The paper presents a study in which the short term effects of advertising on purchase behaviour were measured with single source data from a micro test market. The results show that real advertising effects are smaller than expected according to John Philip Jones STAS measurement. The authors conclude that Jones STAS measures a mixture of individually mediating effects, trade promotional effects and advertising effects, nothing that really helps to judge TV advertising effectiveness in general. They recommend to use a revised indicator, the so called adjusted STAS, to get a first indication whether advertising has a short term effect and to be able to estimate the effects of other interfering variables on purchase behaviour.
The first part of this paper deals with the complexities associated with definition of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Good) retail outlets and their classification in India. It outlines the changes in outlet type and stocking patterns over time and elaborates on the methodology used for efficient stratification. The results are based on retail census studies conducted periodically by Operations Research Group, the latest being, CORE 95 (Census On Retail Environment 95). In the second part of this paper the authors suggest a model building exercise to capture the dynamics in the retailing universe. The proposed model will help to predict the rate of growth of retail outlets, for various outlet types and turnover categories. The model facilitates the updating of the universe even at the monthly level. This in turn would mean more accurate and meaningful off take estimates.
In France, over the last five years, consumer purchasing trends have undergone immense changes and have therefore been thrown back into question. With regard to marketing practices, this has led to increased difficulty in understanding the consumers purchasing decision process. There also have been far reaching changes in the supply of consumer goods. Manufacturers are carrying out structural and organisational modifications in order to adapt their brand management to these challenges, but they will also need to set up information systems to evaluate the new operations. The authors present a new information system for brand management called Prometheus.
The current paper describes the development of purchasing and income panel survey from a basic households economic information source to a complex, model-based test panel. Great importance has been attached to the advantages of a households panel survey in the stage of the societys rapid development and the situation where the system of registers as a source of information has not fully formed yet. The second part of the paper presents examples of how the data from the panel survey can be used.
Throughout Europe, the economic situation has been rapidly changing during the past few years: high unemployment rates, decreasing wages, rising taxes, considerable efforts taken to meet the demands of the Maastricht Contract reveal that our economy is far from being stable. As a consequence, the consumers spending power is significantly decreasing, leading to the fact that both manufacturers and retailers have to thoroughly investigate the market situation in order to sell their products: questions on what is driving their markets, on the competitive environment, on where and how to advertise are only a few which need to be answered. As a matter of fact, new questions provoke a demand for new solutions. For this reason, marketing research institutes have developed a number of more or less sophisticated tools for analysing retail and consumer data in order to shed light upon purchasing and consumer behaviour.
The demands of cost containment, government budget restrictions and increasingly knowledgeable and demanding patients in the hospital environment are widely recognised. In order for suppliers to the hospital sector to provide optimum products and services at reasonable cost levels, detailed and up-to-date information is required. It is also recognised that information from the hospital sector is less robust in some areas. In order to meet some of these information needs Pharma Strategy Group has developed a market research protocol for Ethicon EndoSurgery Europe (a division of Johnson & Johnson) to evaluate activities in the hospital operating theatre environment in four major European markets: France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom. The challenge of the research was to conduct market research in a complex and busy environment and to collect a large volume of data to provide accurate and timely results for Ethicon Endo-Surgery and for other interested companies. In a second step, the scope of the data which must be collected is essential for medical device companies in particular. This paper will address the challenges involved with filling information gaps in the hospital environment and the solutions derived to meet these objectives.
The paper reviews the developments which have taken place in the retailer panel services in the late 80's and early 90's, with specific reference to the move from retail audits to scanning based services and the current trend towards census data. The dramatic growth of data volumes associated with these changes have brought into the industry the need for the latest in information technology and a new way of handling and analyzing the data. The paper discusses the trends towards harmonising data, structuring hierarchies and creating order. It draws a clear distinction between multi-dimensional databases and data warehouses and between data mining and data drilling, and explains in some detail the meanings behind the terms. Whereas much of the technical and theoretical aspects associated with the latest technology are kept to a minimum, there is a focus on the essence, meaning and implications to the end user. The current trends toward manufacturer specific data warehouses are challenged and it is argued that users who now re-focus on modelling and analytical techniques and data mining technologies will quickly benefit more than their competitors who continue to focus on ordering data in their own data warehouse environments.
This paper describes how consumer panels in Great Britain have been developed in recent years to provide a wide range of services that are of specific relevance to grocery retailers. The paper will go on to describe in more detail three new services that further enhance the retailers understanding of their consumers buying behaviour. The first of these looks at catchment areas, or the distance that consumers travel to their chosen retailer and the ways that this affects their purchasing. The second analyses the classification of a retailers stores into clusters and examines the ways that these can then be employed to maximise their sales with particular reference to Category Management. The third segments consumers by the ways in which they shop and using this to identify areas of strength and weakness.
The needs of FMCG manufacturers and retailers require that suppliers of information for marketing decision support take an integrative perspective to what to offer to their market. After discussing the different ways that can be used in looking at a more integrated analysis of marketing data, two new information services will be defined and illustrated. These two new services are both based on analysis of aggregated information in independent sources. Special attention will be paid to the developed model for integration of information coming from internal sources ConsumerScan and InfoScan by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of both instruments and taking into account the differences in market definitions used in these instruments.