OPINION12 March 2010

Are you what you do?

The days of asking consumers what they buy, which media they consume and where they shop will soon be long gone. This will create a big whole in research industry revenues as marketers revel in rapid, granular data from other sources.

The marketing world is about to be enveloped by a tidal wave of behavioural data, that will dominate insight decisions for the foreseeable future.

 

For many markets and sectors, the arrival of real data about what consumers actually do will be a revelation. It’s already happened in grocery, airlines and a few other sectors through loyalty card data, but electronic footprints from internet usage, financial transactions and media usage will mean that most marketers will have access to real unequivocal data about what consumers have actually done for the first time.

 

The days of asking consumers what they buy, which media they consume and where they shop will soon be long gone. This will create a big whole in research industry revenues as marketers revel in rapid, granular data from other sources.

 

Once the novelty wears off however, will it be enough? Past behaviour may be useful in more routine areas of life, but is not always a complete predictor of future behaviour, particularly in more occasional purchase categories, self treating and gifting.

 

The research industry cannot fight the arrival of real data about consumer behaviour and will have to let go of many of its staple revenue streams. The opportunity however lies in two areas: joining this new insight together from different sources to paint a holistic picture of consumer decision making and enhancing this new insight with a lot more focus on why consumers do what they do.

 

Looking forwards, for successful researchers, it’s going to be a lot more about the why than the what.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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