Smartphones winnen aan belang voor E-commerce, blijkt uit de BeCommerce Market Monitor

De Belgische e-commerce blijft elk kwartaal aan belang winnen en groeide ook in het derde kwartaal van 2016 verder. Wij, Belgen, gaven bijna 2,2 miljard euro uit in de periode juli-september, een toename van 9 procent. Met 6,8 miljoen Belgen (73% van de bevolking) deden we 20,9 miljoen online aankopen!

"De groei van e-commerce in België is op zich niet verrassend, het is een trend die zich de afgelopen jaren duidelijk heeft doorgezet. De beschikbaarheid van Amazon in het Nederlands en de komst van typisch Amerikaanse initiatieven zoals Black Friday naar Europa zullen deze trend enkel versterken."

Smartphones winnen aan belang

Online winkelen gebeurt steeds vaker met de smartphone. 16 procent van de online shoppers heeft ten minste één mobiele aankoop gedaan in dezelfde periode. Hiermee haalt de smartphone ook de tablet in qua populaireit voor online shopping.

"Een belangrijke reden voor de toename van aankopen via de smartphone is het toenemende vertrouwen ten opzichte van de smartphone als winkel- en betaalmiddel: hoewel 1 op 2 Belgen betalen via een smartphone nog steeds als “niet veilig” bestempelt, merken we hier toch een vooruitgang."

"Wanneer we vooruit kijken naar de verwachtingen rond mobiel winkelen en betalen, verwachten we dat dit enkel zal toenemen: 4 op 10 Belgen is er van overtuigd dat betalen via de smartphone gemakkelijker is, terwijl 1 op 3 Belgen aangeeft vaker te willen betalen met de smartphone in het komende jaar."

Bron: Deze resultaten kunnen we afleiden uit cijfers van de BeCommerce Market Monitor, een onderzoek dat uitgevoerd wordt door GfK voor BeCommerce, met de steun van PostNL, Google en Worldline.

Meer info: www.gfk.com/shopping-in-belgium 
Originele post op LinkedIn

Digitization of market research: when digital is fully adopted, it disappears

The digitization of market research (and the society) has been a hot topic for a couple of years now: the year of mobile, the year of big data, the year of social ... we have had them all. Most organizations (and research agencies) have a digital department in some way.

All (digital) evolutions of marketing and market research are however triggered by a consumer trend. I have shared my thoughts on the evolutions of the past years and the impact on market research in 4 posts: market research as a gatekeeper, the age of information overload, the rise of mobile and the impact of device switching behavior.

Successful new technologies trigger new consumer behavior ... adapted by a minority or majority of consumers. Those consumers however don't think of themselves as 'digital', 'mobile' or 'social'. They pick out whatever mean suits their goal the best.

Consumers and customers do not care about the segment we put them in. They do not care whether companies or researchers call something a certain evolution, a gen Y characteristic or a result of society’s digitization. For them, a smooth and integrated experience is what counts - regardless the channel they prefer: when technology is fully adopted, it disappears. When digital is fully adopted, it disappears. It doesn't matter if you're talking about shopping, consuming media or (participating in) market research.

When #digital is fully adopted, it disappears #tds15 @Polledemaagt @gondolamagazine

— Bert Hendrickx (@bhendrickx88) 20 augustus 2015

Manufacturers, retailers, media agencies ... and market research can only be truly digital when a digital mindset is adopted everywhere through the organization. It’s not about having a digital manager, a digital department, a digital researcher or digital marketeer, it’s about digital being a part of the mix in every single aspect of your internal and external strategies and daily work.

Breaking down the silos, connecting the dots ... are often used sentences, but it is rarely reality. Today, a digital team or department is needed to keep the pressure up (especially in more traditional organizations), but without having digital enthusiasts in every other department or layer of your organization, it will be hard to get there.

Over the past 2 years, I read some books about digital and its impact on consumers, society and business. Here are my 4 favorites:

• Digital Transformation: a model to master digital disruption (Jo Caudron, Dado van Peteghem)
• The Network Always Wins (Peter Hinssen)
• When Digital Becomes Human (Steven van Belleghem)
• The Rise of the Humans: how to outsmart the digital deluge (Dave Coplin)

Free Wifi via e-mail

It's nice that a store offers free WiFi, especially when abroad. However, needing access to my e-mail before being able to go online ... not so useful after all, is it?

But to be honest, it turned out you did not need the link to go online. After this welcome page, you could just go online :-) Maybe adjust the wording of the landing page a little bit.

Market Research Digitization part 4: device switching behavior

The digitization of market research (and the society) has been a hot topic for a couple of years now: the year of mobile, the year of big data, the year of social ... we have had them all. Most organizations (and research agencies) have a digital department in some way.

All (digital) evolutions of marketing and market research are however triggered by a consumer trend. In this series of 4 posts, I will share my thoughts on the evolutions of the past years and the impact on market research. This last post will provide insights on the impact of device switching behavior of consumers.

It didn’t take consumers too long to use digital and mobile devices to their advantage. Today, many families or persons have access to more than one device, but it would be too easy to assume all devices are used for the same purposes. Research found that consumers feel a different connection to each device, and each device plays a distinct role.

Generally, there are 3 categories (but keep in mind that a lot of devices are seeking out gray areas: phablets, netbooks, hybrid tablets ...).

• Smartphone, the on-the-go traffic generator: used for communication and social media, it’s the device that keeps us in touch. More than any device, the smartphone is often the first touch point in a consumer journey.
• Tablet, the shared entertainment center: mostly used at home by multiple people. Half of the tablets sold are used as a shared device.
• Computer, the workhorse: when people need to be productive, need to get things done or need to be efficient, they turn to their computer.

Consumers try to find simplicity in a multi-device world (read the Facebook study), but are unknowingly increasing the challenges for marketing and market research, such as measuring (digital) campaign impact.

A common way to measure campaign impact is analyzing click through behavior. Measuring clicks is however not the same as measuring sales or a change in mindset. Therefor we evolved towards cookie measurement in the past years, to measure actual ad exposure and impact (see also part 2, the shift to observed behavior).

Source: GfK and Facebook (two major challenges for digital campaign measurement)

This cookie approach suits a world where an individual person uses a single device to access the internet and all digital ad contacts can be observed upon that device. We know by now that this is not the reality: consumers use and switch between different devices multiple times a day. Next to this issue, cookies fall short when measuring advertisement in mobile applications such as Facebook or Instagram.

Marketing shifted towards a people-based approach, so should research

In order to deliver personal, relevant content and advertising, marketing shifted to people-based marketing. Research should embrace this consumer-based approach and look for real identities as well, instead of limiting ourselves to campaign based research with cookie tagging or click measurement.

image: people based measurement

By combining data (integration is key!) and insights from a consumer point of view and implementing cross-media research, we can measure impact more precisely and advice manufacturers, retailers, media agencies ... on optimal resource allocation, depending on their soft & hard KPIs.

In June 2015, GfK and Facebook won the IAB Europe research award with a breakthrough pilot, researching the impact of a more engaging, creative TV format versus digital ad exposure. Today we should be ready to make this innovation a standard practice.

Market Research Digitization part 3: the rise of mobile

The digitization of market research (and the society) has been a hot topic for a couple of years now: the year of mobile, the year of big data, the year of social ... we have had them all. Most organizations (and research agencies) have a digital department in some way.

All (digital) evolutions of marketing and market research are however triggered by a consumer trend. In this series of 4 posts, I will share my thoughts on the evolutions of the past years and the impact on market research. Today, we focus on the impact of mobile.

With smartphone and mobile internet penetration hitting 75% in Europe and the Americas (Source: ComScore), we arrived in the mobile era already some time ago. Mobile has often impact beyond obvious observations, for example on consumer shopper behavior. When shopping, consumers use their phones to compare prices, ask for advice or take pictures of products & advertisements (GfK global consumer survey, 2015).

Mobile did however not only change what the path to purchase looks like, but also what’s actually being spend: an average online shopper basket on a computer is worth about € 110, an average smartphone basket only contains a value of € 50 (GfK Belgium, BeCommerce Market Monitor, 2015). This device diversity has huge implications for the online strategy of retailers.

There are two stories to the mobile challenge for market research: on one hand, we need to face threats of research participants using their mobile for research, on the other hand we need to leverage mobile and seize the opportunities as good as possible. I will give an example of a mobile threat (survey respondent) and a mobile opportunity (location based research).

Survey research participation on mobile has impact on set-up, data collection, dropout rates, results ... An important threat is the swipe effect, which raises issues if answer options on a survey question (single or multiple choice) are not all visible on one screen ( i.e., one has to scroll or swipe down to see all the options).

Randomization of answer options might offer a solution to validate relative scores between the options (for example, Coca-cola is better known than Kellogg’s), but not for hard KPIs: Coca Cola aided awareness on computer hits 98%, while on mobile - if only visible after scrolling down, it drops to 88%. The contrary is true as well: top swipeline items tend to score better on mobile.

Source: GfK Belgium, n = 5444, 2014

Thinking mobile (first) and optimizing research for mobile should be any researcher’s concern nowadays. Survey research is only a part of it, it’s the part where we face the challenge of transforming our traditional approach to new devices used by participants. On the other hand, we can also leverage the power of mobile via "research on the go", "research in the moment", "mobile communities" or "location based research".

Researchers or clients often think about location based research in a complicated way (beacons, GPS ...), but one of the best use cases of location based research with mobile might just be TripAdvisor: from location feedback without mobile (evaluate us when you get home) to location based research leveraging the always connected consumer (a poster that says: "evaluate us now").

The mobile evolution: rate us when you get home VS rate us now

The mobile evolution triggers us into thinking mobile (first), but we should be careful to avoid thinking 'mobile only'. An omni-channel research experience, or a device-neutral set-up, should be the starting point.

'It's not our job to tell research participants what they can or can not do' - @RayPoynter #bqmr #mobile #mrx

— Bert Hendrickx (@bhendrickx88) 24 november 2015

In the last post of this series, I will dig deeper into the role of mobile in the device mix and the consequences of device switching behavior. For more information or an extended version, feel free to reach out!

Market Research Digitization part 2: information overload

The digitization of market research (and the society) has been a hot topic for a couple of years now: the year of mobile, the year of big data, the year of social ... we have had them all. Most organizations (and research agencies) have a digital department in some way.

All (digital) evolutions of marketing and market research are however triggered by a consumer trend. In this series of 4 posts, I will share my thoughts on the evolutions of the past years and the impact on market research. With this second post, I will focus on the daily information overload consumers experience.

With the world at our hands, media consumption has drastically changed. Twitter is our main source for news items, hearing something hours after it happened is considered ‘very late’. The amount of available information when looking into a potential purchase is almost unlimited: consumers face the challenge of selecting relevant information and messages.

“The increasing amount of (digital) touchpoints causes an information overload for consumers.”

Market research often ask consumers about their “path to purchase” or “media behavior” via established techniques such as CAWI, CAPI, CATI ... to help marketing departments understand advertisement impact. Exposure to digital banners, pre-rolls ... is however not always actively remembered (which online ads did you see today, yesterday, last week?), neither is online media consumption (which websites - ideally which website pages - did you visit when looking up information about your new microwave?).

"Established research techniques don't capture what is not actively remembered"

With our established techniques, we cannot measure the impact of unconscious media exposure. In order to tackle this challenge, we make the shift from claimed to observed behavior. Instead of surveying research participants we leverage today’s technology to actually observe and register their online behavior and ad exposure.

“By leveraging today’s technology, we make the shift from claimed to observed behavior”

One of the advantages of observed behavior is the ability to compare what consumers think they do (claimed behavior) with what they actually do. When researching cross-border purchase behavior, GfK found for example that for only 50% of online purchases, consumers could correctly tell whether it was purchased domestically or abroad.

Source: Obstacles to the Digital Single Market (published)

Market Research Digitization part 1: market research as a gatekepeer

The digitization of market research (and the society) has been a hot topic for a couple of years now: the year of mobile, the year of big data, the year of social ... we have had them all. Most organizations (and research agencies) have a digital department in some way.

All (digital) evolutions of marketing and market research are however triggered by a consumer trend. In this series of 4 posts, I will share my thoughts on the evolutions of the past years and the impact on market research. Today, we start with the changing role of market research as an information gatekeeper.

A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something, for example via a city gate. In the late 20th century the term came into metaphorical use, referring to individuals or organizations who decide if a certain message will be distributed by a mass medium.

The role of the gatekeeper

Newspapers, TV stations, radio broadcasting ... are traditional examples of gatekeepers, filtering information towards consumers. Today, consumers are being kept up to date via the web, social media, their mobile ... companies as Google and Facebook have become today's gatekeepers, defining what is (not) relevant for even a specific individual.

Market researchers used to be such information gatekeepers as well, defining what part of the consumer voice companies got to hear. We collected (and still do so) data via interviews: face-to-face, via telephone or via an online survey. Being heard was a privilege of 8, 12, 250 or maybe 1000 customers, selected by the researcher for participating in consumer research.

Due to the online and mobile evolution, consumers are now able to shout out to the world whenever, wherever they want. The challenge of market researchers is no longer to collect and hear some of the voices, but to isolate relevant from irrelevant ones.

From hearing one voice to isolating the relevant ones (visual: GfK)

In the following posts, we will dig deeper into the impact of "the age of information overload", "the rise of mobile" and "device-switching behavior".

Emoji: the new universal language

Emoji is the fastest growing language and continues to grow exponentially thanks to today’s smartphone technology. "As a visual language emoji has already far eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor which took centuries to develop," says Professor Vyv Evans of Bangor University (May 2015). Research shows younger generations are more comfortable using new ways of communication to talk to their parents or to discuss serious topics, such as abuse.

Emoji are understood globally, are an informal way to talk to consumers and can lighten the mood . It’s thus no surprise one of the trends in 2015 for brands is to use Emoji in communication, with famous examples such as McDonalds, Taco Bell or the #EndangeredEmoji campaign by WWF . Emoji even have a global celebration day: ‘World Emoji Day’ on June, 17.

In Belgium, 3 out of 4 smartphone owners  use Emoji. 1 in 3 does this on a daily basis. The most frequent users are (not surprisingly) the younger generations: 62% of youngsters, aged 18 – 24 use Emoji daily, this number drops to 44% for 25y – 34y. Elder generations are using Emoji as well (57% of 55y – 65y smartphone owners), but less regularly: only 1 in 10 smartphone owners (aged 55y – 65y) use Emoji on a daily basis. Of course, smartphone penetration is lower for elder generations as well.

Click on the image to view full infographic

Sources

1: ‘Abused Emoji’, http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/04/abused-emoji/ 

2: Emoji on Marketing Week, http://www.marketingweek.com/2015/07/21/are-emojis-becoming-marketers-go-to-global-language/ 

3: Endangered Emoji, http://endangeredemoji.com/

4: Research on 7400 Belgium consumers, August 2015, GfK Belgium

How my OPO represents the global smartphone market

This is my current smartphone. The OnePlus One, or OPO if you like. I have it for about 9 months, and it embodies the 4 major global smartphone trends of Q1 2015.

1. Bigger screens

With a 5.5" 1080p full HD screen, the OPO is without discussion a smartphone with a big screen. Some call it a phablet, some don't. The official minimum phablet size varies between 5" and 5.7". Globally, smartphones with big screens are driving the market growth.

2. The rise of 4G

Having a 4G (LTE) connection is no longer the exlusive right of € 500 + smartphones. Also mid- and low-budget smartphones allow you nowadays to be fully connected on the go. 50% of smartphones sold in Q1 2015 has 4G connectivity.

3. Cheaper handsets

The market of low-end smartphones grew in Q1 2015, the mid-range share remained stable. High-end smartphones lost market share because of this evolution. Low-end smartphones represent over 50% of the global market today.

This evolution is different in Belgium, where the mid-segment is under pressure. Find out more about the 3 Belgian smartphone trends [Dutch].

4. Fast growth of emerging markets

Emerging markets are not only driving the global market growth, but also disrupt the manufacturers' scene. Brands as Xiami, Huawei or Oneplus are no longer exlusive for the APAC region but offer their products worldwide. The markets in Middle East & Africa and emerging APAC are forecasted to grow by 29 to 33% in 2015.

Source: read the full GfK Smartphone market trend report.

Digital at #RW15

Nog 6 dagen, 22 uur en 12 minuten. De applicatie van Rock Werchter 2015 telt af naar de start van mijn persoonlijke hoogmis van de komende weken. Vier dagen vertoeven op de weide, vier dagen genieten van verschillende artiesten in de Barn, Klub C en het hoofdpodium. Niet van de Foo Fighters, maar dat terzijde.

Mijn digitale zelf kreeg een extra boost toen aangekondigd werd dat de samenwerking met playpass uitgebreid werd. Buiten sneller binnen raken en een Facebook status posten, zal je nu ook met je werchterbandje kunnen betalen op de weide: een cash vrij festival.

A long way for a #cashfree society, but looking forward to a cashfree #RW15 - via @RockWerchter @PlayPass_EU http://t.co/UtPOAPpxYz

— Bert Hendrickx (@bhendrickx88) June 11, 2015

Ik registreerde mij, om vervolgens geen bevestigings e-mail te ontvangen. Dat kan gebeuren natuurlijk en ik contacteerde Playpass support via de opgegeven weg. Ik ben voorstander van korte en to the point support, maar "uw registratie was succesvol" in SMS stijl van een "no-reply" adres vind ik toch wel heel beperkt.

Voorlopig heb ik geen verdere info ontvangen op de toch wel relevante vraag: 'hoe en wanneer link ik mijn Paypal zodat ik geen cash moet meebrengen?'. Hopelijk moeten we niet met z'n allen op de weide gaan aanschuiven om de link met Facebook en Paypal te kunnen maken.

Als Playpass en Paypal niet werken, zal Herman me dan wat geld voorschieten, of zal je mobiel kunnen betalen met de bancontact app of SEQR?

Gisteren volgde dan het tweede digitale hoogtepunt: de lancering van de RW15 app. Wat. Een. Teleurstelling. Al dagen wachten we met onze groep vrienden op de app, zodat we onze favorieten kunnen aanduiden en we onze timelines kunnen vergelijken. Zo ging het vorige keer toch.

Rock Werchter ging nu echter in zee met Appmiral, een standaard applicatie voor festivals. Misschien efficiënter en goedkoper, maar voor de festivalganger toch een stevige stap achteruit. Mijn schedule ziet er als volgt uit op mijn toch redelijk groot scherm (5'5 inch):

Moest ik niet weten dat er drie podia zijn, de Barn zou aan mij geen frequente bezoeker hebben. Via diamant-icoontjes kan je wel je favoriete artiesten aanduiden. Dankzij @Ineswillems heb ik dat overzicht dan terug gevonden bij mijn profiel, in plaats van bij mijn schedule.

@bhendrickx88 twee pintjes en t is ok ;-)

— Ines (@InesWillems) June 18, 2015

Appmiral reageerde alvast op Twitter dat er begin volgende week een update van de app uitgerold wordt. Mijn persoonlijke voorkeur zou zijn geen beta-versie de weide wereld in te sturen, maar nu het toch zo is, alvast wat gratis advies:

• Integreer het plan van de weide
• Maak het 'schedule' volledig zichtbaar, of horizontaal met een duidelijke tijdsaanduiding
• Gebruik de Facebook login om te linken met vrienden en een gedeeld schema te kunnen zien
• Integreer een alfabetische lijst van artiesten
• Een desktop / web versie om je festival voor te bereiden
• Integratie met Playpass voor leuke (je bent X tijd op de weide) en nuttige (je hebt al € X uitgegeven) weetjes

Nog 6 dagen, 21 uur en 5 minuten tot #RW15, ik ben benieuwd!

My first ten days with the Moto 360

As you know, I have been looking forward wearing a smartwatch for quite some time. Last week, it was finally the time when I was able to order the Moto 360, Motorola's smartwatch. Combining stylish design and Android wear, it's my favorite smartwatch currently available. Allow me to share with you why I fell in love with a € 250 technology gadget after only a couple of days.

It was time #smartwatch #moto360 #androidwear #tech #toysforboys

A photo posted by Bert Hendrickx (@bhendrickx88) on Jan 6, 2015 at 3:14am PST

1) It's a watch, it tells you what time it is

Prepare yourself if you consider buying a smartwatch, people will ask you 'what does it do?'. There is however a short answer to that question: 'It's a watch, it tells you what time it is'. After all, smart or not, that is what watches are supposed to do. Motorola and Google kept this in mind while designing the user experience: no screen touches, no buttons, no voice commands ... you just turn your wrist as with any traditional watch you've ever had, and it shows you the time. 

2) It guides you during a busy day

As I have been using Google Now for quite some time already, my smartwatch didn't face to much challenges getting to know me. My smartphone and Google Now already told me the traffic in the morning, the weather, my upcoming meetings ... I don't get up with my watch on, so I still check my smartphone first. However during the day, I don't.

During the day, it's the Moto 360 that keeps me on track. It tells me I have another meeting in '30, or in '15, where that meeting is and what time I should leave from wherever I am at that moment. I don't have to worry about forgetting something, my wrist reminds me.

3) It offers distance from your smartphone

One of the initial ideas behind Android Wear is reducing the time we spend (loose) during the day by checking our phone far to often (i.e. for notifications). The Moto 360 provides a filter, reducing the need to pull out your phone. Notifications are pushed towards the watch immediately, allowing yourself to decide whether or not it is important enough to grab your phone. For me, it works like a filter during both office hourse (being more productive) and private time (no, or at least less FOMO*).

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl4Qne-RpcM

So far, the smartwatch basically offers a convenient way of using Google Now and your notifications on your wrist. There is room for improvement, for example Dutch voice commands, and actual useful apps are still rare. However, I'd like to share the MyShopi smartwatch app, one I actually use.

As stated before, I expect a smartwatch to guide me during the day, and to look like a watch. The Moto 360 and Android Wear manage to do just that. Sophisticated simplicity on your wrist, that is why I love it.

*FOMO or the 'Fear of missing out' is a form of social anxiety, whereby one is compulsively concerned that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or an other satisfying event (source: Wikipedia)

The Cloakroom: your online personal shopper

As you could read in my previous post, the fashion industry is one of the industries heavily disrupted by digital transformation. New players like Zalando and Vente-Exclusive became very important very quickly, and it doesn’t look like offline fashion retailers have found a solution to this new competition just yet. The online shopper is quite rational and price-sensitive, something both previous mentioned retailers understand and use to their advantage. Traditional retailers are struggling to compete online and are failing to meet Zalando’s combination of price, product range and delivery options, or Vente Exclusive’s temporary offers.

Traditional (offline), mortar stores compete strongly on the shop experience, and the price premium consumers are willing to pay. The same product can be sold for a higher price because of a different (not per se better) instore experience, customer service or store image. An online price premium for a product will be very hard to claim, if not directly linked to a better service such as faster delivery. The challenge lies in creating a unique, online shopper experience, bridging the gap between on- and offline. “The Cloakroom” does just that.

The Cloakroom, a Dutch company, claims to combine (some of the) advantages of online and offline shopping. As I was in need for a decent holiday outfit, I decided to give it a try a couple of weeks ago. The set-up is quite easy: you register with some basic information and take a ‘style quiz’ where you select different pictures of models dressed in a specific style. For different occasions, you select different outfits (pictures) you would wear: costume, business smart, casual smart, sportive, chique ... Based on your profile, a personal shopper reaches out to you.

"Our mission is to help men build and maintain a stylish wardrobe in a manner that is simple and convenient." - The Cloakroom

I received an e-mail and telephone call from Ilona. She introduced herself and the Cloakroom, explaining that based on our facebook connection (pictures), our talk (needs) and my style quiz, she would select 3 outfits and send them to me in a box, free of charge. We discussed what I was looking for, price range and style, and my box was delivered only a couple of days later.

  

The box came with a personal letter from Ilona, instructions for products I wanted to return and a price list. Was I 100% satisfied with what Ilona sent me? No. Would it have been totally free if I would have returned everything? Yes. It is however hard to return everything, as it would feel like saying they did a terrible job, which they didn't. I decided to keep one outfit I really liked and returned the other products - transport costs are paid for by The Cloakroom in advance.

For the pieces I returned, the reason why was asked in order to improve the next box. For the pieces I kept, I paid the (offline) retailer price. If I looked for the exact same products online, I probably would have been able to save some money. Because of the concept, however, I was prepared to pay the online price premium. Combining this personal approach (who doesn't like a personal shopper you don't actually need to go shopping with?) with the advantages of online shopping (speed, convenience, no overcrowded stores) is a winning strategy for digital native (and probably a lot of other) men. It isn't a suprise that there are some competitors out there, Outfittery to name one.

The Cloakroom succeeded in turning an offline service into an online USP. Of course there is room for improvement, but I I'm hooked on the concept. I'm not a mirror-selfie fan, but I'll make an exception for Ilona. A late merry christmas, and let's enter 2015 in style!

Unpacking the digital consumer

With Future Buy, I researched the digital consumer anno 2014 for my employer, GfK. The results of this study are presented on different events such as the Ecommerce Xpo of last week in Kortrijk. Vincent Panneels (@20100panneels) attended this conference and wrote a review / summary of the presentation. You can find the slides and his summary below, enjoy!

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Unpacking the digital consumer, GFK’s Future Buy report presented at E-COMMERCE Expo

During its first edition, the fair E-COMMERCE Expo didn’t simply present booths of companies active in the e-commerce or digital industry. Seminars were also organized to enhance the offer of the event and we had the opportunity to follow quite an interesting one, a presentation of the Future Buy report, by Bert Hendrickx of GFK. Of course it was very summarized and quickly presented to fit the seminar format (30 minutes only), but it highlighted quite a few interesting facts.

Be consistent

There were quite a few key facts that were presented. Such as

• Belgium still seems to be behind its European neighbors when it comes to E-commerce (92% of people do think so).
• Three out of four also admit they already filed a complaint against retailers or companies through different medias
  • 58% through email
  • 33% over the phone
  • and 25% used the corporate website

The arrival of smartphones allowing to combine different medias in one device, had actually one great impact for companies. Your consumer doesn’t care about the way he is in contact with your company. But he cares about the fact that all communications he has with you, must follow the same consistency.

Consistency needs to be applied on all channels of communication. And that is the essential impact of omnichannel.

Also, be sure that the omnichannel approach is coming to your category. Maybe today some categories are more impacted. For example, it is the case for fashion or technical goods. Those categories experience more the impact of pure players (e.g Zalando, Bol.com…). But in the future, all categories will be impacted even the ones who seem behind today (e.g. Healthcare, education, automotive…).

Who is the Xtreme shopper?

Actually, consumers using mobile to do their purchase or interact with companies and retailers, needed to be analyzed a bit more. For this study, GFK took a closer look at the group they qualify as Xtreme shopper. These are consumers you need to consider for the future, as they are young and here to stay. GFK uncovered three key findings

• Staying away is the new loyalty: A happy shopper doesn’t necessarily come back to your online store if he is happy with his purchase. However, if one has a bad experience with your shop, one necessarily will never come back.
• Offline drives on experience: real physical stores need to play on the experiences a shopper cannot have online. So far, being stimulated with smell, taste, or touch are not experiences one can enjoy online.
• Make online more personal: Online stores have many different information, even unique personal information about their customers. So online retailers should take advantage of the information they have in order to make the shopper’s experience more personal and tailor-made.

Don’t forget your mainstream shopper

Very well said by the speaker. Online is here to stay, but don’t forget the mainstream shopper visiting your stores. From this short presentation, we learnt a few key points from the study about online shoppers and e-commerce. And these will certainly bring more fuel to the engine of the “clicks and bricks” debate. In my opinion, the future will be successful for the companies and retailers who still think of making unique experiences of both online and physical stores. Just remember, consistency is key.

source: http://20100retail.be/en/articles/27/unpacking-the-digital-consumer-gfk-s-future-buy-report-presented-at-e-commerce-expo 

The (Social) Science of complaining

I wrote this post originally for the GfK blog. GfK is a global market research agency, and my employer. You can find the original post here.

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Remember that time you wrote a letter and sent it to your energy provider because you were unsatisfied with your bill? The digital evolution has caused a lot of changes in the (corporate) world, while the rise of Social Media has taken away the role of ‘gatekeepers’, holding off information, or complaints.

3 out of 4 Belgians have complained at least once, and more and more these complaints are taken to Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. They reach out, not only to manufacturers, retailers or service providers, but also to millions of other consumers. This requires a whole new approach from the company to the complainer.

While more traditional channels are still the most popular way of voicing complaints in Belgium, Social Media is definitely on the rise. E-mail (58%), telephone (33%), and corporate websites (25%) are the most popular channels due to the easier access for the elderly. It might not come as a surprise that the younger generations (even up to age 44) turn more towards Social Media.

In general, 6% of Belgian consumer has used Social Media to file a complaint to a company, just under the United Kingdom (7%). However, of all youngsters (15 – 24) who have send out a complaint, 18% used Social Media to do so. Facebook is the most popular platform amongst all generations, with Twitter being second. Other social networks (Instagram, LinkedIn, Google + …) are almost never used, however they are also on the rise with consumers under 25 (3%).

Social Media as a megaphone after not being heard

We took a closer look at the complaints shared via Social Media. Half of them were ‘fresh’ complaints, where Social Media was used as the preferred channel to reach out to companies. The other half of the complaints via Social Media only ended up there because of no or insufficient reaction on earlier attempts via other channels such as telephone or e-mail.

It’s no wonder then that one of the main drivers of using Social Media as a compliant channel is to (finally) get into contact with the company: 1 in 4 did not receive any or a sufficient reaction via other channels, also 1 in 4 states to use Social Media as a ‘last resort to get into contact with the company’. This is linked directly to the fact that people use Social Media as a form of ‘peer pressure’: almost 4 out of 10 states ‘reaching as many people as possible’ as an important driver.

Speed is however the most common reason to use Social Media: not only do consumers expect faster response (42%), but also a faster actual solution (33%). At last, Social Media is perceived as more convenient than other channels (29%). These drivers behind Social Media usage are the same regardless age, gender, social class …

Complaints via Social Media are likely only to grow over time. Today, half of those complaints however could have been avoided if sufficient earlier follow-up via other, more traditional – private – channels would have taken place. Because of the social aspect and the disappeared gatekeeper, Social Media is driving companies to handle complaints faster, better and with more open communication.

Not available on the appstore

I would be lying if I told you I never play mobile games such as Angry Birds, Flappy Bird or the recent hype "2048". They probably ring a bell with almost all mobile phone or tablet owners. Downloaded from the appstore or Google Play within seconds, those low-end games offer hours of mobile entertainment.

This recent form of entertainment has certainly reached the younger generation, kids, adolescents ... hanging out in group but all individually playing or social networking via their mobile device. Forgetting to go outside, experience and see the world ... for real.

Sometimes, we just forget there isn't an app for everything, that is just the message this Tumblr wants to spread. They offer stickers with the message "not available on the app store" to raise awareness for day-to-day real-life experiences, a brilliant series of photos ... (more on http://notonappstore.com/).

Dear twitter, I don't like what I see

Dear twitter,

No, I do not like to scroll down. No, I don't like it when I have to undertake an extra action to see what I want to see.

When I visit someone's twitter profile, I would probably like to undertake one of the following actions.

• read his or her tweets
• follow his or her tweets
• tweet to that specific account
• find out who he or she is

He or she can of course also refer to a band, company or whatever the twitter profile is representing on the medium.

Here is what I probably don't want to see at first glance when I visit a twitter profile

• a big ass cover picture covering half of my screen
• one or no tweets of this account
• no possibility of tweeting to this account

When I want to undertake the actions of my first list, I need to scroll down to complete intentions 1 (read more than one tweet) and 3 (tweet to that account). That is, if I were not to be horrified by the account's cover picture.

Dear twitter, please update the profile pages with some common - user experience - sense because, no, I don't like what I see.

Multi-device advertising

Today I stumbled upon a print ad in a newspaper about a real estate company. Ok, I didn't find it myself, it showed up in my twitterstream (thanks @Brilliant_Ads).

Nothing special at first sight, but when you look closely at the ad, you can see they just took multi device usage to the next level.

Recent research showed that a lot of people switch devices while performing a certain task (I mentioned this research earlier) and Harcourts is just ahead of this trend: click on this traditional newspaper print ad to find out how you can add $$$'s to the value of your house when selling!

Some might say it's just a print ad fail, but is it really so absurd? Glasshole or not (I am - unfortunately - not), this might just be the future.

Have a look at how Google Glass is used to make reading the newspaper more like reading a website at Engadget.

It's about connecting anyone who reads the (actual, physical) newspaper to everything that doesn't make in on to the page, whether that's more photos, related articles, or video.

It's time

It has been on my 'wanted' list for over a year: a smartwatch. The last months, I have had many chances for buying one. Nevertheless, it's only on my wishlist, not on my wrist.

Why? I don't want to buy just any smartwatch, I don't want a cellphone on my wrist. I want a watch, that is also smart.

Too bad, this is in contrast with today's try-outs of many brands (The Pebble, Sony Smartwatch, Samsung Gear ...). They have many technical issues (bad battery life, only compatible with some devices, too basic ...), but most of all, they don't look like real watches.

Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style. - Kobe Bryant

In my opinion, a smartwatch needs to start with the essential: being a watch, telling you the time. Next to that, it should support you during your (busy) days. Keeping your schedule, keeping you up to date, keeping you on track.

A couple of days ago, Google launched 'Android Wear', an OS for smartwatches. And however it seemed like something for the future, Motorola already took it to the next level two days ago. Enter the Moto 360, a watch that seems to be smart.

Moto 360. It's time.

The concept videos are promising, but we will only know if Motorola can keep up it's promises during the summer. My birthday is the 30th of July, can I finally scratch 'smartwatch' of my wishlist then?

more info on their beautiful website

One Hundred and Forty

A Tweet is a 140-character message posted via twitter. One Hundred and Forty characters. 140. That is the absolute maximum.

If you want your content to be shared via twitter, foresee a tweet-button that shows a message of 140 characters. Or less.

Market research agency GfK (free publicity for my employer!) and Facebook did research on device switching behaviour during online activities (visiting websites, shopping ...). The results were picked up on different online blogs. As it should be, a tweet button was available to share the content.

I decided to share the results of the research via my twitter account.

But then this happened ...

The second blog I read, also had a share-to-twitter functionality.

I even had 33 characters to add my own thoughts or hashtags. Guess which one I shared?

#Facebook and @gfk_en research finds 42% switch device mid-activity http://t.co/weaGzvctvQ #mrx #custexp

— Bert Hendrickx (@bhendrickx88) March 7, 2014

Tweet seats

Zaterdag (8 maart 2014) treedt Ali B op in de Arenbergschouwburg van Antwerpen (meer info). Drie gelukkigen kunnen het optreden gratis bijwonen. Hoe? Via drie gereserveerde tweet seats.

Tweet·seat (de; m; meervoud: tweet seats)

1. Gratis toegangsticket voor een event in ruil voor het regelmatig posten van twitterupdates.

Drie gelukkigen mogen gratis naar het concert in ruil voor regelmatige updates over het concert via hun twitterprofiel. De opzet bestaat er in mensen die geen ticket konden bemachtigen toch te laten meegenieten van het concert, de tweets mogen immers gekleurd worden met videos of foto's. Toeschouwers worden aangezet om ambassadeurs te worden van het concert, Ali B en de schouwburg.

"We bepalen hun mening niet. Als ze iets niet goed vinden, mogen ze dat ook melden.’ - Kim Geerdens (woordvoerster)

Dat sociale media er voor zorgt dat mensen die niet aanwezig zijn toch bepaalde events (deels) kunnen volgen is uiteraard niet nieuw. Tijdens of na een optreden, presentatie, festival ... is er massaal veel media online terug te vinden. Zo waren we vorig weekend allemaal aanwezig tijdens de oscars.

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

Twitteren (of facebooken, of snapchatten, of ...) tijdens events gebeurt echter vaak spontaan, en zijn zo'n tweets niet meer waard dan een betaalde tweet van Jan Modaal? Als natuurlijk per optreden drie personen aangeduid worden om de sociale wereld te entertainen, kunnen we vanaf nu wel weer gewoon met onze eigen oren en ogen genieten van wat er zich op het podium afspeelt.

Brisbane man forced to watch concert with his eyes after forgetting mobile phone. Full details: http://t.co/JKOIHoDNMO

— The Shovel (@The_Shovel_) December 9, 2013