinking session…
Lessons learned on a Design Thinking session: DO’s and DON’T’s
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I’m just back from a Design Thinking workshop we organized in Bordeaux (France) for a e-commerce project. The least I can say is it was successful and extremely enriching. We had invited a group of people from different horizons representing…
Have supermarkets signed their own death warrant ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The latest stats show that prepared shopping carts tend to help supermarkets sustain their growth. Whereas in France supermarkets (-0.2%), hard discount (-0.4%) and small urban stores (-0.2%) all lost market shares, “drives” gained 1% on the same period. It’s…
Visit at Stella Cadente shop: well worth a design award
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Stella Cadente proves it’s possible to obtain outstanding results with (relatively) little money. We visited their unique store in Paris (opened in April 2012 on 102 Boulevard Beaumarchais) and although it’s relatively small (<50m²) it offers a wonderful experience. We…
One Day One Idea : Aesop’s technique to get customers in the store
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
On our latest trip to Paris, after we interviewed Merci’s managing director Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria, we went for a tour in Paris’ trendy area “Le Marais”. One of the stores that caught our attention was Aesop in Rue Vieille du…
3 steps to align your online and offline experience with your global brand positioning
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Brands sometimes take advantage of their positioning to launch some funny initiatives and propose a funny communication. Yet, when the positioning doesn’t match the communication, it can backfire (remember for instance the example of this bank that we gave a…
What does branding mean? The example of Miss Vicky Wine
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Anne-Victoire Monrozier has an interesting entrepreneurial story to tell. Despite having little experience in the wine industry, she built a new wine brand from scratch. How did she succeed and is it really a wine brand? This is what we…
Consultants, learn how to be flexible!
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Flexibility and goodwill are of the essence when you are an entrepreneur and when you work with entrepreneurs. Being in the 2 categories, I pay great attention to those qualities when I meet a candidate for a job at Intotheminds.…
