••• brand research
Cereal killer
General Mills unseats Amazon in 2012 company rankings
In 2011, two 1990s Internet darlings took home top honors in reputation rankings – Amazon in the U.S. and Google globally – but food and beverage and consumer product companies have soared back to the top of the heap, according to Reputation Institute, a New York reputation management consultancy.
Reputation Institute has released the findings of its 2012 U.S. RepTrak Pulse, a study that measures the 150 largest U.S. public companies. General Mills ranked No. 1 in the study with a Pulse score of 83 after narrowly missing the top 10 in 2010 and 2011. The company scored strongest in three key drivers of reputation – products and services, governance and leadership – and was also No. 1 in citizenship.
The U.S. top 10 was filled with competitors from the grocery aisles (with No. 1 General Mills, No. 2 Kraft and No. 4 Kellogg’s all in the top five), cola wars (Coca-Cola No. 7 and PepsiCo No. 9) and tablets/e-readers (Amazon No. 5 and Apple No. 8), as well as perennial top-10 companies like Johnson & Johnson (No. 3) and UPS (No. 6). Perhaps the most interesting new entrant was Procter & Gamble – from No. 21 last year to No. 10 this year. P&G only began publicly using its corporate brand in the U.S. for the first time around the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Since 2009, U.S. companies have been competing in a new reputation economy, where who they are matters even more than what they produce. Framing this in the context of critical consumer behaviors, including purchase consideration, loyalty and recommendation, company perceptions explain 60 percent of these behaviors, with product perceptions only accounting for 40 percent.
www.reputationinstitute.com
••• retailing
Grocery list: whine and cheese
Consumers’ fave supermarkets make it fast, easy, fair
Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Publix and Fareway are rated tops among 52 of the nation’s major grocery stores, according to a study from Consumer Reports, Yonkers, N.Y. While most respondents were quite satisfied with their experiences, even some of the high-rated chains gave plenty of shoppers something to complain about. One-third of subscribers surveyed said they had given the heave-ho to a nearby grocery store. Forty-three percent changed their grocer in search of lower prices; about 25 percent cited poor selection, long lines or lousy food; 17 percent blamed employee rudeness; and 14 percent cited the crowds.
More than half of respondents had at least one complaint about their current store; almost a third cited two or more. The biggest gripe overall: not enough open checkouts (27 percent of shoppers), followed by congested or cluttered aisles and advertised specials that were out of stock. Other irritants included inept bagging, missing prices and scanner overcharges.
No chains tried their customers’ patience more than Walmart Supercenter, Pathmark (Northeast) and Pick ‘n Save (Wisconsin), where roughly three-fourths of shoppers had one or more problems. Shoppers who frequented Walmart were most likely to be miffed about the lack of open checkouts, out-of-stock regular items, indifferent employees, spotty pricing and confusing store layout. Thirteen percent of respondents shopping at Pathmark said they’d been overcharged, almost twice the average rate in the survey.
Fortunately, most consumers have several shopping choices and some supermarkets gave customers much of what they want. Costco, Trader Joe’s, Fareway (Midwest) and Wegmans offer quality meat and produce, a clean shopping environment and very good or exceptional prices. All but Costco also earned the highest possible marks for service, defined as employee courtesy and checkout speed. Service is minimal at warehouse clubs such as Costco and lengthy lines are a trade-off for day-in, day-out deals.
www.consumerreports.org
••• retailing
One device, many uses
Consumers rely on mobile devices for in-store multitasking
Consumers engage in a wide range of product research activities when equipped with their mobile phones in a retail store. According to a survey by ClickIQ, a Minneapolis research firm, the majority of respondents said they accessed the Internet to research the product (61 percent), while one-quarter reported scanning UPS bar codes and 18 percent said they had scanned QR codes. Social activities also figured into the equation: 11 percent sent a text; 8 percent an image to a family member or friend; 11 percent called a family member or friend; and 7 percent called a different retailer than the one where they were shopping.
Respondents qualified for the survey by having researched a product in the past three months using their device while at a brick-and-mortar store and since purchased the product.
Price was easily the most-researched piece of information, cited by 82 percent of respondents. Half read online product reviews, while a significant proportion also compared features (45 percent) and checked availability (38 percent). More than one-quarter checked to see what shipping or delivery fees would be incurred by purchasing the product online rather than in the store.
Most respondents also based their final purchase on price: two-thirds said price was the determining factor in where they made their final purchase. Availability (14 percent), features (8 percent), free shipping (7 percent) and already being at a store (4 percent) trailed as determining factors.
The most popular Internet searches included going to online-only retailers and accessing the manufacturer’s Web site of the product they were searching, both at 43 percent. Almost two-fifths visited the online Web site of a retailer that also has brick-and-mortar stores but not necessarily the retailer where they were.
www.clickiq.com
••• coupon research
More saving, more spending
The buying power of digital couponers
Digital coupon users shop more frequently and spend significantly more during each trip than the average U.S. consumer, according to a study conducted by GfK Knowledge Networks, a New York research company, on behalf of Coupons.com, Mountain View, Calif. The study evaluated the shopping behavior of over 200,000 households that use digital coupons. These households were identified as having redeemed coupon(s) sourced from Coupons.com or other Web sites in Coupons.com’s network. Shopping behavior was compared to the households in the GfK Knowledge Networks National Shopper Lab.
Digital coupon users make 22 percent more shopping trips per year than the average shopper (69 vs. 57 trips per year, respectively) and spend 23 percent more per shopping trip than the average shopper ($55.05 vs. $44.87 per trip, respectively). Digital coupon users also spend 49 percent more per year than the average shopper ($3,803 vs. $2,545 per year, respectively).
Over 60 percent of visitors to Coupons.com planned to visit a grocery store within two days of printing coupons or saving them to a loyalty card and 43 percent planned to shop within the next 24 hours.
www.coupons.com
••• social research
Be the change
Americans are wary of but invested in the future of their communities
Many Americans are uncertain of what the future holds for their communities but are committed to making their communities better and want to get involved, take action and make a difference. Although 60 percent would move away from their community right now if they could, when asked who has the greatest opportunity and responsibility to make a difference in improving the quality of life in their community, half of the respondents reported “me, my family and other members of our community,” according to a survey conducted by Wilton, Conn., research company Toluna Greenfield Online on behalf of YMCA of the USA, Chicago.
The survey examined how Americans rate their communities in terms of core strength drivers, including types of community involvement; healthy active lifestyles; education, youth and family life; and quality community services.
Many Americans are still concerned about the quality of life in their communities and are not confident their communities will rebound. In fact, when asked to grade their communities’ strength, respondents gave an average rating of B-. In addition, Americans want communities that are safer, cleaner, offer access to more public health clinics and show a stronger commitment to improving children’s nutrition and overall health and wellness. A safe environment ranked as the most important quality in building a strong community and over three-fourths say they are concerned about crime in their community.
Americans are putting more responsibility on local governments and themselves to impact change. Unfortunately, the vast majority of respondents (72 percent) reported that budget cuts by government, social services and nonprofit community organizations have had a negative impact on themselves and their families, with 22 percent saying they’ve felt a big negative impact. In response, almost two-thirds of respondents say they will get more involved in their communities this year and will contribute goods, services, facilities or other non-monetary resources to a worthy cause or organization.
www.ymca.net
••• health care research
Send it to me
Health care professionals prefer e-mailed new product info
Sixty percent of health care professionals prefer e-mail over all other forms of communication when learning about new product/technology offerings, according to a study from Magellan Medical, a Minneapolis medical technology company. The study surveyed over 400 medical professionals throughout the U.S., including physicians/physician assistants, nurses, hospital administration, materials management and educators.
Thirty-five percent of respondents indicated face-to-face interaction with a company representative as their preferred communication method to learn about new product/technology offerings and said this company representative should be someone with a clinical background. The third most-preferred method to learn about new product/technology offerings is at a conference or trade show, at 33 percent.
Respondents also stated evidence-based outcomes were the single most important piece of information a medical company can provide when attempting to move a new product into their facility. A cost-benefit analysis registered as the second most important piece of information needed to make a decision, followed by pricing.
www.magellanmed.com
••• advertising research
Marketer purse strings stay tight
Recession survey shows conservative outlook
Even as the nation’s economic outlook brightens, marketers continue to spend conservatively as budgets remain steadfast, according to the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) recession survey. The majority of marketers surveyed (84 percent) are still being asked to tightly manage their controllable spending, which is an increase over 2011’s 77 percent. This number peaked in 2009 with nine out of 10 marketers sharing this sentiment.
Only 17 percent of marketers plan to reduce agency compensation, representing the most hopeful outlook for agencies since 2008. However, 52 percent of those marketers surveyed will challenge their agencies to reduce costs internally.
Marketers will continue to be conscientious in their spending, even as the economy recovers. Nearly half of marketers surveyed said that their advertising budgets will remain the same, one-third said their budgets will decrease and 17 percent said their advertising budgets will increase. For those companies that will reduce budgets, reductions are expected to be higher than last year, with 33 percent planning to reduce marketing budgets by 11 percent or more, compared to 25 percent planning to reduce by 11 percent or more in 2011.
Marketers are opting for short-term budget cuts related to overhead expenditures. Almost 30 percent of marketers plan to decrease investment in professional development (e.g., conferences, training, etc.) and 21 percent plan to use more freelancers to fill open positions – both increases over 2011.
www.ana.net