Luxury: shocking bad service and low customer satisfaction
Service quality is essential to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Personal encounters are crucial to increase the level of service; yet some brands in the luxury sector recruit employees that don’t master the codes of the sector which leads to a complete discrepancy and to dissatisfaction. Here is a true story that just happened to me and that involves Berluti, a brand of the LVMH group, and two other less known brands : Altan and Corthay....
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 postal operator is). Most of them will however surprise you (at least we hope so) and will show you the undergoing revolution in terms of business models and revenue creation. As we explained in our previous...
Stop asking a NDA when asking an offer for a market research
We have recently a series of inquiries for market research assignments in Belgium where prospects asked for DNA to be signed before the first meeting. Here is why it makes no sense and why we’ll always refuse to do it. Not sure the info you’re about to reveal is worth an NDA The most common situation is that of would-be entrepreneurs who are sure they have found a 1-billion $ gap in the market. They are...
Market research : organic food « baskets »
In 2009 we analyzed the market (link in French) of organic fruits and vegetables baskets in Belgium . We anticipated that some of the players on the market would soon die. What did actually happen ? Consolidation happened In 2009 the market was emerging and we took 3 players in our analysis : BioGusto, Cookitude, Reason2Be. We detected some serious problems in terms of online customer experience and online payment process and announced that we could hardly...
Do firms go bankrupt more often than before in Belgium?
Two weeks ago we dealt with the previsions of bankruptcies in Europe and more particularly in Belgium. We said that the number of bankruptcies will keep increasing in Belgium to reach 11500 firms’ failures by the end of 2014. This figure should however be compared to firms’ creation figures. This is what we do here. The number of bankruptcies increases … One thing is clear from the graph below, the number of bankruptcies has increased 55% between...
Which perspectives for firms’ bankruptcies in 2014
More than 11000 firms went bankrupt in Belgium in 2013. Will 2014 be as bad as 2013 ? Bankruptcies all-time high in Belgium 11052 bankruptcies and 27912 jobs lost: those are the sad figures of bankruptcies in Belgium for the year 2013. It’s unfortunately an all-time record. Whereas startups still get affected by bankruptcy in their first years (read our post on the truth about startup failures), the Brussels Chamber of Commerce (BECI) also sees...
24/05/2008 – 10/01/2014 : almost 6 years of blogging already
As most of you noticed we launched a new version of the blog just before Christmas. It’s now the third version in 6 years. The story of this blog on marketing started on May 24th 2008 as a blogspot presence and, in parallel, as a blog on the French magazine Capital.fr With the development of IntoTheMinds’ activities in market research, customer satisfaction consulting and entrepreneurs coaching, I felt the need to give the blog a more...
Looking back at one year of blogging
Back in 2012 (on Dec 31st to be precise) I drew the conclusions of the past year and took some decisions related to the future of this blog. My commitments revolved around 3 axis : More structure in our blog posts Better integrated pictures Alternation of short and longer articles Did I keep my promises? As far as the structure of the blog posts is concerned I hope that my efforts have been visible. I followed...
How to: define your pricing
A question that comes always back from our clients is how to set up the prices of their products (this is less relevant for services). What I’m really astonished about is how some entrepreneurs go candidly about defining their sales price. Two opposed ways but only one valid Take the example of this would-be entrepreneur that want to open a store (it’s a true story). He needs money from the bank and I was challenging him...
No market research for Subway stores
Unbelievable but true. Subway offers no help to its franchisees and in particular give them no hint as to where to set up their store. Subway even declares they have no idea as far as the best locations for a store are concerned. This was one of the findings of an investigation by the French economic magazine “Capital”. 35% of subway stores in France loose money Once the 12,5% franchise fee is paid to Subway,...
The truth about business failure and bankruptcies
There are few topics in the entrepreneurship and SME world of research that are as much discussed as the failure rate of new businesses (what we call generally “startups”). Here’s the truth about it. You all have heard of alarming statistics : 50% of startups die within 2 years or even 1 year, 75% within 7 years, etc … at the same time certain people advocate that these figures are completely false and do not deserve...
What’s hot in entrepreneurial and SME research in 2013 ?
I’m just back from the RENT conference on entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises. This 27th edition took place this year at the University of Vilnius (Lithuania)a where some 200 researchers fro all over the world gathered to discuss this –hotter than ever- topic. How could entrepreneurship indeed be neglected. With more than 99% of companies in Europe being SME’s and with all the light shed on entrepreneurship by authorities (just think about the European Commission...
The criteria used by banks to give or refuse loans to entrepreneurs
The post we dedicated to our latest experience with banks led to many reactions and –this is also an interesting byproduct- to a peak in terms of visits. We’d like to thank here the readers who retweeted or shared our article on their Facebook wall. Yet, among the many reactions I got, one led me to think deeper about the role of banks. This reaction originated from one of our fellow readers whom I met this...
Crowdfunding: the consequence of banks not financing startups
We have dealt already several times with crowdfunding on this blog. As I explained in a post not so long ago several alternatives exist (in terms of business model). I explained the model of Look&Fin (a relatively –yet with good media exposure- new entrant on the market) and stressed some weaknesses. Yet, despite these weaknesses, I must admit I’m pretty impressed by how well they are doing and the quality of their pick. The ventures they...
Lessons learned on starting up a new store
On Nov 4th 2013 we attended the Grand Opening of Ethnik, a client’s project which became reality after 13 weeks of intensive work. In lower-ranked locations, leverage customer loyalty Ethnik will enjoy an AAA location that we found near the European Commission in Brussels and which was quickly secured to avoid the competition from coming in. Such locations are extremely rare and most of the time a newcomer will not be lucky enough to find one....
Have customers become unsatisfied about low-cost services and products?
There is something strange happening on the low-cost market. There is a rising wave coming in our direction and we begin perceiving the first signals of it. Camping sites, Ryanair, Supermarkets are all experiencing the same problems on the market It all started with camping sites a few months ago. While digging into the sales data of private camping sites, I found out that 5-star sites were booming while 1-star site were declining in terms of...
Moving a shop to another location also requires market research
When you set up a shop or small store, its profitability may be at stake when your immediate environment changes. Moving your store to another location may be the safest move to make but it requires that market research techniques be applied. Yet, such a move is not risk-free. Besides the selection of several potential locations for your business, you need metrics and figures to make your decisions. Those figures are usually provided by market research...
Trendspotting: What is nomadism?
Market research is partly based on the investigation of past, current and future consumption trends that may support business activity. Trends research can be seen as a component of the PESTEL analysis which aims at studying all aspects of a market that are not under your control : Political, Economic, Sociologic, Technological, Ecological and Legal constraints. Look at the first letter of each of the words and you’ll understand where the name PESTEL is coming from....
Meeting with a great entrepreneur, Alain Milliat
If you wonder what it makes to see his name printed on millions of products, just ask Alain Milliat how he feels. He’s managing the Alain Milliat company which produces 2,5 million bottle of juice per year. Alain is one of the most loyal readers of our blog and one of the very first subscribers. He’s been following us up for years and we have exchanged opinions and debated quit a few times. We finally were...
Emerging trend on the food market : raw chocolate
Among the 200+ exhibitors of the Gourmet Food&Wine fair in Paris on Sept 23rd and 24th 2013, our attention was caught by Rrraw, startup launched by Frédéric Marr to exploit the raw chocolate market trend. After having sold his previous company in 2005 Frédéric founded Nutrivitalité.fr and got interested the nutritional properties of chocolate. His idea was to work on the process-side to keep “all the good things” chocolate has to propose with a maximum of...
The soon collapsing delicatessen market
After visiting the Gourmet Food & Wine fair in Paris a strange feeling remains in my head: that of an endless repetition. I got bored. From booth to booth noting emerged as really different; everything was alike : exotic spices in showy packagings, Espelette chilli under all possible forms, seafood and their improbable packaging, falsely old-looking wooden shelves made by Chinese children. A –too- homogenous market Nothing stands out. Innovations are now all about packaging and...
How demographics maps can help your market research
If you think about maps you’ll most probably have in your mind the image of a geographic map, depicting the borders of a country or of a group of countries. There are however numerous other types of maps that are much more interesting and that can be of great help in your market research and your business plan. Geographer Jacques Levy recently published a book where he uses 30 astonishing socio-economic maps created by Luc Guillemot,...
Black money hunt makes Ferrari sales drop
Tax evasion remains very popular in Italy (and in Belgium too by the way) but since January 2013 the Monti and Letta governments are testing a new approach. The latter , as you will in this article, continues to fuel the great 300-year old debate on the very nature of taxes. Based on the Italian example this short article will help you understand the difference between circumstantial tax and declarative tax systems. How does the Redditometro work? The...
The market of recycled devices grows with the crisis
There are some markets which benefit from the crisis. The market of recycled electronic devices is one of them. With the growth of smartphones and a diminishing buying power, consumers tend to look increasingly for bargains in the second-hand market. A recent study shows that only 20% of cell phones are recycled and that each houselhold has 3 to 4 phones on average sleeping somewhere in the drawers of the house. Some startups have developed a...
Get inspired by concept stores to improve your marketing strategy
I was called in mid-July by the Belgian TV Channel RTBF to explain what concept stores are. The 3-minute television report was filmed –obviously- in a concept store located in Brussels : SMETS. I went back to the store later to shoot some photos because it has pretty much all the attributes of a concept store. As I explained on TV a “concept store” is, by definition, a place where new ideas are put together (“a...
Even century-old firms die … because they don’t adapt
Darwin was right … those who adapt will survive and in the race to survival smaller species seem better placed. This seems also to be true for firms. The biggest ones are not –always- the most resistant to shocks and the quickest to change. Browsing recently through my archives I found back the articles that the Italian press dedicated to Richard Ginori, a eighteenth century firm that went bankrupt in early 2013. Richard Ginori, a porcelain...
Positive return for subsidies to innovative SMEs
A recent press release by the European Commission has brought some interesting statistics about the effectiveness of subsidies to SMEs. More specifically the European Commission measured a series of performance indicators in eco-innovation SME which had received funding via the the eco-innovation component of the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP). Based on companies funded over the past two years, the study found that recipients saw a 20-fold return on the money received. Every one that...
How to decide on the location of a store when doing market research
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 in Belgium, up 28% over the last 5 years. As we explained in a recent post on the survival rates of startups, this isn’t much of a surprise actually given that the HORECA sector has the...
What you should know about (online) surveys and market research
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 to not to be understood by everyone because business owners, entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs have been polluted for years by biased messages on market research. Many firms proposing solutions of online surveys have relabeled themselves as...
Firms’ survival rate in free-trade zones
Eric Raoult, UMP Deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis (a region located north of Paris), submitted a report on free trade zones in July 2011 to the Minister of the City. In this report we learn among other things that the survival rate at 5 years of companies operating in free trade zones is 23.3% (for companies of the “first generation”, i.e. companies created after the first series of bills were passed to created free trade zones. Conditions were...
“42” School: why Xavier Niel’s initiative may fail
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 declared a war to the three French telecom operators (SFR, Orange and Bouygues) in 2012 when he launched in January its own mobile phone offer starting as low as 2€/month. One year after starting in the...
50% of the firms created in 2006 have died: all the factors influencing firm’s survival
There is a lot of controversy around survival rate of startups. A survival rate of 25% after 7 years is often mentioned although there’s no evidence around it; other authors speak of a 90% survival rate. The discrepancy is so huge that real actual figures are very valuable. Such figures have been published last week by the French statistical institute INSEE (Link to the original source – in French only). In 2006 a total number of...
Thank You Merci
From time to time you meet inspiring people. I have the chance to meet many entrepreneurs coming from very different horizons and with various backgrounds. Although they are all special some of them show world-class expertise and skills. My encounter with Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria will certainly remain as one of the most inspiring moments of 2013. The marketing director of Merci, the now world-famous concept store of Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris was kind enough to give...
Find your audience: how to position your research work
As I explained in an earlier post, I was very disappointed to see my research work rejected at this year’s EMAC conference. Fortunately the very same research work was accepted and presented at the 5th International Conference on Rhetoric and Narratives in Management Research. This conference, though more limited in size than the EMAC and its hundreds of participants, gave me a great boost of energy … and hope. I was finally able to find people...
Is the future of online pure players in brick-and-mortar shops?
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 93% of retailers use distance sales channels But distance selling only represents between 5% and 7% of the retail turnover (FTI estimates) Add to this the economic crisis situation, the perception by consumers that transport doesn’t...
4 advices to remember when measuring customer satisfaction
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 out of reach for most customers. Hence only customers with a good reason will find the motivation (or need) to walk the extra steps to the device to give an input. As a result you see...
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