2012: The Year of the Social Consumer

From Papa Johns tweeting a formal apology to an annoyed customer, to Nike's impressive user-generated campaign, 'The Chosen', 2011 was a year when the social consumer made her presence felt. Rather than being mere recipients of marketing messages, today's consumers are engaged with brands, contribute to campaigns and exchange product information; an indication that people's buying behavior has evolved over the years. While the likes of Nike, Dell and Coca-Cola have worked towards strengthening the brand-customer relationship, there are a few others who are yet to understand who their customers are, what their needs are and how ... Read more...

In part one of Brand Monitor's 'E-Commerce and the Social Consumer: Making Online Shopping Hassle-Free' series, we discussed two of the most common hurdles that online customers faced and what retailers can do to make online shopping an enjoyable and problem-free experience. While insufficient information on brands' websites, high shipping costs, along with the worry of the product being damaged, are among the biggest reasons that discouraged people from selecting the 'buy now' option, our research highlights two other factors that can deter prospective shoppers from making a purchase via digital and social media channels. In part two, we will focus on how brands can provide better after-sales support and service to customers and the importance of offers and ... Read more...

Keeping up with the Social-Savvy Consumer

The ever-changing taste of the social consumer, along with the dynamism of the social media space, sometimes makes it difficult for online retailers to keep up. The online buying process has undergone some radical changes over the last few years. The modern shopper a) is greatly influenced by recommendations, reviews and price-comparisons posted on social media sites b) uses location-based services to find brick-and-mortar stores c) is short on time and prefers the convenience of shopping online instead of spending hours in billing queues and d) favors the choice online stores have to offer as opposed to the limited variety of products in traditional stores. Going by eMarketer's 2011 study, ... Read more...

A Brief Recap: In the first part of Position²'s 'Online Marketing for Luxury Brands' series, we discussed two important aspects of online marketing that prestige brands should focus on; a) social media as a crucial source of information for affluent customers looking for product reviews and information and b) the need to better engage with customers online and what the owners of high-end brands can do to make this possible. Considering how much difference content can make to luxury brands' sales charts and revenues, we decided to focus on the content aspect in part two. Also featured is a section on contests, deals and offers, where we explore the idea of luxury brands marketing products in the form of ... Read more...