Nudie Jeans builds a community around upcycling and quality
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
On my recent tour of the Berlin retail scene (see for instance my other posts on New Era and Soho House) I discovered Nudie Jeans, a Swedish brand whose store is located on Münzstrasse, next to the Levis store. Today's…
2/3 of value lost in 18 months: future of Snapchat doesn’t look good
What is Snapchat' future? Will Snapchat still be alive in 5 years from now? In the light of the latest financial results investors can be doubtful. We predicted this downturn 3 years ago when most people were seeing Snapchat as…
What’s the marketing secret behind Frank Woolworth’s fortune?
The Woolworth building is one of New-York's most iconic buildings. Not only was it the tallest building of the world from 1913 until 1930, but it also conveys the history of a brand that has revolutionized retail before going bankrupt.…
Do you know your customers ? On the importance of data sovereignty
On the occasion of a recent keynite, I introduced the term of "data sovereignty" to justify the use of a single-sign-on system. In today's blog post I'd like to come back on my concept of "data sovereignty" and what it…
Ghost kitchens : the next disruption in the restaurant industry?
I recently reflected on Deliveroo's and Uber's ghost kitchens which have appeared in various cities (read here and there) of the US and in London (read this article in the Guardian). Those ghost kitchen make perfect economic sense : margins…
Market research : authentication on media website, a growing trend
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
As announced in an earlier article of this blog, I organized a 2-day conference on Single-Sign-On at RTBF (read more here). From a market research perspective this conference allowed participants to clearly understand that SSO was a growing trend among…
How Delhaize Urban Farm fits into their marketing strategy
Supermarkets Delhaize are known for a marketing strategy based on differentiation : premium products and a broader assortiment are part of Delhaize DNA. Delhaize has also invested for several years in its branding and has started positioning itself as a respectful brand.…
Digital innovation: does your market segment care ?
Tech-savvy entrepreneurs love to imagine solutions to digitalize our world and change consumers’ usages. Adoption is usually the problem that occurs. It’s therefore essential to ask you this question beforehand: “do your target customers care enough to change their habits”…
Mobile Me : your car has no secrets for Mercedes
Nowadays cars can be connected with your smartphone ; not only to make calls but also to control your car at distance. The Mercedes Me application enables the owner to monitor basic and more advanced functionalities of the vehicle through…
Service quality : the next retail challenge after Big Data
Algorithms have become instrumental in retailers' strategies to increase loyalty among customers. We don't know of any major retailer not having a Big Data team working on a.o. predicting churn, couponning, increasing loyalty, new segmentation, ... Yet, what we also…
Customers are the last hurdle to remove for a smoother supply-chain
The Nespresso Prodigio case shows that companies are trying to remove the last uncertainty factor to maximize loyalty. This factor is the customer himself. It’s not a bad idea indeed. Rather than building complex algorithms to predict customers’ behaviors, why…
Nespresso : the secret behind the new Prodigio connected machine
Nespresso just launched a new connected machine called “Prodigio”. This machine allegedly allows you to prepare a coffee with your smartphone and make sure you never run out of Nespresso capsules. This machine will however allow much more than that…
Are smart boxes the future of car insurance?
Telematic units, also called black or smart boxes, are devices installed in a car to monitor a driver’s behavior (speed, acceleration, deceleration, …). They are increasingly used by insurance companies to develop a pay-as-you-drive pricing. Such pricing may be especially…
Creative business cards : we are almost there
Last year I felt the need to have new business cards. From the very beginning I wanted to create creative business cards that people would remember. After searching the internet and in particular pinterest, I drafted a few concepts that…
Not sure SnapChat will become a profitable business
71% of snapchat users are under 25. In a world where businesses try to attract and touch youngsters, this is a very unique selling proposition. Despite a market capitalization of 16 to 19b$ doubts still exist about the business model…
How to drive Generations Y and Z back to traditional media
Traditional medias have a huge problem to get in touch with the Y and Z generations, which both have their own media consumption habits. A recent initiative launched by Egmont, a UK-based press house focusing on children, brings a possible…
TUZZit : 8 great online tools for your startup
Many would-be entrepreneurs we meet strive to either look for or even make up the visual and creative collaborative tools that will ease their team thinking process. This difficulty further increases when those teams are decentralized. Business model canvas, 5…
Fedex wants to take TNT over: will it happen or not?
In 2010 we predicted already that the market of courier delivery services would consolidate.Our prediction quickly turned true as UPS tried to take over TNT. This takeover was later rejected by the European commission, arguing that this would have restricted…
Marketing strategy: should banks charge customers more?
The boss of the National Bank of Belgium suggested that banks change their tariffs and charge customers for services like cash withdrawal, payments made by bank cards, yearly fees charged to have a bank account, … Is it a good…
iDTGVMax: What is the hidden agenda of the French railways?
The French railways company (SNCF : Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer) made the news this week when it announced the launch for an unlimited offer with its iDTGV. For 59.99€ per month, travelers would be allowed to take online…
Data Mining : a concrete example for SME’s
In 2015 one of the topics we would like to discuss more often on this blog is data mining. You have all heard about Big Data, data mining, business intelligence ; but what those terms really cover remains mysterious for…
Competition forces traditional taxis to change : finally !
The traditional press is full of articles regarding the legal procedures against Uber in Europe. In this judiciary fight, traditional taxis and VTC (Vehicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur) have joined forces to fight Uber’s aggressive strategy to enter the market…
Can a normal airline still compete with a low-cost pure player ?
After SN Brussels Airlines announcement to launch a low-cost alternative, Air France tried to do the same but the plan was stopped by 2 weeks of strike (which may have cost up to 300m€ according to newspapers). Yet what you…
Zalando : e-commerce giant recruits clients offline
How can you push your organic growth in e-commerce? That’s basically the problem that Zalando is facing. The e-commerce giant is still not profitable and believes that profitability will come with economies of scale, which can only be achieved through…
Marketing strategy : Hello Bank launches a pop-up store in Brussels
Pop-up stores belongs to the marketing toolbox as a promotion instrument. Fact is that they have been usually used by brands in the fashion sector to promote a collection, raise awareness in conjunction with another event (for instance the Fashion…
Quality improvement through reengineering of business processes
We are currently conducting a big assignment for a BEL20 company to improve financial provisions processes and increase operations quality. This assignment encompasses the description of AS-IS processes across several divisions, reengineering them into something “lean” and improving the quality…
Online gambling : how has the market evolved since the opening of the market to competition?
On May, 13th 2010 the law was passed to open the market of online gambling to competition. Two years after, how does the market look like? Prior to that date online gambling was forbidden in France and gamblers using Gilbratar-…
Pop-up stores: what do they reveal about the future of retail
I’ve received several interview requests during the summer to discuss the future of retail. In today’s article I want to share with you my thoughts about pop-up stores, a (relatively) new forms of retail that reflects changes in our world…
Marketing strategy : how Tic Tac uses downsizing to make you buy
Tic Tac is a brand of the Italian group Ferrero that has a been on the market for more than 40 years. Literally everyone knows the little transparent box containing a few dozens of hard mints. In its country of…
What does it cost to be a franchisee ?
The questions and myths around franchising are very present in the heads of entrepreneurs. Would-be entrepreneurs dream of creating a brand with the potential of launching a franchise, while others are interested in becoming franchisees. The question of the costs…
Innovations in the postal sector. Episode 3: new delivery options
Here is episode 3 already of our series on innovations launched by postal operators. You can access the first episodes of the series here (episode 1) The innovation we’ll be dealing with today is driven by societal and behavioral changes.…
Innovations in the postal sector. Episode 1: 3D printing
As announced in our post last week, time has come to give you a comprehensive view of innovations in the postal sector. Some innovative services may be known to you already (depeneding on where you live and how innovative your…
Innovations in the postal sector: business models revamped
The postal industry is unique. Its original business model is threatened and the industry is forced to reinvent itself. What can be observed there in terms of innovation is just unique. I met with Delphine Desgurse in Venice in late…
The right marketing strategy to sell products with a premium
While on business trip in Venice I stumbled upon wonderful postcards of Venetian monuments. I couldn’t resist the temptation and despite the price bought some to send to clients. Don’t shoot me dead … apparently such 3D pop-up cards have…
What is the value of a “Like” for your business strategy?
An article on the excellent consonaute blog recently made me (re)think about the role of social media in B2C and B2B businesses. In this post Bruno Fridlansky reflects about the value of a “like” on Facebook and of “favorite” on…
How and why data analysis can help increase your profitability and fuel your growth
We are currently doing several big data-based assignments for very various clients and we’d like to share with you common mistakes that are often made by companies when considering analyzing their data. Mistake #1: where is my data? First of…
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