Archive for the ‘Mystery Shopping’ Category

B2B International Set To Launch Consumer Market Research Agency

Deep See is a new consumer market research and intelligence company – from the stable of business-to-business specialist, B2B International

There are lots of consumer market research companies out there, so why choose Deep See? As the name suggests, Deep See promises to go to great depths to get to the bottom of what customers really think.

London-based Deep See is due to launch early April, and is headed up by Matt Powell. Powell is confident there is room in the marketplace for Deep See and relishes working on projects which will test products, seek opinions, probe customer satisfaction, assess markets and develop pricing strategies.

B2B International, as a leading specialist business-to-business market research consultancy, has launched Deep See to establish a foothold in the wider consumer arena and to meet increasing client demand to research the whole b2b2c value chain. By using B2B International’s established global network of offices, plus researchers and fieldworkers who converse in every language imaginable, Deep See sets out to reach anyone anywhere.

It is this international scope combined with the ability and knowledge to conduct research with all aspects of a company (from internal stake holders, through to distributors, through to consumers) that Deep See believes will differentiate it from other research agencies.

Some of the services that Deep See will offer include customer journey mapping, social media research, web site benchmarking, and customer segmentation. The former identifies each interaction that the customer encounters along each stage of the journey from cradle to grave; whilst Deep See’s social media monitoring tool keeps a detailed track on what is being said and written about a brand or campaign. Deep See believes these tools are most effective when applied together as part of a wide research campaign.

Powell joined B2B International in 2004 and has worked with high profile companies such as Autoglym, BAA, Balfour Beatty, BOC, Co-operative Bank, Gillette, Intel, Molson Coors, Microsoft and Travis Perkins. He says: “through Deep See’s international research and intelligent insight capabilities, we offer an added dimension. Thanks to the backing and resources of the world’s leading b2b market research consultancy, we already have a deep understanding of the whole supply chain and the issues that affect every area of a company, allowing us to analyse things in a way that other research agencies wouldn’t think of doing and offering a fresh perspective to a client’s business.”

B2B International director and founder, Nick Hague, says: “Deep See is another example of the diversification of B2B International, following 2011’s launch of our specialist creative marketing communications and brand agency B2B Marcomms.”

Follow the latest developments on Twitter: @DeepSeeResearch or @B2B_Insight

Posted in Consumer Research, Customer Journey, Deep See, Matt Powell, Mystery Shopping, Nick Hague, Social Media |
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Never Underestimate Intelligence

New York’s Westchester County Business Journal, in its weekly business advice column, has just run an article entitled ‘keeping abreast of the competition’.  For us, as market research and competitive intelligence experts, we can never read enough articles that encourage organizations large and small to recognize the importance of quality, up-to-date business intelligence.

As anyone who is familiar with Porter’s Five Forces will be well aware, very few, if any, companies operate alone in their given marketplace.  Each company’s specific micro environment consists of forces that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit.

Competition is out there in the form of direct established rivals, as well as the threat of new entrants to the market or the threat of substitute products.

Any change in any of these forces normally requires a company to re-assess the marketplace, hence the need to regularly review your competitive intelligence.  Even the decision of a competitor to get out of your chosen marketplace, for example, should be viewed with a degree of caution rather than unbridled celebration.  Why does your competitor no longer wish to be in your market?  Do they know something important that you don’t?

Intelligence is, of course, available from a wide range of sources.  In its most basic forms there is much you can do yourself: talk to your suppliers, customers and employees; keep abreast of developments by reading industry periodicals or industry reports; scour the internet for news.

Yet much information – especially that of a sensitive nature – can be difficult to come by, and not all companies have the necessary people resources to conduct a thorough and comprehensive competitor analysis.  In many cases, they may require the help of an external research consultancy who will be adept at sourcing data – from mystery shopping, to competitor pricing research studies, through to conducting structured interviews with customers, suppliers, distributors, industry experts and even competitors themselves.
Of course, it’s one thing to have pages and pages of intelligence; it’s a whole other matter knowing how to pick out the most pertinent information and use it to draw up a plan of action.  How do you decide which competitors and which markets you want to take on and which you want to avoid?  Sometimes an independent, objective expert can help to sift through the masses of data, separate the wheat from the chaff, and highlight the most salient points.

There is no doubt that there is a whole world of information out there, and that competitor intelligence at your fingertips enables you to make intelligent future business decisions.

Find out more about how B2B International’s competitive intelligence work can enhance your own knowledge by clicking here.

Posted in Business Decisions, Competitive Intelligence, Interviews, Market Intelligence, Mystery Shopping, Porter's Five Forces |
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