TREND PREDICTION FILE

Trend Prediction File: WonderLab trend using Jason wo



Trend Prediction File: WonderLab trend using Jason wo

Discuss different ways of researching and defining a trend; which approach does your chosen brand adopt.

Market research has traditionally had its fair share of compartmentalization -- separating consumer insight data from consumer behavior from consumer attitude...and so on. But, asMcKinsey & Co. has pointed out in a recent white paper calledWinning the Research Revolution, a customer lifecycle management (CLM) mindset, which focuses on testing consumer responses and consumer behavior, doesn't paint a complete picture of what makes a consumer tick. The CLM process can be slow and doesn't have the capacity to keep up with the data integration that is happening on every channel (Blundell & Stoker, 2005: 347).

McKinsey & Co. suggest that companies can be a part of the research revolution by paying attention in four areas: 1) Leverage the Internet to rapidly obtain details about consumers; 2) Keep the limitations of focus groups in mind; 3) Learn how people shop; and 4) Link consumer attitudinal and behavioral data. The industry has pretty much moved beyond the first two of these recommendations -- that is how fast things are moving. Information about consumers is being gleaned from the media faster than market researchers can get it all cataloged and analyzed (Blundell & Bond, 1998: 115).

Data Integration is Key to Consumer Insight

Customer relationship management can certainly be bolstered by melding information about consumer behavior and consumer attitudes. As the ways for consumers to engage with products and services increases, so do the associated databases. The effort to maintain databases with singular focus is more economical (in the beginning) than the effort involved with integrating several databases. One of the reasons market researchers maintain the data on consumer behavior and sales / client service associates maintain the data on customer lifecycle management (CLM)is that both groups are likely to have inherited legacy data management systems (Blumer, 1969: 275).

Another reason for the disjoint is that many companies still maintain functional silos the encourage a mindset that one group really doesn't have much to offer the other group. It is not new management thinking to suggest that the silos come down -- the concept has been around since the 1960s -- but silos are surprisingly resistant in some firms. The take-awayhere, which extends the McKinsey & Co. Consumer and Shopper Insights consideration, is that functional silos can undermine efforts to integrate the collection and the application of data useful across business units in firms.

What can a market researcher do about functional silos? One approach to bringing down the walls is to ensure that the market research data provided to internal clients is crystal clear and compellingly attractive. A good hard look at how your market research data is displayed can go a long way toward developing the kind of synergistic relationships that result in well-crafted data that is well utilized. If you are interested in learning more about functional silos, this article is a good place to begin, and it cites the seminal research and publications on the topic (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004: ...