Market researchers make 2 basic mistakes, continuously.
They ask consumers/customers their views on things with which they have no experience, typically new products. This gives results that are rarely accurate, as there is no context against which potential consumers/customers can judge the relative performance of the...
Another day, another dollar
I should comment about the Federal budget handed down on Tuesday night, it is expected, so here goes, on behalf of the small businesses I work with. The bank is still chasing to reduce the overdraft. Sales are still hard to get, and getting harder, and margins are...
Category management
Category Management is an FMCG term being bandied around so much that is coming to mean nothing in particular, because it is so widely used. In its genesis, it was an expression used to describe the manner in which retailers managed their limited shelf space and range...
Target market cartoon
Tom Fishburne nails it with this cartoon satirising the target market conversations that occur with monotinous regularity in many marketing/advertising offices. Many just do not get it, that to be "remarkable" to use Seth Godins term, is crucial to attracting an...
Must have Vs Nice to have
Feature creep, along with its big brother, range extension, have been mainstays of marketing activity for 50 years. Marketers should now start thinking about, and asking consumers about the relative value of new features or variants. Ask them what they must have, and...
Stages in chain development
Over many years of being involved in the evolution of demand chains, there appears to be a number of stages through which they evolve. It is almost always iterative, often with many false starts and dead ends, but those that persist, display the following stages:...
Can “e- newspapers” survive without the paper version
In a recent blog I mused about the business model of the newspaper industry, wondering if it could survive , given the inroads of the web. It is also reasonable to ask if the e-paper can survive without the paper version. How hard wired is the behavior that leads to...
Ultimate collaborative mechanism
The uneven distribution of power in a supply chain is the norm. To move beyond simple supply to a value chain, or further to a demand chain, the decision making power needs to be distributed more evenly through the chain via collaborative mechanisms. The ultimate...
A contract and an act of trust
Two weeks ago, on coming to an agreement with a new client, sealed with a handshake, I indicated I would send him a letter that outlined our agreement. Pretty standard practice in my industry, but his response surprised me. He asked " do we need our agreement in...
Visualise to succeed
All of my four kids were elite athletes, petty unusual in one family, particularly as the sports they excelled in were different. Apart from being naturally very good athletes, and being prepared to work very hard, they have one common trait: They all visualised the...