market research in France: and what if you use ODIL?
If you are an entrepreneur, this article should be of interest to you. Today, we are offering you the opportunity to discover a tool that will allow you to carry out free market research in France. If ODIL (the name of the tool) will not allow you to carry out the entirety of your market research, it will nevertheless let you get started and will provide you with the first essential data to understand the characteristics of the...
FMCG: consumers’ purchase behaviors are increasingly different
In our last article, we showed how new tools, based on “data”, allow large FMCG groups to keep up with market developments and consumer expectations. In today’s article, we reveal the effects of the evolution of the FMCG (“Fast-Moving Consumer Goods”) market on consumers’ purchasing habits. A recent study (August 2019) by the University of Chicago unveils an unexpected phenomenon: the rise of niche...
Pagani’s attention to details creates a unique customer experience
Last month I had the chance to visit the Pagani car factory in San Cesario Sul Panaro near Modena. In the heart of the Italian “Motor Valley”, Pagani has been producing coveted hyper-cars all over the world for almost 30 years at a rate of 40 units per year. The base price of the latest model: €2.2m (excluding VAT and excluding options). Horacio Pagani, the creator of the eponymous brand, has developed a company of 150...
Where can I find the statistical data for my market research?
Where can I find data and in particular the statistics for market research? This is a question that many people ask themselves when they begin their research, especially when the budget is tight, and they are looking to conduct market research for free. Because having a method is not enough, it is also necessary to have data to use. However, at the beginning of the market research (desk research), it is essential to have reliable data...
10 mistakes to avoid when drafting a quantitative questionnaire
Writing a quantitative questionnaire, doing an online survey; all this has become very simple in the age of the Internet. Too simple, no doubt, because errors appear at the very moment of writing the quantitative questionnaire. Read also: Creating a questionnaire for quantitative market research We have listed for you the 10 mistakes that you should avoid when writing the questions of a quantitative questionnaire Using complicated...
How to do market research for free?
To do market research for free, don’t limit yourself to an online survey. Combine different market research techniques in this sequence: Carry out desk research to get a first view of the market dynamics. Use free resources, such as professional reports and scientific publications. Complete the PESTEL analysis. Use the information from the desk research and complete it with official statistics, also free of charge. Carry out...
Gmail: a friend who wishes you well (but who will not let you go)
Gmail has just launched a new feature: dynamic emails. This new feature, described in a Google blog post, introduces a subtle innovation that contributes a little more to the creation of an ecosystem from which we cannot leave. Under the guise of improving the Google user experience and its multiple subsidiaries seek to keep users captive at all costs. Explanations in today’s article and feedback on the featured snippets...
Market research : how to study your market when going abroad?
I was pleased to be invited by Hub.Brussels on 14 June 2019 to give a workshop on how to do a market research for export. The workshop was part of the export week 2019 that was jointly organized by BECI and Hub.Brussels. 3 essential techniques to carry a market research when going abroad Based on the B2C guide to market research and B2B guide to market research we published earlier this year, I presented the 3 essential steps of a...
Market Research: how much does it cost?
Here is a question we are always asked: “How much does market research cost?“. And our answer is always the same: “The cost of any market research is the same as the price of a car. It can be a small city car or a Rolls-Royce, a second-hand car or a new one. It is up to you to decide”. That answer is not very satisfactory, is it? It is obvious that this is a tailor-made exercise and that the customer’s...
Market research: the evolution of credit card ownership in Europe
If you need to realise market research in the financial sector or on more generally on a B2C market, the data below may be of some help. I compiled data on credit card ownership in Europe to better understand the dynamics of this market and complement the article I wrote on payment methods used in Germany (by the way, did you know that for the first time Germans have not been using cash predominantly for their purchases in 2018: it...
Customer satisfaction: can it be measured based on facial emotions?
During a recent programme on a French television channel (BFMTV), Paul Hermelin, the big boss of Cap Gemini, described the fantastic current technologies that were impacting his group and mentioned a project that surprised me. With the help of Cap Gemini, a cruise-ship operator has allegedly set up a facial recognition system to measure the emotions of its customers on board the ship(s), to be able to determine their customers’...
Net Promoter Score (NPS) : to include in all satisfaction surveys or not?
How to design a customer satisfaction survey? An in particular, should a NPS (Net Promoter Score) question always be included in a satisfaction survey? While we at IntoTheMinds highly recommend to do so, I had to to re-think my position last week when I saw a post on Linkedin that argued a NPS question in a Microsoft satisfaction survey was nonsense because people don’t actually speak or recommend operating systems. Let’s...
The secrets of market research: how to avoid pitfalls when creating a new venture. Part 1
Introduction to market research Our aim with this series of articles on market research is NOT to deal with all the little details. There are very good books if you want to deepen your knowledge. Our aim however is to give you a complete overview of why you should perform a market research (also called “market study”) and what are the different steps to carry it out. We want to give you some tips, hints and a few secrets to help...
Les secrets de la réalisation d’une étude de marché ou comment garantir le succès de votre (future) entreprise : Partie 2
Réalisez votre étude de marché grâce à des techniques de pros ! Cet article vous est proposé par le bureau d’études de marché IntoTheMinds. Retrouvez ici l’épisode 1 et l’épisode 3. Si vous avez des questions n’hésitez pas à nous contacter. N’oubliez pas de consulter notre guide online pour la réalisation de votre étude de marché. Il est gratuit et nous y avons condensé un maximum de connaissances sur le...
The secrets of market research: how to avoid pitfalls when creating a new venture. Part 3
We are concluding today our series of three articles dedicated to market research. In our first article we dealt with the very methodology to apply when doing a market research and covered the two first important steps : the trends’ analysis and the competition analysis. In our second article we went in depth about qualitative research and explained the differences that exist with quantitative analysis. It’s time today to...
Market research: changes for consultancy subsidies in Brussels
The rules concerning the consultancy subsidies (which apply to market research projects) have just changed substantially for the Brussels region (see here the official website in French or in Dutch). On 31 January 2019, a new regional decree was passed which, although it does not really modify the conditions of attribution, dramatically affects the amount of the subsidies to the consultancy up to then granted. Three significant...
Customer experience: This Lisbon store uses a magical recipe to make you buy
Rarely have I seen a store that used marketing so efficiently to unconciously make people buy. “O Mundo Fantastico Da Sardinha Portuguesa” is a a store located on Praça Rossio (Rossio square) in Lisbon which seels sardines in box. Boxes are colorful, bear the mention of a year and a few facts about that year. Different colors are associated to different decades. O Mundo Fantastico Da Sardinha Portuguesa uses several...
World Packaging Organisation: our eye on the Awards
The well-known World Packaging Organisation (WPO) will announce the winners of the World-Star Packaging Awards 2019 next month, on the 15th of May. Considering the role of packaging on purchase decisions, we have chosen some of the finalists and analysed their packaging for you. Country Designer / Manufacturer Product Originality Packaging trend 1. Finland Jospak Oy Food trays 100% recyclable and customisable Eco-friendly...
SEO 2019: A look at the fundamentals
Having recently attended a conference focusing on SEO, I thought it very appropriate to share with you the lessons to be learned for 2019. This article will detail the points raised by the various speakers who shared their knowledge of natural referencing. Summary Know and optimise your website The link Between SEO and Content Marketing In brief, the essential points of a good SEO for 2019 Know and optimise your website Before...
Ryanair: can provocation pay on the long-term?
It has been a long time (3 years to be exact) since I had travelled on Ryanair. Not having been particularly attracted by the customer experience I have avoided this company as much as possible, but last weekend it was the only one serving the city I had to go to. Departure on time; arrival on time; the contract was filled with all the inconveniences we know and to which I will not return. However, that is not the purpose of this...
Audi e-tron : a track to test it at Munich airport
The new Audi e-tron is the first 100% electric SUV of the Ingolstadt-based brand. It’s quite unique and competes head-to-head with the new Jaguar i-Pace (which just got the prize of Car of the Year 2019). Audi promoted its new vehicle in a very clever and spectacular way at the Munich airport. While on business trip in Bavaria I was pleased to discover a temporary installation outside the airport terminal. Audi had installed a...
Delhaize Fresh Atelier: analysis of a retail concept and new openings
In November 2018, the Ravenstein Gallery, near Brussels Central Station, saw the emergence of the new retail concept of Delhaize, the Belgian mass retail company belonging to the Ahold group, called “Fresh Atelier”. The city of Louvain (Leuven) has also hosted a Fresh Atelier in the Diestsestraat since December 2018. This new store concept aims to refocus on consumers’ expectations, both in terms of their consumption...
Tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, an outstanding artist and a marketing genius
Karl Lagerfeld is no longer with us. A fashion genius, he was also an extraordinary multi-talented and accomplished artist whose many facets were reflected in his artistic practices. The first paradox for this man who did not claim to be an artist for Chanel and who reiterated that the preservation of the “artistic” director in his role depended on the number of bags sold. A way of reminding us that it is above all...
Interactive showcases: the innovative tool that retailers have always dreamed of?
The creation of attractive storefronts is an integral part of the marketing plan in the retail sector. In the digital age, retailers are moving towards interactive displays. Storefronts that adapt to their environment and create interaction with this environment while keeping essential functions such as displaying the brand’s new products, promoting ongoing discounts, and much more. In this article, we will review the status of...
Online questionnaires in market research: beware of convenience samples
We have recently devoted an article to the mistakes that should not be made when carrying out online market research (what is commonly called an online “survey”). One of these errors was the use of a convenience sample. In today’s article, we return to this term and explore the subject further to enable you to achieve more reliable results when conducting your market research. Convenience sample Rented panel...
Customer satisfaction : Bpost Bank makes basic marketing mistakes
Admittedly, interest rates are at their lowest. Certainly, the savings of Belgians have never been so high. Indeed, the banking sector is under pressure. And yes, bpost is not doing well. But is it really enough to explain that Bpost Bank, the Belgian postal bank 50% owned by Bpost and 50% owned by BNP Paribas, is making such gross marketing errors by unilaterally and in the shadows deciding to make its customers pay their cash...
Facebook’s hidden strategy to increase your addiction
As part of my good resolutions for 2019 I decided to further reduce my use of social networks which take my precious time away. Banning Facebook during the month of January was my first step to achieve my objectives. To resist the temptation I logged out from all my devices to make it more difficult to access Facebook. In 2018 I also drastically reduced the number of notifications to avoid those temptations. It seems however that...
10 mistakes to avoid in your online survey
An online survey is an essential part of any proper market research. While it has become much easier thanks to the Internet to carry out a quantitative survey than it was 20 years ago (the blessed time of paper questionnaires!), the fact remains that preparing a good questionnaire cannot be improvised. This is not an exercise that can be done on a corner of the table. In today’s article, we have compiled a list of 10 mistakes...
What are the differences between B2B market research and B2C market research
We have just devoted two very detailed articles to B2C market research (see here) and B2B market research (see here). Aware that all the information will probably be confusing to assimilate all at once, we have prepared a concise overview table that presents the methodological differences between these two types of market research. Read also: Read our white paper on market research This table shows two kinds of information: You will,...
How to conduct B2B market research?
B2B market research (one of our specialities) has some notable features when compared to B2C market research (see the full article we have devoted to B2C here). As the targets are not the same (B2B companies, B2C end consumers), adaptations (strategy, marketing, and so on) must be made to take these differences into account. In this section, we invite you to explore these differences with you, which will then lead us to propose market...
How to do market research in a B2C setting?
The purpose of this article is to present the ins and outs of B2C market research with a particular focus on the methods used and the difficulties expected. While in our online market research guide, we have discussed all the techniques and tools available to carry out ideal market research, today we will modestly try to focus on a series of the minimum steps to be undertaken by would-be entrepreneurs, startups and more generally all...
Here are the 4 reasons why innovations in the food sector fail
One of the conclusions from my SIAL 2016 report was that many innovations were launched without having the consumer in mind and without market research. Those innovative products were doomed to fail and 80% weren’t actually theree anymore 12 months after they had been launched. For most of them no market research had been carried out. I’ve carried out dozens of interviews at SIAL 2018 to confirm this hypothesis....
Media Fast Forward: conference on news and algorithms
Participating at conferences has the positive aspect that you force your capacity to be astonished, you confront new subjects and meet new people. The “Media Fast Forward” event organised on 14 December 2018 by the VRT (the Belgian Dutch-speaking public radio and television) is a striking melting pot of the best in innovation and research in the media sector. In addition to the many conferences that were organised in...
This Delhaize supermarket has been turned into an Urban Art temple
What can be done with an abandoned supermarket? A temple of urban art? In any case, this is what Alexandra Lambert and Fred Atax of the Strokar association, who initiated the artistic project around a former supermarket in Brussels, asked each other. And the very least we can say is that this has been a success. Follow us today on a tour of this unique project and read this article right to the end to find out the latest on the legal...
Market research at SIAL Paris 2018 : examples of co-branding in the food sector
In addition to the new products we detected at the SIAL 2018 food show, we also identified some original collaborations between different brands. This is called co-branding. In this article, we briefly present 3 interesting examples that make a standard product a collector’s item, or even a luxury item. Olive oils are particularly suitable for this kind of exercise as we can see with the example of Galateo & Friends. Galateo...
Practical guide for visiting SIAL Paris food fair: 12 Do’s and Don’ts
SIAL is a the world’s largest food and drink professional fair. It attracts more than 7000 exhibitors from over 100 countries every 2 years in Paris. It takes place at the “Parc des Expositions”, outside of Paris and next to the Roissy Charles de Gaule airport. Making the best of your visit to a fair like this requires careful preparation. Follow our advice (we’ve been attending SIAL for 10 years) to optimize...
