Summit « SymphonyIRI Group CPG Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Summit’

Consumers Take Baby Steps in the Aisles

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Whether you’re a retailer, a CPG manufacturer or a healthcare leader, maneuvering your business in a recovering economy can be just as difficult as doing so in a suffering economy. We all know how everyone buckled down over the past few years, but thanks to our new Quarterly MarketPulse survey, we’re able to witness consumers grow and change.

Today at Summit 2011, marked the first day that we launched the latest statistics from our first MarketPulse survey and the results show a mixed-bag of consumers regarding their spending habits; some are spending more freely, others are indulging with caution and some are still frugal like it’s 2008. Our MarketPulse survey found that 60 percent of shoppers are eating out less often, as compared to 65 percent at this time last year.

One habit that certainly hasn’t changed is what people do before they enter the store: two out of three shoppers today are making shopping lists prior to visiting the store, which is consistent with trends in 2010! Regardless of their outlook, consumers are still clipping coupons, making lists, and pre-planning activities – are you sure you’ve marketed to your customers before they entered your store?

The MarketPulse survey was created to accurately gauge shoppers in a quarterly fashion and provide valuable insight to our customers, so keep up with our results and you won’t fall behind.

Be sure to read our press release for additional findings from the MarketPulse survey results.

Tags: cpg, MarketPulse, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Symphony Analytics Adds Apparel and Financial Services Insights to Its Offerings

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Analytics can be of great use to the CPG, retail and healthcare industries. Today, our Symphony Analytics Group announced the expansion of these offerings to also include business insights across other vertical markets including apparel and financial services. Symphony Analytics has also invested in an updated set of predictive analytic capabilities, including an Integrated Automated Analytics program powered by the Liquid Modeling proprietary modeling engine. This investment allows users to maximize speed to insight.

Although each market is different, they all tend to face common issues, like dramatic shifts in consumers’ buying patterns, ongoing price volatility, increasing convergence of trade and marketing strategies, and an accelerated usage of new media and digital marketing.

To address these issues, Symphony Analytics applies advanced analytics to support essential business capabilities, from predictive modeling to sensing real-time demand issues. Now, not only can new industries harness the power of Symphony Analytics, but all users can access those analytics in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.

To learn more about the new offering from Symphony Analytics, check out the press release here.

Tags: analytics, apparel, cpg, financial services, Healthcare, Retail Solutions, Summit, Symphony Analytics Group
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

New Symphony Consulting Food & Beverage Industry Report Predicts Accelerating Market Growth in 2011 and 2012

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

By James Rushing, partner, Symphony Consulting

In an industry of constant change, heightened by an unpredictable economy, CPG and retail companies must maintain an up to date understanding of shopper’s attitudes and behaviors. Today at Summit 2011, SymphonyIRI released the Symphony Consulting Food and Beverage Industry Report, which predicts accelerated market growth in 2011 and 2012.

While the prediction of growth presents many opportunities for CPG companies to increase customer loyalty, many obstacles still lie ahead. Symphony Consulting findings indicate that shoppers expect their food and beverage spending to remain flat or slightly improve moving forward into 2011 and 2012.

The report recommends that in order to remain successful, CPG and retail companies must continually employ new product, packaging, programs, and promotional strategies. To learn more about the findings from “The U.S. Food and Beverage Market” 2010 Performance and Outlook or 2011 and 2012”, check out the press release here.

Tags: Food & Beverage, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Getting the Big Picture

Friday, March 25th, 2011

By Joe Sakach, Director of Next Generation Analytics & Practices, Campbell Soup

It’s safe to say most of us don’t give much weight to a statistic when we realize the study involved a small number of people from the same region and of the same age. Why? Because, we know that the data retrieved by a study like that is anecdotal at best. It’s not widespread enough to represent an accurate account of a real population.

This idea is no different when evaluating the price increases and decreases in the CPG and retail industries. Methods often employed by marketers only evaluate a short period of price impacts and changes. The issue with this model is that the statistics it returns may not present the complete picture; the evaluated sample is simply not broad enough to understand true trends and consumer reactions.

During the Summit 2011 breakout session, “Measuring the ‘Carryover’ Effects of Pricing Using Dynamic Demand Modeling,” I will join Joy Joseph from SymphonyIRI to further examine best practices in product research, and we will explain why it is imperative for CPG and retail companies to move away from the current short-term price evaluation strategy. In doing so, organizations will be able to gain a more thorough understanding of consumer reaction and habits.

Joe Sakach and Joy Joseph will be presenting their session on Wednesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 2. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Tags: Campbell’s Soup, cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | 2 Comments »

How Her Booming Success Affects Your Marketing

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Call boomer women what you will: vibrant, successful, optimistic, or courageous. Any way you label it, they are reaching new peaks and influencing many on the way up. It’s a life stage that I like to describe as “post-minivan and pre-retirement.”

Boomer women—ages 50 and up—represent the most educated and mobile generation of women in history! Furthermore, they’re often among the earliest adopters of any resource or skill—technological or otherwise—that will simplify and enrich their lives, or make it easier to connect with family and friends.

When you consider the technological advancements a boomer woman has witnessed in her lifetime, is it any surprise that she is well-adapted to change? She craves a wide range of tech toys and doesn’t just purchase what she ”needs;” she builds relationships with other women online and forms strong networks. And, she has adopted the Internet-usage patterns of younger generations very rapidly and is posting content herself.

So, what motivates this savvy woman’s purchase behavior? How do you target her?

These questions, along with many others, is what I’ll be discussing next week at Summit 2011 during my breakout presentation, “The Pulse of the Vibrant Woman Shopper: What Boomer Women 50+ Buy and Why.”

Join us on Wednesday, March 30 in Glimmer 1 at 2 p.m. where we’ll provide you with insight on how to build powerful campaigns that will take your brand to the next level with this crucial consumer.

Check out the calendar for this year, so you can plan your time at Summit!

Stephen Reily, Founder and CEO of VibrantNation.com

Tags: Affluent, Boomer Women, cpg, economy, Middle-aged, Retail Solutions, Savvy, spending habits, Summit, SymphonyIRI, technology, Women
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

New Approaches in a Seemingly New Industry

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

At a time where shoppers remain cautious in their spending habits, it is even more critical for retailers to understand what a shopper is looking for the moment they enter the store. As one might imagine, taking on this task is no easy feat. The big question remains: how can anyone understand what each individual customer is looking for when each shopper brings different characteristics to the table, from background, age and dietary preferences to marital status and grocery budgets?

Manufacturers are facing this challenge head-on by considering “customized trip missions” to better understand how shoppers interact with various product categories and the results they hope to attain.

During the Summit 2011 breakout session, “Using Customized Trip Missions to Enhance Merchandising Strategy,” I will join Christina Sung, director of shopper analytics, SymphonyIRI, to discuss the importance of employing new tactics and measures to understanding the shopper in an unpredictable industry.

By attending our session, you’ll learn about opportunities retailers and manufacturers can take in developing key merchandising strategies that will attract, influence and maintain loyal customers. I hope to see you there!

Rob Chumley will be presenting his session on Tuesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 1. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Rob Chumley, Vice President, Merchandising, 7-Eleven

Tags: 7-Eleven, cpg, Customized Trip Mission, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | 2 Comments »

Let’s Get Creative: Shaping Digital Campaigns that Sell

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Being able to measure the total impact of one’s marketing efforts is an important aspect of any marketing plan, and digital certainly isn’t exempt. CPG manufacturers are at the forefront of digital advertising effectiveness measurement, asking important questions, requiring deep insights and adjusting campaigns in-flight to maximize ROI. Yet, there is still a huge opportunity for CPG marketers to get more out of their online marketing investments by doing what traditional CPG marketers have done for years by testing the quality of their ad’s creative before it goes to market.

At this year’s Summit, I’ll be presenting a session where we will explore ways to get the most out of these ad placements by evaluating the quality of creative in advance of a campaign’s launch. We’ll discuss digital-copy testing, strategic creative elements and the best way to get across your messages about price and promotions. Through this discussion, we’ll be able to identify what’s working and what’s not and then use that information to make sure your future campaigns turn even more heads.

Ashley Grace will be presenting his session on Tuesday, March 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Glimmer 5. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

By Ashley Grace, comScore

Tags: comScore, Copy Testing, cpg, Digital, Marketing, Retail Solutions, ROI, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Maintaining a Competitive Edge in 2011

Monday, March 21st, 2011

By Tycho Ferrigni, SymphonyIRI

With the reduced cost of data storage and the introduction of frequent shopping programs, retailers are collecting data about their shoppers at a pace and breadth that has never been seen before. SymphonyIRI has the tools that will turn these data assets into future cash flows for both retailers and manufacturers.

While each retailer has specific information about what a shopper does within their firm, SymphonyIRI understands the shopper independent of where they shop. We have taken robust and reliable analytical capabilities from data rich industries and engineered them to work within the CPG space. Our models predict things like where a shopper is likely to shop, what they are likely to purchase as well as estimate their inherent health and wellness needs based on their risk for serious and chronic disease. All of this insight is calibrated by leveraging our “full market view” provided by our National Consumer Panel.

By leveraging a targeted direct-to-consumer capability, retailers and manufacturers will be able to increase the relevance of their offers, the returns on the marketing spend and increase the number of programs they launch in market. Offering gas points or bonus rewards coupons can be a clever way to temporarily induce customers to open their wallets, but it often takes more than that to keep customers coming back. SymphonyIRI’s Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group is tackling this problem head on and is focused on gaining a better understanding of what it takes to attract and retain today’s consumer.

A key component of our study has been exploring the gap between the retailer and the manufacturer. By partnering, both organizations are able to identify and capitalize on key products and services that maximize the value to shoppers and create a win-win for the retailer and manufacturer alike.

By attending Summit 2011’s breakout session, “Leveraging Analytics to Target the Highest Opportunity Shoppers,” you’ll gain clear insight as to how utilizing the analytical insights and information from our Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group will strongly assist in the attraction and maintenance of key shoppers, time and time again.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami!

Tycho Ferrigni will be presenting his session on Wednesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 3. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Tags: cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

New Products That Prosper

Friday, March 18th, 2011

New Products: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of successful manufacturers from across the CPG galaxy. Their one-year mission is to explore strange new markets, to seek out new categories and consumers, and to boldly go where no CPG product has gone before.

Introducing a successful new product into a thriving market is an arduous task, but doing this during a down economy with a frugal consumer marketplace is more like Star Trek’s Kobayashi Maru—a no-win scenario. In the past few year, though, despite one of the worst U.S. economies on record, some products were able to accomplish their mission, carving out growth in a down economy!

Come on board during Summit 2011 for our session, “New Product Pacesetters: Trailblazers in Search of a New Galaxy.” This session will travel back in time to share best-of-the-best learnings from CPG captains across more than 15 years of SymphonyIRI’s New Product Pacesetters. The journey will continue into 2010, highlighting 2010’s most successful new product launches, revealing best practices in black hole avoidance.

So, bring your notepads, laptops, tricoders—er, I mean tablets—and join us as we journey into a new CPG macrocosm!

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information.

Susan Viamari and Larry Levin will present this session on Tuesday, March 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Glimmer 6/7. Use this year’s calendar to help you plan Summit!

By Susan Viamari, Editor of Times & Trends, SymphonyIRI

Tags: 15 Years, Brand Growth, cpg, Going Pro, Indulgence, innovation, Market Growth, Marketing, New Product Pacesetters, New Products, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopping trends, Star Trek, Summit, SymphonyIRI, Wellness
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Consumer Trends for 2011

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Over the last several months, there have been indications of a change in tone regarding the economy – though the last few weeks seem to have taken things back a few steps.

While there have been glimmers of optimism, and even some gains in stock markets around the world, the recent events in Egypt and Libya, and talk of record gas prices create a new sense of uncertainty. Consumers know that a rise in gas prices will impact multiple areas of their budgets, from groceries to clothing to entertainment. Many who had just begun loosening their purse strings now find themselves wondering if they ought to go back to pinching pennies.

Given the ups and downs of the economy, the points of reference that framed our view of customers in 2010 are no longer going to be completely accurate. A changing economy means a changing consumer, and we as an industry need to make sure we are adjusting our strategies accordingly.

Quester is teaming up with SymphonyIRI to share our insights at Summit 2011 in March. I hope you’ll join me, along with Paul Lainis from SymphonyIRI, at this session, entitled “2010 State of the State: Macro Trends and Benchmarks for Tracking and Improving Success in 2011,” as we compare this year’s consumer behavior with last year, so you can have the right tools to improve your business.

Andrea Richards and Paul Lainis will be presenting their session on Wednesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 6/7. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Andrea Richards, Senior Vice President, Quester

Tags: benchmarks, cpg, economy, Quester, Retail Solutions, spending habits, Summit, SymphonyIRI, trends
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘Summit’

Blogroll