#consumer profile

Digitalization has transformed the way our world works, and the retail industry is not far behind. The impact of the transformation can be seen in the dramatic evolution of the way consumers shop, consumer behaviour and make purchasing decisions. With e-commerce, social media, and extensive use of mobile devices, consumers today have more access to information and choices than ever before. In India, this evolution of the consumer has been particularly pronounced, with the country’s e-commerce market expected to reach $200 billion by 2026.

In this scenario, understanding the changing consumer landscape and evolving consumer expectations has become a non-negotiable for businesses. With multiple digital touchpoints generating volumes of consumer data, one of the ways you can address this issue is by leveraging big data analytics to gain insights into consumer behavior and preferences. These insights can help retailers to gain a deeper understanding of their customers and tailor their marketing and sales strategies accordingly.

There are various ways in which retailers can use big data to their advantage. As a retailer, you can:

Use big data analytics to track customer browsing and purchase history and personalize your marketing efforts to specific segments of customers. Such customization has a direct positive impact on customer loyalty and sales.

Utilize customer analytics to optimize your inventory management, pricing strategies, and store layouts to improve the in-store experience for customers, pointing them to relevant recommendations, following trends and patterns, and thereby increasing sales.

Stay ahead of the curve by understanding the role of digital technology in consumers’ lives. With the growing use of mobile devices and social media in India, you need to ensure that your websites and mobile apps are user-friendly, quick to load, and easy to navigate. Additionally, you can use social media platforms to engage with customers, build brand awareness, and gather customer feedback for learning and improvement.

Become aware of the importance of data privacy and security. With the increasing use of big data analytics, you must ensure that you are collecting and using consumer data in a way that is compliant with local regulations and protects consumer privacy.

How Knowing Your Customer can Impact the Bottom Line?

Utilizing big data for customer profiling can play a significant role in creating an impact on the bottom line. By analyzing data from the various digital touchpoints, you can gain a deeper understanding of your customers, including demographics, purchase history, browsing behavior, and sentiment. 

Personalized product recommendations: You can use big data to recommend personalized products leading to increased sales and better customer loyalty.

Targeted marketing campaigns: You can use big data for customer segmentation and create targeted marketing campaigns for specific segments of customers. This will increase the effectiveness of marketing efforts and lead to higher conversions

Inventory management: Your retail business can use big data to analyze customer expenditure behavior and predict their demand for certain products helping you to optimize your inventory management and reduce costs.

Price optimization: Analyzing customer purchase trends and browsing behavior to optimize prices for certain products can increase sales and profitability.

Customized discounts: Based on customer habits and history, big data can help you customize offers for them leading to better sales and higher customer loyalty.

Customer service: Big data analytics on customer feedback and sentiment can help you identify areas for improvement in customer service. Efforts in this area will improve customer satisfaction.

Fraud detection: You can also use big data to detect fraudulent activity, thus reducing losses and protecting your customers.

Store layout optimization: Customer behavior analytics can help you optimize the layout of your stores, making shopping a more personalized experience with relevant recommendations for them.

With such benefits, it is evident why customer profiling is finding increased usage in the retail segment. According to a study by Deloitte, Indian retailers are expected to invest heavily in data analytics and big data to gain insights into customer behavior, optimize pricing, and improve inventory management.

Increasingly, retail store chains across the country are using big data to gain insights into customer behavior and preferences to create detailed customer profiles. Analyzing this data gives them access to patterns such as which products are most popular, what types of customers are most likely to purchase certain products, and which customers are most likely to return products. With this information, retailers can tailor their offerings to meet the specific needs and preferences of customers. In such scenarios, tools that allow retailers to process large amounts of customer data in real-time have gained popularity by enabling retailers to swiftly identify trends and patterns, and respond to changes in customer behavior with immediate effect.

The Role We Play

Karma by Kentrix, a big data analytics platform, helps businesses with customer profiling by collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data from various sources and using AI and machine learning algorithms to create detailed customer profiles. The platform also provides businesses with real-time insights and actionable information, which can be used to improve customer service, increase sales and gain a competitive advantage in the market. Allowing businesses to segment their customers based on demographics, purchase history, behavior, and more, the solution helps them to better understand their customers and create tailored marketing campaigns, product recommendations, and customized discounts. Predictive analytics is used to identify customer loyalty patterns and predict future behavior, which can be used to improve retention and increase sales.

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/columbus-ohio-apnewsbreak-firm-worked-for-cordrays-agency-then-campaign/169666/

COLUMBUS, Ohio | APNewsBreak: Firm worked for Cordray's agency, then campaign

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An advertising and media firm to which Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray‘s agency gave government work while he was a federal official now is doing political work for him.

Records reviewed by The Associated Press show Washington-based GMMB recently has been making Ohio ad buys for Democrat Cordray’s gubernatorial campaign against Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine. The two are locked in a high-profile fight for the office Republican Gov. John Kasich vacates in January due to term limits.

GMMB’s political work for Cordray, a Democrat who is a former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, follows Republican criticism that the bureau’s decision to hire the firm under Cordray’s watch was politically motivated.

GMMB was the lead advertising agency for the successful presidential bids of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The Democratic former president is scheduled to campaign for Cordray in Cleveland on Thursday.

“The whole thing is peculiar,” said Matthew Henderson, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican who questioned the contract during a hearing in April. “Why was former director Cordray spending so much on a PR firm he would eventually hire to run his campaign for governor? And why was a government agency that was created to protect consumers and prosecute fraud spending a higher percentage on PR than a car brand like Chevy?”

Cordray’s campaign said there’s nothing improper about the firm’s work for the government or the campaign. At the time it was hired by the federal consumer bureau, the agency was working to raise its pro-consumer profile among average Americans.

The federal Office of Inspector General reported in June that costs tied to GMMB’s contract with the consumer bureau grew from the original estimated value of $11.5 million to $43.8 million from August 2013 to February 2018. Inspectors said the bureau could have better managed the contract and they urged stronger controls be put in place.

Mick Mulvaney, appointed by Republican President Donald Trump to succeed Cordray as bureau director, said during the April hearing that he planned to cancel the contract.

Besides Obama’s campaigns, GMMB has served Democrat-aligned clients including Emily’s List, the Democratic Governors Association, the League of Conservation Voters and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, according to its website. It also did government work pitching the benefits of the federal health care law, commonly known as Obamacare.

“This is particularly aimed at my colleagues across the aisle: That $242 million that I spent on the building, I could take that and hire Breitbart,” Mulvaney said. “I could take that and hire the Drudge Report to do marketing that I like for the bureau. Not going to do it, because it’s the wrong thing to do, but I have that kind of flexibility.” GMMB has worked for both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s. The government watchdog said the firm was selected by the consumer bureau through an open competitive process.

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said the Cordray campaign may have looked at GMMB’s work for Obama and felt it was a good fit — but such relationships should still be approached with caution.

“The problem is, of course, that elections now are so closely tied to governing that it makes voters concerned because everything’s so embedded and intertwined,” she said. “It at least deserves a conversation.”

A spokeswoman for GMMB could not immediately comment. DeWine’s campaign spokeswoman, Brittany Warner, said the relationship “presents a major trust issue with voters.”

“Not only was Director Cordray’s $43 million advertising budget a total waste of public funds, but its deeply concerning that these public funds were directed to a political firm that is helping to run his campaign,” she said.

For most people, time is the ultimate commodity and using free time to experience new environments and cultures is a new way of life. There will be a steady rise in soft and hard adventure hotels in 2018, catering to both the lone wolf and the entire pack.

Linking in with macro-trend “eco-efficiency”, the Ovolo Woolloomooloo Hotel combines both of these trends by designing a glass-constructed kiosk for the front lobby of the hotel. Featuring living trees and lush greenery, this hotel carries its natural theme throughout its public areas like its bar, cafe and dining rooms. 

Moreover, in Reykjavík’s International Airport , Loksins (which means ‘finally’ in Icelandic) is every bit the respite it claims to be, a refuge for travellers on a mission, whether it is business or pleasure. From the bespoke artworks and rotating retro sign above the counter, to neat references to its location, including a manual calendar showing the amount of daylight to expect in each week of an Icelandic year. Designer Hafsteinn Júlíusson states they they wanted to create a “destination with a lot of interesting information and unexplained stories that should prompt a conversation between guests and the staff about Icelandic traditions.”

THE TACTILIANS: In a world of sleek, cool surfaces (laptops, smartphones, tablets) and online communication, people crave touch both physically and emotionally. The majority of people now touch their smartphones more than any other object. This group really focuses on infusing touch and technology.

Some examples include:

The ‘Smart Remote’ by Sevenhugs can control any of the home’s connected devices. Using smart sockets placed around a room to triangulate its position, the device dynamically adapts its display and function, and can be connected to any Bluetooth or wifi-enabled device

It’s highly likely a friend or colleague has taken up a creative hobby this year, and this lifestyle trend is set to continue in 2018. The two key drivers for this creative rush are the need for self-expression in a society of flexible identities, and the rise of The Creative Class. Thanks to the internet, art forms and design realms once requiring years of training or apprenticeship are now accessible to the masses, allowing anyone to become a creator or maker. 

Some examples include:

During today’s session we went through what makes a consumer and how our brand will to get to know them. However we first discussed the difference between a consumer and a customer.

consumer- a consumer is the end user of the product

customer- person who buys the product (can be the same as consumer)

This is a crucial area to know as the product could be aimed at the consumer but only the customer can buy it eg - childrens wear.

 It is important to know our consumer in order to create a well branded product that appeal to a target audience. There are many different tribes of consumer who can be segmented into like minded groups. Our brand is aimed towards like-minded women in the same type of profession and it is important that we recognise their needs.  

During the session we answered a number of questions, to gain a clearer idea of our consumer/customer, the questions are as followed -

-what do they buy? -workwear clothes and tools

-why do they buy? - for their jobs and hobbies

-where do they shop? - Carhartt, Wickes, B&Q, Levis, Diesel,

-how do they buy? - instore and online

-when do they buy? - not that often s the clothes last long

01/02/16 Consumer Profile Continued

1. Demographic Variables- Age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, social status etc…

2. Physiographic Lifestyle- Buying motives, attitudes, opinions, interests etc..

3.Geographic Variables- Region, location, house type, city size, climate etc…

Social programs are important for promoting equality and improving welfare. To achieve these goals, it is important to have a clear idea of the potential consumer’s profile. In this post, I will design the consumer profile (based on Osterwalder et al, 2015)  for a government program that provides food services to kids enrolled in public schools at the preschool and primary level, and to kids of indigenous populations of the Amazon enrolled at the secondary level.

The customer segment is defined as the parents who send their kids to public schools to receive the benefits of the program, especially in the lowest income quintiles (although it is also offered, but in a lower magnitude, to the highest quintiles).

I will define the customer’s jobs based on the segment that the program is targeting. It is important to note that parents, instead of kids, are the targeted segment as defined above: kids usually do not make the decision to go to school. Also, I will focus mostly on general jobs, pains and gains for parents and not on indigenous communities (although I will provide some insights about the latter group).

Job

The type of jobs listed depend on four categories that are based on the type of problem solved with the program and the task it seeks to accomplish.

Functional Jobs: These types of jobs refer to specific tasks and problems that the program solves. We can expect that the program should solve problems related to school enrollment, as it provides incentives for the parents to send their kids to schools serving free meals. Also, the program is supposed to solve a critical issue in developing countries: malnutrition. Finally, and related to the two previous issues, parents are able to reallocate money used in nutrition for other needs. If we think of the program as a provider of nutrition and incentives for improved school enrollment, then we can think of it as a partial substitute for the forgone income of poorer families by sending kids to school. The following list characterizes the jobs I described:

Improve school enrollment: parents enroll their kids in a school that provides meals

Nutrition: kids will eat healthy and nutritious meals

Substitution effect: allocate part of budget from food to other need

Social Jobs: By sending kids to school, parents in a community can be perceived as responsible. In an indigenous setting, most decisions are taken as a community (as a whole); therefore, we can think of the community recognizing itself as promoting health and education that does not necessarily contradict their traditional values. Also, the community usually see the government as an external agent. If the program provides cultural-aligned meals to kids, parents will feel that this “external agent” known as the government recognizes their traditions.

Being recognized as good and responsible parents

Being recognized as a good indigenous community promoting health and education

Indigenous peoples: feeling that their culture is recognized by serving traditional food to their kids at school

Emotional jobs: On the emotional jobs, parents will feel that their kids are getting safe and healthy food. Also, they will feel relieved because of the reallocation of part of the budget. This is a key factor for poor people. These and other emotional jobs are included in the following list:

Feeling secure about their kids’ nutrition

Feeling relieved about being able to reallocate part of the budget

Feeling good in terms of their kids being able to catch up with richer districts kids’ nutrition

Supporting jobs: For this kind of jobs, we have three categories. For the buyer of value, there is a very important decision to be done by the parents. First, they have to decide whether they should send their kids to school to get healthy meals in addition to being educated, against making them work to provide an additional source of income. Second, for cocreator of value, parents can also participate to provide feedback and get educated on how to provide healthy meals to kids. Finally, the transferrer of value would relate to parents dropping their kids out of the program for different reasons, such as needing their kids to work to get additional income, lack of trust in authorities, etc.

Buyer of value: deciding whether they should send their kids to school to get free meals against the alternative, which is provide them food at home but make them work to improve family’s income

Cocreator of value: Parents participate and get educated on the types of food that are required to improve kids’ health. Also, indigenous communities can provide feedback so nutritious-traditional food is provided to their kids.

Transferrer of value: Parents can drop out of the program and stop sending their kids to school for different reasons (e.g. lack of trust in authorities)

Pains

The following are issues related to the program in case it could not solve the problems it was supposed to.

Undesired outcomes: This are the worst issues that could happen to a social program because they would not deliver what was supposed to if any of then occurred. These pains go from kids getting unhealthy food from schools to having unattractive combination of meals.

Kids get bad (e.g. rotten, unhealthy) food from schools

The right amount of nutrients is not being provided

Traditional indigenous cultures are not being respected with the type of food offered

Meal combinations are not attractive (”ugly” combinations)

Obstacles: There could be some obstacles slowing down or preventing the program from being effective. In some cases, parents could not afford to send their kids to school because of the opportunity cost, even after considering the free meals. Also, their lack of trust in the government could be an issue, as we are talking about public schools offering meals. Furthermore, parents could avoid sending kids to school because of lack of trust in other adults.

Parents cannot afford sending kids to school 

Parents do not trust the government’s program

Parents do not like to trust their kids to professors or other adults

Kids do not like eating away from home

Risks (undesired potential outcomes): Under this category we can find some undesired outcomes at the school and community level (the latter probably found in indigenous communities). The school level risks can arise because of bad management of food, whereas the community level risk can arise in indigenous communities that punish parents for sending kids to school (i.e. parents did not do what the community as a whole determined, which was not sending kids to school if food was not appropriate according to traditions).

Bad management or procurement of food by schools could be dangerous for kids

The indigenous community may punish some parents for sending their kids to schools were the food content is not aligned 100% with community’s traditions, conditional on the community deciding not to send kids to school for that reason

Gains

In this section, I will list potential benefits from the program for parents

Required gains: These are the gains that parents require for the program to be effective. Therefore, if kids do not get the proper nutrients from school meals, then the program would not be solving any problem.

Kids can get a safe source of nutrients

Expected gains: These are gains expected by the parents, in addition to the principal gain related to improved health. One of the most important is the ability to save money thanks to the program. This ultimately provides additional incentives for the parents to send kids to school.

Savings from less expenditure on food

Spend less time in preparing meals for kids

Desired gains: This are gains that every parent would like to have, in addition to the previously listed. In particular, if parents send their kids to school, they would also expect them to perform better if they are well nourished.

Healthier kids have better performance at school

Kids learn about nutrition

Unexpected gains: Parents would not necessarily expect long term effects from the program because of numerous reasons or events that could happen in the medium term. However, the program could have a long-lasting effect that ultimately could affect the kids’ performance at other instances, such as college or high school, and eventually wages.

Kids enrolled into the program have better health in the long term

Prioritizing

To conclude this post, I will prioritize the list of items defined above. Prioritizing is key for any social program to be effective. In this section, I will prioritize the list of jobs from important to insignificant, pains from extreme to moderate and gains from essential to nice to have. It is worth noting that the ranking across types of communities is just a reference and should not be taken as an indicative that one community or targeted customer is more important than the other. A proper comparison in this case should be done within and not across communities because of different traditional values.

Jobs (1 is most important)

Nutrition: kids will eat healthy and nutritious meals

Improve school enrollment: parents enroll their kids in a school that provides meals

Substitution effect: allocate part of budget from food to other need

Being recognized as good and responsible parents

Feeling secure about their kids’ nutrition

Feeling relieved about being able to reallocate part of the budget

Being recognized as a good indigenous community promoting health and education

Indigenous peoples: feeling that their culture is recognized by serving traditional food to their kids at school

Feeling good in terms of their kids being able to catch up with richer districts kids’ nutrition

This prioritization responds to the importance of the main goal of the program, which is to provide healthy meals to kids while also promoting school enrollment. Also, the reallocation effect on parents’ budget is an important factor that motivates parents to send their children to school.

Pains (1 is most extreme)

Kids get bad (e.g. rotten, unhealthy) food from schools

The right amount of nutrients is not being provided

Bad management or procurement of food by schools could be dangerous for kids

Parents cannot afford sending kids to school 

Parents do not trust the government’s program

Parents do not like to trust their kids to professors or other adults

Kids do not like eating away from home

Traditional indigenous cultures are not being respected with the type of food offered

The indigenous community may punish some parents for sending their kids to schools were the food content is not aligned 100% with community’s traditions, conditional on the community deciding not to send kids to school for that reason

Meal combinations are not attractive (”ugly” combinations)

Similarly to the previous ranking, this ranking states that getting bad food from school is the most extreme pain. This happens because, if that is the case, the program would not be effective at all. The affordability of sending kids to school is also important and is related to the substitution effect defined in the Jobs section.

Gains (1 is most essential)

Kids can get a safe source of nutrients

Healthier kids have better performance at school

Savings from less expenditure on food

Kids learn about nutrition

Kids enrolled into the program have better health in the long term

Spend less time in preparing meals for kids

At last, this ranking defines health gains as essential. Performance at school is also an important variable that is related to health. Budget reallocation gains are also important to promote this social program to parents, especially those who live in poorer conditions.