War in Ukraine and energy crisis: companies remain confident
IntoTheMinds realized a survey of 472 company executives to measure their perceptions of the impact of the war in Ukraine on their business. Through this research, we sought to understand whether the tense geopolitical situation affected their morale and impacted their employment and investment decisions. The results are surprising in more than one way, as they show tremendous psychological resilience and positive expectations for the evolution in 12 months. We highlight differences in perception between SMEs and large companies and between men and...
Cryptocurrencies: What is the profile of investors? [Research]
What is the profile of people who invest in cryptocurrencies? Since the Covid crisis, cryptos have held a special place in the minds of investors. Many enthusiasts wanted to seize the opportunity for easy gains and jumped into bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptos. In this article, we detail the results of research that was realized in the United States. To complete it, we have asked the opinion of several specialists whose testimonies you will find at the...
Covid: Entrepreneurs are less prepared but more confident
Statistics on business creation in Europe show that the Covid crisis has not discouraged entrepreneurs from starting up. A survey conducted on 825 business creators shows that their confidence is at its highest. However, they are less experienced, make less use of external support and abandon public financing. This extensive research also allows us to appreciate other changes that have occurred since March 2020, such as replacing public funding with private aid. This first article provides detailed results...
Market research in Belgium: the 10 best data sources
Last week we delivered our Top 10 in France. This week, find the 10 data sources to consult for your market research in Belgium. These sources will be useful to you, whether you are a newcomer to the market, a young entrepreneur or you want to expand your field of activity. A checklist is also provided at the end of this article. Summary Official national statistics Companies financial data Consumer protection Customs and border protection Sector...
Electric vehicles: market, sales, COVID-19
Automobile manufacturers are moving towards the production of electric vehicles, which are increasingly gaining market share. Against the Chinese and American giants (to name only Tesla), how is the European car industry reacting? In this article, we detail the European market, the restraints on the growth of electric vehicle sales and, above all, the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and marketing advice Email address * Subscribe By signing up, you...
[Podcast] Philippe Rhéau, the Best Craftsman of France … in Belgium
Philippe Rhéau is Best Craftsman of France, at the head of a pastry shop … in Belgium. He is a character who makes an impression. Tall, strong, imposing, he has his passion for pastry pegged to his heart. Quiet, his interview was not the easiest to do. But as the minutes went by, we discovered a real entrepreneur and a lucid manager. He is also a man steeped in values, convictions, love of work and customer satisfaction. He is also a...
[Podcast] Jérôme Grimonpon entrepreneurial career path, chocolate maker of the year 2020
Jérôme Grimonpon was elected Chocolatier of the Year 2020 by the Gault&Millau guide. It is a very endearing, humble personality that I had the opportunity to interview in this podcast. Together we look back at his career as an entrepreneur and the recipes he has put in place to maintain his enthusiasm and develop his business. A belated entrepreneur Jérôme Grimonpon is French. He was trained to work with chocolate in Belgium, but he only started...
Where is the NERF coming from and why is it a marketing success?
Have you never heard of the NERF? There are several possible explanations: either you don’t have children, or they are no longer of an age to play with guns, or you have passed the age to play yourself. The NERF would appear to be played with at all ages, and especially in start-ups. Go to YouTube and see for yourself. There are plenty of videos of NERF battles in the workplace. The NERF is a...
[Podcast] The Secrets of Marketing for Tourism, with Elke Dens (2019 Marketeer of the Year)
Elke Dens was elected Dutch-speaking marketeer of the year 2019 for her work as marketing director of VisitFlanders, the Flemish tourist office in Belgium. In this podcast, she details for us the main lines of her marketing strategy to attract tourists to Flanders. In particular, she looks in detail at the promotion of Flemish art masters around the world and explains how she attracts art lovers from all over the world. We would like to thank...
This child explains to you the keys to success in SEO
What are the keys to success to be well-positioned on Google? This is the key to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which consists in making sure that your website meets Google’s expectations to appear at the top of the search results. In this 3rd episode of ” The Business World with Pierre-Raffaele “, our star presenter welcomes Christian Janfils to learn about SEO and prepare for the web launch of his future company (it’s not for now,...
Retail: a new ultra-precise method for choosing the location of your store
How well should you choose the address of your sales outlet? This is the whole point of a location study. Good news for all those in this situation: we are marketing a new data source in Belgium and France that gives results of unprecedented precision for an attractive price (from €1,000). The data comes from the GPS of smartphones. Thanks to this data, we can provide you with unmatched results quickly. We explain everything in this...
[Podcast] FinTech trends with Jean-Louis van Houwe (Fintech Belgium)
For this last podcast of the year 2019, we welcome Jean-Louis Van Houwe, founder and CEO of Monizze and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FinTech Belgium. Jean-Louis Van Houwe reviews the need to structure the FinTech scene, the balance sheet of FinTech Belgium and the main trends of FinTech. Jean-Louis Van Houwe will detail in particular the three axes of value creation that structure the FinTech universe: a radical change in user experience integration...
#Gransharing: this Zalando popup store revisits the intergenerational link
On 14 and 15 December, 2019 Zalando opened the pop-up store #Gransharing in Brussels (rue Antoine Dansaert 64). This pop-up store was designed to celebrate and promote the intergenerational bond around the hashtag #gransharing. Sarah van den Eertwegh, PR manager of Zalando, explained to me that her company had set up a panel of 16 elderly people (the “grannies”) in order to rebuild a link with the younger generations through digital tools. These grannies can chat...
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...
Market research: How to carry out desk research
You are managing or creating a company, and you are asking yourself questions about the strategy to adopt to approach the market as effectively as possible. Market research is the ideal way to answer your questions. But where do you start? Perhaps you are asking yourself one of the following questions: “Which offer should I put on the market to satisfy my customers? What is the best distribution channel through which to reach them? How to...
Belgian Data Alliance : media and telecom team up against GAFA
Google and Facebook are the two largest advertising platforms worldwide and they capture most value of the online advertising market. This duopoly is ripping away value from incumbents as brands are shifting advertising budget from incumbents (telecom operators, broadcasters, …) to make deal directly with Google and Facebook. With such a power of negotiation, is it really a surprise that incumbents are joining forces to propose alternative solutions and bring a credible offer on the market?...
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...
Boco Brussels: the reasons behind the failure
Boco Brussels is over. The franchise was held by Star Food Company, who initiated legal reorganisation proceedings before the Brussels Commercial Court. This is the end of the Boco adventure in Belgium, a concept we have been following since its very beginnings. We had also met a long time ago with its co-founder Simon Ferniot (brother of the chef and TV presenter of the same name, also co-founder) to talk to us about a concept that,...
How to use market research to get prepared for export
While market research is obviously essential before the creation of a company, it is not the only time when the different techniques that make it up can be applied. Entering a foreign market (for example, an export market) is another case where market research is crucial. Not only is this a new market for you and your company, but it is likely that this export adventure will be further complicated by the lack of knowledge about...
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 dig into this question and...
The secrets of conducting market research or how to ensure the success of your (future) business: Part 1
This article on market research is brought to you by the market research agency IntoTheMinds. It is the first of a series of 3 devoted to conducting market research (you will find the 2nd article here, and the 3rd here). We also remind you that in 2018 we wrote a comprehensive guide to conducting market research. You will learn, step by step, how to progress in understanding your market. This guide will give you the essential...
The secrets of conducting market research or how to ensure the success of your (future) business: Part 3
How to do market research? You will find the answers in this article, offered to you by the market research agency IntoTheMinds. Find here episode 1 and here episode 2. We completed this series of articles in 2018 with the creation of an online market research guide that you can access free of charge on our website. For any question, request or quote for market research in Belgium, France or elsewhere, do not hesitate to contact...
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 changes should be noted: the maximum amount of subsidies...
10753 views on Linkedin : how much traffic on our website ?
I’m about to bust a myth : popularity on social media is not the key to drive traffic to your website. As you probably know I’ve been blogging for 12 years and have published some 3500 articles so far. Some are short, some are longer, some are very long (apparently it’s good for SEO) but as a rule I always try to pack as much value as possible for my readers. Today I’d like to tell...
Correcteo transforms a niche market into a business opportunity
The exercise of preparing a final thesis can be a complex task for a student. It is with a view to supporting them that Quentin Demey created Correcteo, a platform that allows students to receive the support they need to develop their thesis. At the time of Correcteo’s international opening, we interviewed its founder to find out more about the future of this promising organisation. Summary Correcteo in a Nutshell Origin of the Idea and Launch...
Smart speakers : powerful trend or next technological disillusion?
Everybody is talking about smart speakers. I know people who have one. Yet I always wondered what kind of value smart speakers can bring. Reflecting on my own behaviour I couldn’t picture myself talking to my smartphone and I wondered: are smart speakers a fade and the next big disillusion (like virtual reality was). In today’s article I’ve compiled a series of statistics to build a solid argumentation on why I think the smart speakers trend...
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 the difficulty of the implementation may be...
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 withdrawals...
Homestamp, a blockchain-based mobile application by Immoweb
As part of our marketing and technological surveillance, we are now interested in a mobile application launched by Immoweb, Belgium’s leading platform on the real estate market. This application, called Homestamp, has the particularity of using blockchain technology. The purpose (to validate the inventories online thanks in particular to photos and videos with certified timestamps) seemed to us to be particularly relevant to others who use the blockchain without providing any additional added value. Good examples...
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...
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, first of all, find the...
How to conduct market research in B2B?
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 research methods...
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 companies...
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. Surprinsingly, my findings show that firm size...
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 parallel from 10am to 4.30pm, there were...
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...