Marketing research and insights news and information. This issue's keywords: retail promotions; Chinese social media views; technology in restaurants; Millennial transportation; predictive analytics market
Twenty-seven percent of shoppers will buy from retailers they wouldn’t usually patronize and 25 percent make purchases they normally would not, says a report by Finnish marketing firm RapidCampaign. The report, The Brands We Love vs. The Brands We Buy, found that only 8 percent of the respondents were not interested in retail promotions. And using social media to publicize a promotion works best with consumers under 35, who wanted notifications via Facebook (30 percent) or Twitter (10 percent), compared to 15 percent and 5 percent for the respondents as a whole. The survey of 2,011 U.K. adults was conducted by Vancouver, Canada, software firm Vision Critical in January 2015.
The number of Chinese online users holding a negative view has almost doubled, increasing from 6.7 percent in 2014 to 12.1 percent in a current poll of 13,341 online users. While a majority still see social media’s impact as positive (64.7 percent), the reasons behind the rise in negativity included social media taking too much time, concerns about privacy, decreased reading time, sleep deprivation and worsening eye-sight. London research company Kantar has published the survey results in China Social Media Impact Report. "As social media becomes less new, it is no longer the cool thing to do and loses part of its charm in certain groups," said Sophie Shen, general manager at CTR, the Beijing research firm that conducted the online survey.
Consumers are growing more comfortable in using technology to order and pay in restaurants, according to Software Advice, an Austin, Texas software information firm. Their survey found diners approved of the technology when customizing orders (47 percent), splitting a bill (31 percent) and viewing specials and discounts (19 percent). Diners in “casual” restaurants were the most positive, with 50 percent saying they would use the technology to pay and 41 percent would use it to order but only 6 percent said they would want to use the technology in “fine dining” restaurants. The study included responses from 1,926 U.S. adults.
A study revealed that the growth of ride-sharing and bicycle use among Millennials stems more from financial necessity than preference. Portia Consulting, a Long Beach, Calif., market strategy firm, and UCLA collaborated on a research study of the attitudes of Millennials (defined as born after 1980) toward cars and mobility. The Millennial generation is a diverse group, generally interested in owning cars but with diverse preferences. “Millennials’ purchase decisions are driven by the product’s alignment with their unique values and interests. Tesla, Infiniti and VW rank at the top of Millennials’ wish list because they’re the first to catch on to this phenomenon,” said Jane Nakagawa, managing director of Portia Consulting and the study’s lead investigator. The study identified five groups of Millennials, “purposeful patrons” (older and preferring high-tech cars), “ambitious trendsters” (affluent and well- educated, their car is a reward for success), “unplugged dreamers” (younger, more female, budget minded), “mindful mainstreamers” (female, financially successful and more interested in smart investments than luxury or trendy items) and “practical greensters” (youngest segment, concerned for eco-friendly and low-cost convenience). The survey included data from 806 respondents, of which 60 percent were Millennials.
The predictive analytics market will grow 25 percent annually in the U.S. and 32 percent globally and will triple by 2019, reaching more than $2.3 billion, according to Micromarket Monitor, a Dallas research firm. Steven Ramirez, CEO of the Beyond the Arc consulting firm based in Berkeley, Calif., says these projections are not surprising, given the amount of data generated by consumers every day and the new data coming from the Internet of Things. Next-generation predictive analytics solutions will make look-alike modeling more exact and will allow companies to focus on prospects that could behave similarly to current customers, says Jay Famico, practice director of sales and marketing technology at Sirius Decisions, a technology research firm in Southport, Conn.
These reports were compiled from recent issues of the Daily News Queue, a free e-newsletter digest of marketing research and insights news and information delivered each business morning. Not already in the Queue? Sign up here!