Captivating Connections.

apps vs. mobile web.

When it comes to using apps vs. the mobile web, which one do you rely on and access via your mobile devices?

Personally, I tend to rely on the tried and true apps I have found to love and rely on, like Maps and HopStop. However, when something is outside my knowledge base, I have no issue tapping open the mobile web and doing a quick search to get what I need.

While both apps and the mobile web are increasing in popularity, according to Niesel, apps are beating out the mobile web or time spent. In fact, "the amount of time spent with apps versus the mobile Web increased to 81% from 73% a year ago."

What else did they find?

- The average time spent on apps per day has changed in the last year, up two minutes to 39 minutes.

- People are dividing their attention across a wider selection of apps; the proportion of time spent among the 50 most popular apps declined from 74% to 58% in the last year.

- However, the top 5 apps (Facebook, YouTube, Android Market [now Google Play], Google Search and Gmail) remain unchanged from a year ago. Perhaps related to the people spreading time over a more diverse group of apps is the fact that the average number of apps per smartphone has risen, from 32 to 41.

organic & food-allergy marketplaces are set to be fruitful.

According to new research, both the organic market and the food-allergy market  have only just begun to bear 'fruit' and enjoy success.

According to a report from Global Industry Analysts, Inc., thanks to an increase in food sensitivies and allergies, "the global market for food allergy/intolerance products will continue to explode, reaching a projected $26.5 billion-plus by 2017." This can't be shocking for most of you; if you poll a group of 10-20 people, I can almost guarantee someone will have some sort of allergy, senstivity, intolerence, etc. In fact, in the past decade alone, food allergy incidences have risen ~10.5%. That's crazy!

This is great news for those who suffer from these allergies and issues, as it means they'll have more and more options to choose from. Suffering from ANYTHING is hard enough; having increased options to enjoy and make everyday life feel more 'normal' is a great thing.

I'm not sure if this has a halo effect on organic foods, or if organic foods is enjoying it's boom due to an increased focus on health & wellness in the U.S., but, according to the Organic Trade Association, "sales of organic products rose 9.5% in 2011 to $31.5 billion, crossing the $30 billion mark for the first time." While price is still an issue (many consumers dismiss organic foods because they consider them to be too expensive compared to generic products), as the recession's effect subside, consumers are increasingly open to investing in organics for themselves and their families.

So how does this growth break out?

- Organic food sales grew by 9.4%

- Fruit and vegetables accounting for 41% of all purchases

- Dairy products came in second with 14.6%,

- Packaged and prepared foods followed with 13.6%

-Meat, fish and poultry is the fastest-growing of the eight food categories, up 13% from 2010 (it should be noted that it still remains the smallest, accounting for just 1.8% of all organic food sales)

Of course organic (just like healthier foods) faces issues due to consumer confusion (people don't understand the difference between terms like 'organic', 'natural', 'local', etc.), but this is a great opportunity for brands to help consumer gain shopping confidence by helping them better understand the many terms they see in the grocery store, and recognize how to shop smarter and better (no matter how they define 'better').

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173164/organic-heats-up-breaks-30-billion-mark.html?edition=46089#ixzz1t4B45M5g

how did you become so addicted to games?

Anyone who has played me in Scramble knows it's all gameface when it's time to connect those tiles. However, I'm also proud to admit that I've never played Angry Birds. Fruit Ninja, though, is another story....

The real question is, how did we go from being gaming geeks hanging out at the arcade to all of us now keeping our heads down and we play away on our smartphones and tablets? How did we get so addicted?

The NYTimes has a great article looking at the history of addicting "stupid games," and how, "in the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games."

For something considered "stupid," there's a lot of interesting thoughts. For example, "game-studies scholars (there are such things) like to point out that games tend to reflect the societies in which they are created and played. Monopoly, for instance, makes perfect sense as a product of the 1930s — it allowed anyone, in the middle of the Depression, to play at being a tycoon. Risk, released in the 1950s, is a stunningly literal expression of cold-war realpolitik. Twister is the translation, onto a game board, of the mid-1960s sexual revolution. One critic called it 'sex in a box.'" Aggressive.

Wait! Does this mean our "stupid games" come from our culture of stupidity? Did reality TV win?!

This is my favorite idea from the article: "Stupid games, on the other hand, are rarely occasions in themselves. They are designed to push their way through the cracks of other occasions. We play them incidentally, ambivalently, compulsively, almost accidentally. They’re less an activity in our day than a blank space in our day; less a pursuit than a distraction from other pursuits. You glance down to check your calendar and suddenly it’s 40 minutes later and there’s only one level left before you jump to the next stage, so you might as well just launch another bird."

What do you think about "stupid games" and how most people love to call them stupid but wouldn't dare give them up?

as coupon use increases, marketers' tactics diversify.

While coupon popularity among consumers may be increasing, marketers may be slowly moving away from coupon offerings.

According to NCH Marketing Services, "food marketers drastically cut their use of coupons last year, issuing 13.1% fewer coupons than they did in the prior year. That amounted to 305 billion coupons, a decline of 8.1% in all categories." Howver, it should be noted that "2011 coupon distribution was comparable to 2007, with 20 billion more coupons -- a 7% increase jump -- available to shoppers. And the $470 billion of coupon value in 2011 is a 26% increase from 2007."

Thanks to the economic crisis and increased consumer savvy, there's definately a hunger for coupons among consumers; "coupon-craving consumers redeemed $4.6 billion in savings, a jump of 12.2% from the year prior, and a 58.6% increase from five years ago."

While marketers are responding in various ways, including changing the offerings, the savings, the redemption opportunities, and more, depending on the category, new tactics are being attempted. For example, I previously wrote about how retailers are testing different types of pricing strategies.

What other types of tactics have you seen?

smart(er) shoppers leading to smart(er) shopping.

The NY Times has a great article looking at how consumer smarts and tactics are increasingly impacting the shopping experience, including pricing. 

As the article explains, "pricing has always been a tug of war between retailer and shopper, with the retailer having more muscle." However, the Internet and the slew of apps that have hit our smartphones and browsers (incuding daily deals, coupons, price comparisons, etc.), have given consumers new weapons in the war on prices, and are forcing retailers to be more flexible in their pricing.

In this day and age, there's really no such thing as a set price anymore. 

Think about the last time you bought a pair of pants: Did it cross your mind to do one of the following?

1. Look up (online, on an app, in a circular) if they were on sale somewhere?

2. See if someone else offered it cheaper than the retailer you were looking at to make your purchase?

3. Search online to see if you could get it cheaper? The retailer's website? Ebay?

Apps and the Internet are making all of this easier for you, and more difficult for retailers. The new shopper mentaliy really has become "there's never a reason to pay full price." We're way too savvy for that.

As consumers become experts, brands are trying plenty of tactics. For example, "J.C. Penny has introduced a streamlined system: daily prices, lower monthlong specials and clearance prices. Mango, the fashion retailer, has cut all prices by one-fifth. Stein Mart, the specialty chain, has reduced its coupons. Supervalu, the grocery chain, has sworn off heavy promotions and lowered some prices. Even Walmart has pledged to match competitors’ prices if it sets its own too high."

The real result is an interesting game of cat and mouse, with each side trying to outfox the other. However, at what point do these tactics from retailers just consumer the customer to take a pass on their offerings? Aren't these consumers tools supposed to empower by providing simplicity, not forcing the retailer to increasingly 'complixify' their strategy?

What do you think of these pricing strategies? Do they impact your shopping habits?

Facebook user growth slows as Twitter's grows.

Let's be serious: Everyone and their mother (literally!) is on Facebook. Therefore, it's not a suprise that new user growth is slowing down. How do you maintain growth when there's nobody new to sign up?

According to eMarketer, "As recently as 2010, growth in US Facebook usage was well into the double digits, at 38.6%...But with 116.8 million US internet users already logging on to the site at least once monthly that year, growth rates were bound to plateau.

By 2011 Facebook user growth rose a comparatively small 13.4%, and this year will be the first when growth rates drop to the single digits. Rates of change in the US will continue to decline throughout eMarketer’s forecast period."

Meanwhile, Twitter, which is still pretty new to a lot of people, is experiencing mega growth, driven by people becoming increasingly comfortable with social media and increasingly proficient (and in possession of) smartphones and tablets.

"On Twitter, by contrast, growth is stronger. Last year’s 31.9% increase in users outpaced that of 2010, when growth was at 23.5%. Similar to Facebook’s trajectory, Twitter’s growth rate will also fall in the coming years, but still remain nearly four times higher than Facebook’s growth rate in 2014."

eCommerce isn't the only thing growing as mCommerce dials up the heat.

We know eCommerce is becoming increasingly popular (see my earlier post here). However, part of that reason is due to consumer investment in and comfort with web-enabled portable devices like tablets and smartphones.

It makes sense, then, that if eCommerce is growing, so too is mCommerce. In fact, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) "estimated that nine out of 10 U.S. consumers own a tablet, smartphone or a cell phone, amounting to 216 million mobile device owners. More than one-third (37%) of mobile users are engaging in some form of mobile commerce -- either shopping and/or purchasing online or in physical stores, or using coupons or gift cards."

What are consumers most likely shopping for on mobile devices?

- Music (43%)

- Movies (38%) ------> Note how music and movies are things that can be insta downloaded and used immediately vs. a tangible item!

- Events/ticketing (37%)

- Clothing/footwear (36%)

- Books (35%)

And what about spending? "Men are expected to outspend women in mobile purchases this year, by $677 to $489. Among age groups, those 35-44 are projected to spend the most at $664 on average, while people making over $75,000 annually will spend $686 via mobile devices."

Those of you who have seen my latest iPanel Insights presentation know there are some barriers to mCommerce, such as limitations and capabilities of the devices itself (screen size, browser capabilities, etc.) as well as a general sense that consumers are getting more comfortable, but are not quite there yet, when it comes to make purchases via smartphones and tablets.

What do you think? Do you engage in mCommerce?

does (screen) size matter?

According to Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB), when it comes to content, consumers aren't so picky about their screen size. This is quite different from research we have seen the past few years, which note that consumers have been increasing their comfort around different sized screens but still had their preferences.

CMB found that "58% of people who viewed programming on a tablet did so in their homes -- and of these, 63% did so even though the program they were watching was available on their televisions." Meanwhile, while "74% of consumers ages 16-29 had watched programming online, 39% of consumers 50-75 had also watched a television program or movie online. And their preferred method of watching such programming is either through a network Web site (27%) or Netflix (24%). Only 12% of consumers said they watched through their TV provider’s Web portal (such as Comcast’s Xfinity.com)."

What does this mean? Peter Fondulas, founder of Fondulas Strategic Research, which worked on the project with CMB, explains that “the big media companies have been comforted in this notion that the biggest available screen is always going to win in any situation. That may have been true a while ago, but people have become more open to devices and may even prefer [smaller screens] in some situations.”

What do you think?

surprising & delighting someone can go a long way (in business).

Happy Valentine's Day! There's no more appropriate time to talk about a trend I first brough up in 2010, the notion of surprise and delight. All too often, brands think it's acceptable to simply deliver on their promises, and that consumers should be grateful for a brand that properly works.

Um, aren't they paying for your product or service with the (correct) expectation that it should work? That doesn't deserve a pat on the back.

There are also those brands who have pushed the notion of rewards, such as the 'buy x get one free' or the discounts someone can earn by being a loyal shopper.

Forget rewards; what about finding fun ways to surprise and delight the consumer? Making their day when they are least expecting it? Doing something different that shakes them up, wakes them up, and makes them grateful?

That's just what Best Buy did, when they sent a select group of Reward Zone loyalty program members tickets to an exclusive preview of "Twilight Eclipse."

As Bob Soukup, senior director-loyalty at Best Buy, explained it, "Loyalty is about financial rewards where you earn points and use points, and that's great and valuable, but we want to capture customers' hearts and minds."

The idea of surprise and delight is HUGE!Giving your consumer something they don't expect from your or your relationship is a great way to connect with them and inspire them to be even more loyal.

baby boomers DO shop online.

My dad (who is celebrating his birthday today! happy brithday dad!) has what I like to call a small 'problem': he has an Amazon.com addiction. No, seriously. Every time we have a conversation about a project one of us like, a few days later there's inevitable a package from Amazon from him with said product in it. He even write product recomendations and places orders on monthly auto renewal.

I love it, and also think it's hilarious, but the point of this little story is that he, like many other Baby Boomers, DO shop online.

In fact, according to a study by the Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research, "52% of shoppers ages 50-54 are purchasing health and beauty products online, while 29% have bought food and beverage products online -- more than any other age group," debunking the myth that Boomers don't shop online.

So why are they shopping online? The same reason many of the rest of us shop online: DEALS! As Andrew Morse, director of insight and strategy at the Integer Group, explains, "The fact that the Boomer generation is buying more products online is less surprising in the context that the same group are core club store shoppers as well. We know Boomers are frugal; they seek out value for money in any situation. The same behavior is carrying through online.”