Based on the insights from two customers in India, the innovative UI design for improving new customer registration was first launched in India. As a result, we witnessed a 6% increase in new account creation, which in itself is a big win given the Indian population. In the following months, the same design was adopted by the worldwide team, and was launched across all marketplaces. This resulted in 10s of Million$ win worldwide to Amazon. More importantly, it drove comfort with the idea that even qualitative research in India can deliver gains as big as big data worldwide.
Based on the insights from two customers in India, the innovative UI design for improving new customer registration was first launched in India. As a result, we witnessed a 6% increase in new account creation, which in itself is a big win given the Indian population. In the following months, the same design was adopted by the worldwide team, and was launched across all marketplaces. This resulted in 10s of Million$ win worldwide to Amazon. More importantly, it drove comfort with the idea that even qualitative research in India can deliver gains as big as big data worldwide.
As a result of the research program, the circulation department simultaneously altered the promotional appeals to stress news and information, and began an extensive sales and public place distribution effort following extensive internal testing. The results were an increase from 1985 to 1987 of: o Circulation up 13$; o Audience in MRI (recent reading) up 12$; o Simmons (through-the-book) up 15$; o Monroe Mendelsohn (frequency of reading, direct mail - HHI $60,000+) up 19$. In short, pre 1986 U.S.News in MRI for example, had an audience between 9.5 million and 10.5 million. Since redesign and today, U.S.News Simmons audience bounces around 12 million. At the time of the redesign U.S.News was in third place. It is now in first. Revenues went up a staggering 94.7$. Now that's a redesign.
In the UK, the re-design of bank and building society branches is currently in vogue. Many financial institutions are re-evaluating the role of their branches as a distribution channel and beginning to consider themselves as financial retailers with outlets akin to shops that are open and welcoming. Similar changes can also be seen across Europe as many banks remove the heavy glass barriers between customers and staff and place greater emphasis on targeting customer segments. This paper examines the factors propelling these changes. It points out that the analogy between retail outlets and bank branches has limitations. There are fundamental differences between the two types of outlet which make the task of re-designing bank branches more challenging. The paper also describes attempts by various banks and building societies to incorporate new corporate values and banking concepts into the changes in design. The role of market research in evaluating these changes is the focus of the paper; examples from research conducted on behalf of the National Westminster Bank and the National & Provincial Building Society are discussed in terms of the merits and pitfalls associated with their different approaches - testing prototype branches versus live branches. The authors conclude with statements about the relative importance of design in the mix of factors that makes a branch successful and highlight the role of staff in translating elements of this mix (being more welcoming, friendly, sale orientated) into practice.
Shiseido Co., Ltd., the world's fourth-largest cosmetic manufacturer, was established in 1872 with a Confucian concept of aiming to discover and create new values with global resources." From its inception, self-reform efforts to always react quickly to social changes have been valued as the corporate ideal. This has enabled the company to overcome several major crises over its 120 years of corporate history, and the process has proved to be a source of rejuvenation. In 1987 Shiseido undertook a major restructuring, clearly setting its mission and business domain as discovering new values with depth through meeting many people and creating a beautiful living culture, building upon its history, and defining corporate culture as the accumulation of intelligence and sensitivity, the company began to consider its corporate culture as a powerful management resource. The competitive edge of Shiseido's cumulative culture has become internationally recognized. Its corporate culture has equipped the company with originality, which is a synergetic integration of research and technological capability, marketing and image building. Shiseido began its international activity in 1936 with a belief that beauty transcends national boundaries. After struggling for many years, learning specific features of each market and fostering human relations, Shiseido's name gradually permeated. Since the 1970s, the company began to manufacture products specifically tailored to international markets, renovated visual styles used domestically back in the '30s and AOs, and applied its corporate culture to the global strategy. High quality, high service, and high image are features of Shiseido products throughout the world. Consequently, overseas sales account for 12 percent of its total sales today. Shiseido's corporate culture is an intangible asset. The company will continue to refresh its traditional corporate culture through ceaseless self-reforms and resuscitabiiity.
The objective of this paper is to show how editorial research via a panel of farmers formed the cornerstone of the re-design of Farmers Weekly, the major weekly magazine catering for the agricultural market in Great Britain.
This paper traces the research conducted between July 1985 to September 1987 to assist in the reshaping of Woman's Realm, a popular U.K. women's weekly magazine. In 1984 circulations were falling year on year making it increasingly difficult to justify advertising rates. Woman's Realm was one of the titles affected.
The study from which this paper has been written was conducted on behalf of Radio Luxembourg (London) Limited, part of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Teledifussion's television and radio service. In 1979 Radio Luxembourg commissioned Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Limited to conduct a programming study to assess the requirement from an evening radio station among persons available to listen at that time. As a result of the study the station was re-programmed and with the aid of advertising/marketing the decline in audience was reversed. Similar studies were conducted in 1980 and 1981 with subsequent minor amendments to programming to take account of changing tastes, and the station has maintained its higher audience levels.