How tech savvy is your city?

Observation:   Today’s Marketing Daily offers a story about the how varied the pace of new technology adoption might be from one city to the next.  The article focuses on Apple, primarily, but touches on the idea that people are faster to embrace technology in some places than others.  Click here to see the story.

Implications: How is the pace where you live?  And does your online or mobile presence match the acumen of the consumers you sell to?  That’s a highly worthwhile thing to research among your most important customers.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

A good number to end the week with: 227,000

Observation:   The jobless report published today indicates 227,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy last month, which was better than expected.  Click here to read the Washington Post version of the complete story.

Implications: More jobs = more consumers with paychecks.  It is always nice to end a week on a positive note; in times like these, it's important to amplify the optimistic.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

European economies likely to impact automakers

Observation:   A recent story from Detroit News suggests that the economic downturn impacting Europe will have a negative affect on automakers.  Click here to see the story.

Implications:  Speaking relatively, the U.S. economy and consumer confidence is out-performing many other parts of the world.  That might entice manufacturers to offer incentives in the U.S. market, hoping that sales lift here might compensate for softness elsewhere.

Do you find global economics having a local impact on your business?

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

Consumers showing their age, report says

Observation:   Today’s Research Brief suggests that younger consumers are less likely to satisfy their service and repair needs through the conventional auto dealership service department.  Click here to see the story.

Implications:  I’ve heard similar groans coming from other categories.  Some furniture retailers and manufacturers indicate that younger consumers don’t want “rooms” full of furniture, but are more likely to buy piece-by-piece, and seek utilitarian furniture that serves more than one purpose.  Some banks have noticed a trend toward the automated customer; younger folks who automatically deposit their paychecks and then use a bill-pay system to cover their bills… making it very difficult to grow the number of highly coveted “services per household” that are a bank’s profit point.

How are younger consumers different from those you’ve served for years?  Are you responding?  Are they?

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

So far, consumer confidence resilient against gas prices

Observation:   According to the Conference Board’s report on consumer confidence release last week, people are feeling more secure about their financial situation in spite of higher fuel prices.  Click here to see the story as it appeared in USA Today.

Implications:   Consumer confidence is a great thing… and I think this report supports the idea that while prices might be rising—especially gas prices—nobody will be as “shocked” at the increase (at least not like we were during the 2008 energy price spike).  This time, I think it’s safe to say that most of us saw it coming.  Here’s hoping that resilience is strong in over the upcoming summer season, too.

In another interesting story—perhaps an opposing view—the New York Times published an article about the kind of conflict and crisis that could push gas to $5 per gallon or higher very quickly (click here to see that story).

No doubt:  The Fuel Economy remains a very critical component in the emerging recovery.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

Showrooming: A name for the consumer’s practice of shopping in-store and then buying online

Observation:   A study from NPD was summarized in today’s Marketing Daily, and focuses on the consumer’s new tendency to shop in a variety of channels (small retail, big-box, department and warehouse stores), and then buy the item online.   Click here to see the story.

Implications:   This is a genie that’s going to be hard to put back in the bottle.  So the question becomes, what can you do about it?

Is there any incentive you can offer that encourages the consumer to buy “right then and there?”  Why not offer little notecards or notepads and pencils to consumers who might want to write down details of the product on your shelf… and make sure those note-taking tools have an incentive to check your site first?  (And your URL, of course.)

This all sounds very simple, doesn’t it?  And yet, not too long ago, my wife and I were shopping for a new set of appliances.  I wanted to get the dimensions for the microwave we were planning to install (I was working on the cabinetry), so I ran to our nearest Best Buy to check it out.  When I was going to shoot the price/information tag with my cell phone camera, the department manager came and ripped it out of the display and scolded, “You can’t do that!  It’s not allowed.”  So I went home, got online and checked the details at a competitor’s website (which I should thought to do in the first place).  We ended up buying at the competitor’s store (not just the microwave, but the whole kitchen suite).   Instead of preventing me from getting product and price information, the behavior of the Best Buy associate had the effect of sending me directly into the arms of a competitor.

People will go online for product and price information.  Instead of trying to block it, why not harness that power, and make sure they hit your site first?

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

The logic of food (and other) inflation

Observation:   This week, an article from Food, Nutrition and Science magazine explains the USDA forecast for higher food prices in the coming years.   (I found the story through a newsletter from Phil Lempert.)   Click here to see the full story.

Implications:   Greater demand from emerging economies will impact the world’s food supply, as will the use of corn and other crops for the production of bio-fuels.  You and I will compete (at the supermarket checkout) in the complex global auction that food commodities have become.

When (not if) food prices go up, then we’ll be spending more at the grocery store and restaurants.  When (not if) gas prices go up, we’ll be spending more on everything else.  Chances are good that you’ll have to raise prices in your own business—regardless of the goods or services you sell—within the next few years.  Have you begun having that conversation with your customers?  By that, I mean:  Are you doing a good job of reminding your most important clients how you deliver value to their lives?

And just as important, in a world whose real income is likely to be either constrained or contracted in the coming years (when adjusted for inflation), are you positioning yourself to compete for tighter discretionary dollars?

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

Your company flaws could make you more approachable

Observation:   Ever felt uncomfortable (or disinterested) at a cocktail party or meeting when talking to someone who pretended to be just a little too flawless?  Lots of people feel that way; enough that scratch-and-dent marketing strategies are the focus of this week’s Trendwatching.com newsletter and briefing.  Click here to see it.

Implications:   We’ve all had plenty of experiences with products or services that didn’t function according to plan… or companies that didn’t live up to our expectations.  When that happens, we don’t tend to focus on the problem, but on the way that problem was handled.  A company that denies underperformance tends to aggravate our frustration; a business that faces an issue head-on tends to mitigate it.

I dare say that everyone has been through this at one time or another.  So that makes “flawsome” a marketing strategy that many folks can relate to; they know companies, products and services are not perfect, so the ones that start a conversation on that premise—if done carefully and while still delivering value to the consumer—tend to strike a chord with consumers.  After all, the consumer wants the true benefit they anticipate when buying your product or service... not a too-good-to-be-true image or advertising campaign.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

More workers lunching at home

Observation:   More workers are getting away from the office over lunch hour, and dining at home.  That’s according to this recent post from Food Manufacturing (click to link).

Implications:   I appreciate the way this story outlined a problem (for foodservice manufacturers and restaurant operators), but then also suggested some ways to entice consumers back into the restaurant and retain those you’re already serving.  It’s important that we focus on the things we can control (service, quality, menu options), rather than those things we can’t.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

Almost 1 in 10 changed banks last year

Observation:   A recent story from USA Today suggests that 9.6% of consumers opened an account elsewhere in response to a rate increase from their current bank.  The article is based on a J.D. Power report, and you can see the full story by clicking here.

Implications:   Lots of banks are trying to figure out how to regain some of the revenue they lost during the banking reform era that walked lock-step with the Great Recession.  Many are taking flight to smaller institutions, but that begs the question: When will smaller banks be forced to make some of the very same moves?

This is an important study in marketing communication.  I’ve interviewed hundreds of consumers over the past few years, and a significant number—when prompted—admitted that an ATM card, online banking, and other services are well worth paying a few bucks for the value received.  The challenge, I’m guessing, is that too many banks simply imposed the fees, without properly explaining why they were necessary and why the relationship still represented a good value for the consumer.

Every company if faced with the need to raise prices at one time or another.  The importance of good listening is an important lessons to learn now, lest we (like the big banks) be forced to learn the hard way.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

“Frustration Nation" leads a new list of consumer trends from Forbes

Observation:   Earlier this week, Forbes published an entertaining list—and maybe even an insightful one—of consumer trends.  It starts out with Frustration Nation (less confidence in institutions), Human Touch (the desire to interact when we transact), and Life on Pause (the feeling that careers or other life progress might be on hold).  Click here to see the full story.

Implications:   If nothing else, these lists give us pause to think about what’s going on in our own businesses.  This is a well-written briefing that lets you quickly decide whether the trends they cite are relevant to your company, product or service… and start asking how you might respond to one of many consumer sentiments.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.

After retirement, I plan to… work

Observation:   Last week, a couple of impressive numbers popped off the page when I glanced at a USA Today Snapshots box:   After they retire, 9% of surveyed workers plan to work full-time, and 44% said they plan to work part-time.

Implications:  We knew that the recent recession wreaked havoc on peoples’ retirement plans.  But these numbers illustrate how people have decided to cope.  And this might not just be the result of the hit people took to their retirement fund (or the thought that their home might not represent the nest egg it once was)… it could simply be a reflection of longer life expectancies.  After all, fifty years ago, life expectancy was much shorter; a retirement fund, therefore, did not have to last as long.  Today, with people typically living into their 80s, 90s, and beyond… that retirement account has to last much longer than a few years.  A little supplemental income might be important!

This trend impacts a lot of different companies in a lot of different ways.  People with jobs continue to spend on workplace apparel, invest in their commute (whether that be buying cars, automotive service or mass transit), and work-related tools (ranging from trade items to laptops and smartphones).  And earning a little extra money might leave these folks feeling as if they deserve a little more of a reward from time to time, whether that’s a night on the town, or more frequent vacations.

Are you paying attention to today’s retiree’s (aka “New Age Seniors”)?  They’re not living your grandparent’s retirement.

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.