Black Friday E-Commerce Climbs 11%

The Wall Street Journal reports that the 2009 "Black Friday" e-commerce climbed 11%. According to the market-research firm, comScore, U.S. consumers have spent $10.57 billion online from the beginning of the month to Nov. 27, then $318 million on Thanksgiving and $595 million the following day. Pre-Thanksgiving e-commerce sales were up 3%, while Thanksgiving-day sales rose 10%.

Black Friday marked the second-highest day in terms of online spending this year, after Nov. 19, when consumers spent $641 million.

“This is a very encouraging start,” comScore’s chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said in a statement. He noted, however, that aggressive marketing may be responsible for some of the uptick and that the coming weeks would be “the real test” for holiday-season e-commerce.

Black Friday E-Commerce Climbs 11%

WSJ: Marketers Find Web Chat Can Be Inspiring

Emily Steel of The Wall Street Journal reports that many market researchers are now looking to web chats and alternative new media methods for their research. Steel writes, for decades, advertisers have relied heavily on sometimes-dated consumer surveys and focus groups to provide grist for their ads. Now, some are using new technologies to scan the Web for key words to find out what consumers are—and aren't—saying about their brands. Then, they are incorporating those findings into their more-conventional research and using them not only to choose the overall themes of their marketing campaigns, but also specific text and photos for their ads.

Have you used any of these tactics in your research? What successes or failures have you experienced?

Marketers Find Web Chat Can Be Inspiring

Tips on Gathering Consumer Insight in a 3D World

Here's an interesting article from the Forrester blog in which Reineke Reitsma details some best practices in how to gather consumers insight in a 3D world. Here are her tips...Enjoy!

1. Dare to take risks. Approach research questions from a different perspective.
2. Start small. Invite executive members to meet with customers in an informal setting.
3. Stick to what's relevant to you. Work with vendors to find a way to make the research methodology fit your specific needs.
4. Collaborate internally. Involve the research users from the beginning and introduce them step-by-step to the new methodology.
5. Failure doesn't exist. Failure leads to innovation.

Free Web Seminar - New Research Study: Do Consumers Prefer Private Label? A Look Into Consumer Attitudes About Private Label

Date/Time: Wed, Dec 9, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Do consumers know the difference between national brands and store brands? Do they care? How do they describe private label compared to national brands? Does this differ across categories? How about across markets?

Private label and store brands are having an impact on many consumer purchases today, both in the US and Europe. And within these markets the definition of private label compared to national brands varies according to category and retailer.

When is a brand important? What makes a national brand different? Do consumers feel the same way about brands today as they did a year ago? Why or why not?

Showcasing BuzzBack’s unique portfolio of award-winning online research techniques, this webinar will highlight new consumer research conducted in the US and UK about purchasing behavior and attitudes associated with private label versus national consumer brands. The study will present ways to identify consumer behavior and attitudes about shopping via an online survey.

As you listen in, you will learn:
• What drives consumer purchases of private label brands and why
• Consumer perceptions and attitudes about private label compared to national brands
• Types of people who purchase private label compared to national brands

Featured Speaker
Brendan Light, SVP, Research and Development, BuzzBack Market Research

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/781266785
Mention priority code MWS0020BLOG

Today's Free Web Seminar Next Thursday - Unlock a Better Business Strategy with Text Analytics

Start Date/Time: Today - Thu, Nov 19, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

With SPSS text analytics, you can read documents, blogs, wikis, tweets, e-mails, call center notes, surveys and other free form text – and turn the insight you gain into a true strategic asset. We’ll show you how to use text analytics with social media and other Web 2.0 sites to understand trends, and what your customers want, and how they’ll behave. We’ll demonstrate using text analytics in modeling to make your models better, and how to use automatic translation from more than 30 languages to make sense of your global customer base.

Your customers are talking about you, and you can gain a genuine advantage by knowing what they are saying. Attend this webinar and learn how you can “listen in” – and act on the information to gain a competitive edge.

This webinar will show how to:
- Use text analytics to make sense of any text, including Web 2.0 sources such as social networking sites
- Use the information to get a better understanding of your customers, your products, and your competitors.
- Make sense of free-form text resources, and act on the insight you gain
- Unlock predictive secrets from text sources, and combine that information with structured data to build powerful predictive
models that can inform decision making.

Featured Speaker
Jane Hendricks, Product Marketing Manager, SPSS, an IBM Company

Mention priority code MWS0026BLOG when registering:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/646359377

Could segmentation lead to stereotyping?

Caleb Hannan of Seattle Weekly recently wrote a piece that questioned whether or not Starbucks was write in sponsoring Nascar. Was Nascar the right choice for them? Did Nascar fans drink coffee? Read the article here.

He does bring up an interesting point. Does your company seek out customers in places that might not be typical? While we see certain customers frequenting Starbucks and other frequenting races on the weekend, could there be an unexplored market you haven't yet tapped yet? What are other examples of companies reaching out to markets that aren't typically suited for them, but have found success.

As the article points out, racing fans are some of the most loyal customers in the industry. What does Starbucks have to loose from reaching out and investigating a new market? They're both potentially letting new customers know about their brand and showing returning customers that they're a diverse brand.

Market research catches up with Web 2.0

Tamara Barber, writing for Research-live.com says it’s time for the industry to embrace online communities as a research tool – and defends the increasingly unfashionable term ‘Web 2.0’

Barber writes, over the past month, through gatherings such as the IIR’s Market Research Event, the Esomar Online Research conference and Forrester’s Consumer Forum, researchers have been buzzing about how to incorporate Web 2.0 – or social media – into their research mix, how to use the internet for crowdsourcing ideas, and whether customer insights are the same as market research. Clearly, it’s time for our industry to innovate, and no doubt companies like BrainJuicer, Invoke Solutions, Communispace and others are teaching the rest of us how to think outside the radio button online survey and adopt the next evolution of online market research.

Take a look at the rest of Tamara's article and let us know your thoughts. Are we moving to Web 2.0 or past it?

How to Write a Survey

Here's an interesting post I came across on the PcQL blog that gives somes tips on how to write a quality survey, quality being the key word. Here are 3 easy tips from the post, that if followed, is a guaranteed method to getting quality results.

1. What are you trying to find out? - A good survey is designed to answer your question, so the results should tell you what you want to find out.

2. How are you going to use the information? - Make sure you know why you are asking the questions in the first place because if they are not going to be used, there is no point in conducting the survey.

3. Telephone, Postal, Web, Face-to-Face? - There are many ways to conduct surveys and each method has its pros and cons, but which is best for your survey? You must properly research the benefits of each method to make a informed decision on which style is best for what you are trying to answer.

NYTimes: Know Your Market Before You Leap

If you're starting a business or launching a new product, New York Times reporter Paul B. Brown has a few tips on what to consider before making the leap.

“Who are your five nearest direct competitors?

“Who are the indirect competitors?

“Is their business growing, steady or declining?

“What are their strengths and weaknesses?

“How does their product or service differ from yours?

"What can you learn from their operations or from their advertising?”

Brown also discusses how professional market researchers being the process of answering these questions.

What do you think of Brown's tips? Any to add?

Know Your Market Before You Leap

Reminder: Free Web Seminar Next Thursday - Unlock a Better Business Strategy with Text Analytics

Start Date/Time: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

With SPSS text analytics, you can read documents, blogs, wikis, tweets, e-mails, call center notes, surveys and other free form text – and turn the insight you gain into a true strategic asset. We’ll show you how to use text analytics with social media and other Web 2.0 sites to understand trends, and what your customers want, and how they’ll behave. We’ll demonstrate using text analytics in modeling to make your models better, and how to use automatic translation from more than 30 languages to make sense of your global customer base.

Your customers are talking about you, and you can gain a genuine advantage by knowing what they are saying. Attend this webinar and learn how you can “listen in” – and act on the information to gain a competitive edge.

This webinar will show how to:
- Use text analytics to make sense of any text, including Web 2.0 sources such as social networking sites
- Use the information to get a better understanding of your customers, your products, and your competitors.
- Make sense of free-form text resources, and act on the insight you gain
- Unlock predictive secrets from text sources, and combine that information with structured data to build powerful predictive
models that can inform decision making.

Featured Speaker
Jane Hendricks, Product Marketing Manager, SPSS, an IBM Company

Mention priority code MWS0026BLOG when registering:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/646359377

Public library looks at segmentation

The Topeka and Shawnee Public Library System has segmented their market in order to better provide for the members of their different branches. By looking at the populations around the branches of their library, they've been able to get a sense of what they should carry at each library. For libraries surrounded by lots of elementary schools, they'll have a larger children section, and for areas where lots of adults live, they'll provide more best sellers, etc. Watch the webinar of their findings here.

Source: EIS Education Community

Video from The Market Research 2009 Event

If you missed TMRE 2009 this year or just wanted a refresher of some of the sessions and topics covered at the event, make sure to check out the video clips we took from Vegas. On the event site you'll find speaker interviews, recorded track sessions, as well as a welcome from the conference director Krista Vazquez. Enjoy!

TMRE 2009 Video