GMI shops offline to bring virtual shops online
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GMI has acquired UK-based Media Intelligence in a move designed to add more flair and interactivity to its online survey services.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, however GMI chief Rob Monster was keen to talk up the possibilities presented by Media Intelligence's technology for creating “immersive” and “highly interactive” survey designs online.
As well as integrated audio and video capabilities, the company has developed tools to create virtual shopping environments where respondents can browse store shelves, and pick up and examine products.
It can also create virtual publications for newspaper and magazine evaluations, while click-tracking technology records a respondent's mouse clicks to determine which aspects of product packaging or other design work they were most drawn to.
Calls for online surveys to better exploit the interactive nature of the web have been growing in recent months.
Ian Wright, European director for US-based Online Testing Exchange – which also offers virtual shopping technology – told Research in January that only “a tiny percentage” of the internet's capabilities were being exploited, with many researchers simply replicating CATI surveys online.
GMI's Monster believes interactivity brings clear advantages to the research process. “By making the survey experience as engaging as possible, our customers will enjoy a much more accurate picture of consumer behaviour due to substantially higher response rates,” he said.
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