Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #2: Easy Snacking
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Pleasure remains one of the significant areas of innovation in the field of food and the SIAL Paris 2018 world food exhibition allowed us to identify some exciting products that are following this trend. To understand all the market trends,…
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #1: Super Food
Our market research on the food market conducted at SIAL Paris 2018 has enabled us to identify some key trends that we will share with you in a series of articles on this blog. If you would like more information…
SIAL Paris 2018: What are the trends in the food market?
SIAL Paris, the leading trade fair for innovation in the food sector, takes place every 2 years in the Exhibition Centre, Villepinte, in the north of Paris. It is generally said that 3000 new products are presented during the 5…
SIAL, the world’s largest food innovation fair, opens its door in Paris
Like every 2 years, time has come to spend a few days in Paris to research the latest trends in the food and drink industry. There is no better place to do it than to visit the SIAL, the worldwide…
GDPR : don’t be afraid. Nothing will change.
I was hoping something would change with the introduction of GDPR on May 25th. I was certainly not expecting that consumers would send a lot of requests to companies but I was hoping, at least, that bad practices would decrease…
Artificial intelligence enhances borders safety
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
This is one of the most useful artificial intelligence (AI) application I've seen in a while: a virtual border agent that screens passengers at the border and uses facial recognition and other technologies to detect and predict whether passengers are…
We live in a technocracy : technology is driving behaviours and law
The inaugural 2018 FAT conference was opened in New-York by one of the most influential academic researchers on privacy and computer science : Latanya Sweeney. In her keynote Sweeney showed how technology is driving behaviors and new laws. Here's what…
The food industry: why 80% of new products fail
This article draws on 20 years of observation of the food industry. And identifies the 4 main reasons why 80% of products launched in the food industry fail.
Market analysis: what’s the future of supermarkets ?
How will supermarkets look like in 10 year from now ? Will employees be replaced by robots or won't there just be any employees left ? While points of sales are more and more resembling an extension of online businesses…
The next hand-written you’ll get may have been produced by those robots
Is there anything better for customer satisfaction than getting a personal hand-written note? The pleasure of getting one will soon fade away once the secret to thousands of mass produced hand-written notes gets revealed. Why do personal hand-written notes so…
Social networks destroy society: what should be done?
Social networks are being accused by their own creators to destroy society and to tear human beings apart (read the interview of Chamath Palihapitya who is a former Facebook VP). At the same time movements like Time Well Spent emerged to…
The 3 benefits of the new “Tap To Go” Ahold no-checkout supermarket
Since Amazon has launched its no-checkout Amazon Go store (see our article here), other retailers are keen on experimenting the same type of innovation. Ahold Delhaize is currently testing its "tap to go" system in a "Albert Heijn To Go"…
Retail innovation: smart shelves enable dynamic pricing
The biggest retail show on earth just opened its doors in New York. The NRF 2018 is the ideal place to observe market trends in the retail sector (professional shows in general are very good places to start market research:…
Market research : how to study reactions to autonomous vehicles
This is one of the most difficult type of projet market research professionals may face: investigate consumers' behaviors in a situation that doesn't exist yet. In such situations ethnography (a qualitative market research technique) may be the right methodology to go for.…
Is IoT a modern form of imprisonment ?
In his book "Surveiller et Punir" ("Discipline and punish" in English) Michel Foucault shows the evolution of the justice system, from one that punishes the body (including painful death sentences or mutilation) to one that punishes the individual by restraining…
Opaque 3rd-party algorithms : a business opportunity
For some businesses algorithms have become instrumental to their strategy as a whole and their marketing strategy in particular. These algorithms are a well-kept secret and businesses have emerged that sell their knowledge on the inner working of those algorithms.…
Walmart wants to deliver you IN your home
It should be always easier for people to order online, and in particular the delivery should be a smooth experience. Market researches show that delivery is actually a real pain point and the source of many complaints (delivery times longer…
An interesting example of nudge applied to public safety in Ísafjörður, Iceland
I've developed an interest for the study of nudges after reading the book by Dan Ariely. Nudges can be considered a sub-discipline of behavioral economics (founded by George Lowenstein). To define a "nudge" using my own words, I'd say it's…
Market research : hot technological trends for future TV experience
The IBC fair in Amsterdam drives a lot of smart minds together. A lot of market research firms are present to discuss market trends and evolution. This year a debate ("Hot or not: What are the hottest new TV technologies and…
Dynamic pricing : natural marketing evolution or threat ?
In a recent article the Guardian recalled the story of John Wanamaker who revolutionized retail by inventing "fixed prices". As incredible as it may seem, until 1861 prices were set according to the rule of thumb and the perception left…
How Big Data will influence the future of advertising
"What is the impact of Big Data on online advertising" is the question I was asked to answer on the occasion of an EGTA (European Group of Television Advertising) workshop that took place on 29 and 30 June 2017 in…
The right to failure doesn’t exist with artificial intelligence. This is terrible.
Artificial intelligence, algorithms based on machine learning, have turned our lives into one of efficiency where failure doesn't exist anymore. For algorithms an error doesn't exist ; it's just a prediction that hasn't worked because of missing data points. This…
Big Data and Ethics : first sucessful meetup at DigitYser in Brussels
On 15 June 2017 my friend Philippe Van Impe gave me the opportunity to organize the first meetup in his newly opened Big Data temple in Brussels : DigitYser. And what a success ! The topic of this first Meetup…
GDPR : what does data portability really mean ?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforces the concept of data portability. What it means remains however opaque for most of us as the concept behind data portability can't be easily applied and doesn't really correspond to any expressed or…
New Twitter conditions give you a glimpse into how and which personal data collected
On 20 May 2017 Twitter sent an email to its users announcing that new terms and conditions apply. These changes largely apply to data usage, personalization and targeted advertising. One can't really say it's a revolution, but at least it's…
Personalized car insurance has unexpected effects on customers behaviors
A recent article in a French magazine sheds light on progresses made by insurance company Allianz in the field of personalized car insurance. Like many other firms in the field, Allianz believes in the usefulness of telematic units (black boxes)…
Youtube recommendations : user experience and algorithmes better than ever
If you are addicated to YouTube, chances are high their recommendation systems play an important role in your addiction. Our deep interest in recommendation engines and algorithms makes us naturally gravitate towards the YouTube app to assess their latest developments.…
Interview of Edward Vizard on implementing Pay-What-You-Want at Garçonne & Chérubin
A few weeks ago we discussed an interesting, yet rather unusual, pricing scheme in the retail sector applied by e-merchant Garçonne & Cherubin : the Pay-What-You-Want system. We discuss today the experience of Edward Vizard, founder of Garçonne & Chérubin, on this…
Ford builds trust and satisfaction with the Ford video check
Ford is currently rolling out a new digital tool that will help build trust and enhance customer satisfaction : the Ford video check. We tested it and it's just amazing. Read further to see how Ford is transforming the car…
Education : machine learning for better learning
Among the really exciting application of machine learning, there is one that fascinates me : machine learning in the classroom. Recently some very exciting applications have been described to use algorithms to enhance the quality of education and make children…
Virtual Reality : Interview of ArtMyn founder, Loic Baboulaz
After a visit at EPFL in Lausanne we discovered the work of ArtMyn, a startup specialising in Virtual Reality applied to Art. We interwied its founder, Loïc Baboulaz, to understand the genesis of ArtMyn and the evolution of the virtual…
Recommendation algorithms : the myth of filter bubbles at stake
We've already discussed filter bubbles on this blog, a rather technical term that describes the negative effet of algorithms on our digital life. For more information read this thorough article. Whether or not filter bubbles really exist is still debated…
Artificial intelligence: are algorithms biased by nature ?
I attended a workshop at the Maastricht European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity where I met Prof. Alessandro Mantelero of Polytecnico di Torino. Prof. Mantelero is well known as a specialist in the protection of personal data, which has become…
I finally found a useful Virtual Reality (VR) application
I have often been disappointed by Virtual Reality (VR) applications. Like IoT (Internet of Things) most VR applications add no or little value for the user. There is an entertainment effect but it's far from sufficient to make you a…
When will the IoT market eventually crash ?
I attended the first day of Unconvention in Brussels in January and what I saw and heard made me reflect on the value of innovation. During the first set of presentation, a speaker explained the current state of an IoT…
Measuring emotions for a better customer experience management
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…
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