The Fluid Consumer E-Book

Teo Correia

• Herausgeber: REDLINE Verlag
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 195

Beschreibung

The Fluid Consumer takes an in-depth look at how digital technologies are driving profound shifts in consumer expectations and in the consumer packaged goods industry, and it explores the implications of those shifts for business models, branding, and growth strategies. Branding in the digital world requires new practices and strategies. And, as Teo Correia explains, platform economics demonstrate how brands can leverage the power of network effects to grow. In this book, Correia builds upon the new model for digital branding: Brands as Platforms, a revolutionary way to approach and leverage digital technologies beyond e-commerce. He also provides a framework to help leaders and managers position their organizations for sustainable growth by leveraging digital technologies to engage consumers, and to optimize innovation efforts, marketing, and channel strategy development. In a nutshell, The Fluid Consumer: - Reveals how profoundly the consumer is changing in the digital era, and the ways in which consumer packaged goods companies are evolving and adapting as a result. - Develops the new model for digital branding – Brands as Platforms – a revolutionary way to approach and leverage digital technologies beyond e-commerce. - Describes the Four Pillars of Digital Growth needed to achieve digital consumer engagement and position an organization for success. - Uses case study examples to demonstrate how consumer packaged goods companies are finding new ways to position themselves and stay competitive in the face of industry transformation.

Leseprobe

TEO CORREIA

The Fluid Consumer

TEO CORREIA

The Fluid Consumer

Next Generation Growth and Branding in the Digital Age

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© Accenture

Published in Germany in 2017 by Redline Verlag, an imprint of Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Munich, Germany, as The Fluid Consumer. Next Generation Growth and Branding in the Digital Age by Teo Correia. All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced to a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.

© 2017 by Redline Verlag, Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH

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ISBN Print 978-3-86881-626-6

ISBN E-Book (PDF) 978-3-86414-887-3

ISBN E-Book (EPUB, Mobi) 978-3-86414-886-6

Edition Kogan Page 2017

Published and distributed in Great Britain, United States and India by Kogan Page Limited.

ISBN 978-0-7494-7837-7

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Cover design: Blomquist Design

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Illustrations: © Accenture, except “World of Me” illustration © Vic Lee 2016.

Photo: © Accenture

Printed by GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck

eBook by ePubMATIC.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Decision makers have their hands full trying to develop and execute on brand-growth strategies to please today’s digitally driven Fluid Consumers.

PART I: The Outside Focus

Chapter One:

Experience or Utility: Setting a Course to Please the Fluid Consumer

To serve these increasingly demanding consumers, brand managers need to embrace the concept of curating for them – rolling bundles of products into services, or creating optimal experiences.

Chapter Two:

The Platform Imperative

All brands, regardless of where they reside on the Experience-Utility spectrum, should be establishing digital brand platforms.

Chapter Three:

Considering Digital Consumer Journeys without Bias

Studying scenarios in which Fluid Consumers interact with and “consume” brands on various points on the Experience-Utility spectrum can help brand decision makers brainstorm effectively.

Chapter Four:

Staying Relevant in the Big Blur of Makers and Sellers

Ten behaviors of forward-thinking retailers offer opportunities for (and threats to) brand growth.

Part II: The Inside Focus

Chapter Five:

The Four Pillars of Digital Growth

Designing the right brand journey isn’t enough. Companies must follow through with effective channel strategies, strong innovation arms, and sufficient funding.

Chapter Six:

Targeting Growth in Emerging and Fragmented Markets

Digital technologies are presenting exciting ways to tap the tremendous growth opportunities in fragmented markets such as those in Asia and Brazil.

Chapter Seven:

The Dual-Engine Approach to Innovation

Separating “renovation” from “total experience innovation” offers a way for organizations to maintain stability and act like disruptive startups at the same time.

Chapter Eight:

The “New Normal” Marketing Framework: A Place to Start

Different parts of an organization may be in very different places with regard to embracing and using digital technologies. It may therefore help to prioritize the development of a digitally empowered marketing model that purposefully connects marketing, sales, IT, and global business services.

A Forward-Facing Epilogue:

Serving Fluid Consumers 20 Years from Now

What we’re seeing now provides clues to how companies will create, position, and market their brands, and how those brand will interact with consumers, over the long term. The future looks pretty spectacular.

Endnotes

About the Author

Acknowledgments

This is the page that usually matters only to the author and the other people whose contributions help turn an idea into a book. However, I would like to ask for the attention of all readers here because I truly believe that the names I list below are the best consumer goods practitioners in the world today. They deserve all the praise I am about to give them and more.

I have long felt privileged to be part of the consumer packaged goods and retailing industries and to serve those industries as best I can. But my fascination with the power that brands have over consumers started in my youth. The magnetic attraction we have to certain brands, and level of trust we have in them, astounded me then, and continues to do so now. Not only those brand names that I grew up with, but also, and importantly, those that have been created in recent years, quickly captivating us and commanding space in our lives.

However, I also believe that the formidable power of brands has never been more challenged than it is today. The emergence of digital technologies has brought with it significant threats to incumbent brands even as it reveals new opportunities for growth. My desire to understand how the threats can be addressed and the opportunities leveraged – and to share my learning with others – has been this book’s core motivation.

Given the scope of the topic, I knew from the earliest days of this project that I couldn’t do it alone. I had to tap into the knowledge of the best in the industry to critique, provoke, challenge me, and to bring their own views to bear to inform, shape, and improve the concepts on the table. To develop and write this book, then, I turned to colleagues, mentors, and friends for input across a wide range of subject areas including marketing, technology, finance, logistics, analytics, and consumer behavior.

I am extremely grateful for their generosity of spirit – for their willingness to carve out time at a moment’s notice to discuss, debate, and guide this manuscript as it evolved into the book it is today. And here, I would like to give special thanks in particular to the following individuals:

Sangeet Paul Choudary, Mark Curtis, and Ulf Henning, who inspired me to think about the art of the possible, traveled deep into the ideas explored in the book and brought me along, encouraging me to build on even the newest concepts informing brand development and growth decision-making in the digital age.

Rajat Agarwal, Sohel Aziz, Marcello Dalla Costa, Angelo D’Imporzano, Brian Doyle, Alessandro Diana, Michael A. Gorshe, Karen Fang Grant, Maria Mazzone, Joseph Taiano, Larry Thomas, Robert Willems, and Oliver Wright, who dedicated significant time and energy to their input. They are experts in their fields and I have the greatest admiration and respect for their knowledge.

Mark Austin, Kurt Busschop, Satyadeep Chatterjee, Dai Hamaoka, Mikael Hansson, Dwight Hutchins, Evan I. Kelly, Simone Morandi, Richard Murray, Pietro Pieretti, Kazunori Seki, Daljit Singh, Nary Singh, Ed Stark, Tricia Stinton, Tony Stockil, Juliano Tubino, Sonoko Watanabe, and Marco Ziegler – all exceptional consumer goods practitioners. They gave freely of their time and expertise not only to check my ideas, expand on examples, and verify client experiences, but also to offer new insights. Whether chatting in passing or discussing the topic more formally, they responded without hesitation, matching me in my exploratory enthusiasm and bringing clear-headed perspective to what is, while also helping me contemplate what might be.

Adi Alon, Louise Alford, Alexandra Bentley, Nadine Berne, Sandra Hernandez, Andrew Hutton, David Light, Harini Mohan, Fiona Morris, Scott Johnson, Weiger Joosten, for their responsive guidance, support, and insight.

Maureen Bossi, Titus Kroder, Regina Maruca, John Moseley, and Jens Schadendorf, who helped me ground, organize, and communicate my thoughts in book form, and who kept all potential readers in mind.

Simon Berger and Rupa Ganatra, my dear partners in the Millennials 2020 project, whose passion for new ideas has been contagious, and who have demonstrated the greatest entrepreneurial spirit I’ve ever encountered.

Helen Kogan and Jenny Volich from Kogan Page, and Michael Wurster from Redline, as the publishers of this book, for their enduring trust in this project.

Sander van’t Noordende, our Group CEO, who supported this venture from its earliest days.

And finally, profoundly, and above all, my wife Sheila and my daughters Stephanie, Giovanna, and Giulia, for their patience, unflagging support, and love.

To all of the above and to those I may have omitted (inadvertently, with my sincere apologies): the strengths in this book are to your credit.

Teo Correia, London/UK

Introduction

I recently bought a TAG Heuer watch. It’s a venerable brand, a Swiss watchmaker in business since 1860, known for its high-quality precision craftsmanship, instantly classic designs, and unfailing reliability. But this watch – my new watch – embodies all that and more. It represents TAG Heuer’s big leap forward into the digital future. It has an LED screen and an Intel Atom Z34XX processor. It has the ability to accommodate Android Wear apps, such as Google Fit, RaceChrono, Insiders, and Golfshot.

In short, with this offering, the very traditional TAG Heuer brand now offers much more than the best in timekeeping. It has added the promise of lifestyle assistance. TAG Heuer’s brand decision makers understood the need to reconsider their brand in light of the tsunami of evolving digital technologies, and in doing so, they saw the opportunity to infuse one of their product lines with the capacity to provide a consumer experience. CEO Jean-Claude Biver understood that companies such as Apple have been “preparing the wrist” for the next generation of shoppers for a while now, elevating their expectations of what even a classic timepiece can and should do, and he acted on that understanding.1

I love my new watch. More importantly, though, I also freely acknowledge that, like many consumers today, I’m impatient. I know very well how fast technology advances in the digital age. And if the currently cutting-edge technology that supports my new watch seems old or stale tomorrow, I will once again seek the latest and best available.

What’s more, I will shop for that future product on my own time and terms because I am a Fluid Consumer – one among millions upon millions of individuals who now use mobile digital technologies to flow easily between different types of transactions at almost any time, in almost any place. We Fluid Consumers can review, compare, consult, contrast, and contract at will. We are also constantly mentored and educated, not least through the reviews that other Fluid Consumers share with us on the digital channels we frequent.

We are more informed than we used to be, and also more demanding. In fact, we often seem to take the ever-improving standards of digital convenience as much for granted as we do that crucial 21 percent of oxygen saturation in the air we breathe.

Are we putting incredible pressure on the companies (such as TAG Heuer) that seek our business? To simply say “yes” would be a gross understatement. The pressure on consumer-facing companies to keep up with these dynamic mega trends in modern consumer minds is immense. And no industry is immune – least of all consumer packaged goods and services (CPG). The Fluid Consumer is asking this sector for nothing less than to respond in kind – with fluidity in thinking, producing, designing, marketing, and delivering intelligent digital points of engagement in an environment where brand loyalty is fleeting and the challenge of growing strong brands can seem alien. As Rachel Rolfe, creative director at Fisher Productions, a London-based event company, has so adroitly observed, “For reasons of necessity and opportunity, every industry finds itself in the technology business.”2

I wrote this book to try to help CPG brand decision makers find their footing in this new era (though I believe that the ideas in these pages are also applicable in other industries, for other types of brands, such as fashion, luxury, and to some extent, consumer electronics). I wrote it to explore and explain the Fluid Consumer in a way that allows CPG leaders and managers to make sense of how their brands can and might fit into their (our) world. I wrote it to remind CPG executives that brands are tremendous assets and to let them know that if they have an established brand to work with, then they are already in a position of relative strength; they have much to build on. I wrote it to help CPG executives identify the right place and profile for their brands and to help them figure out where to prioritize spending and how to boost agility to compete. From my vantage point, I’m fortunate to have the big picture of the industry’s evolution constantly in my sights. In this book, I try to share that view.

The challenges of the digital era are real and immediate for CPG leaders. For many, I wouldn’t be surprised if an average workday feels like riding on the Cheetah Hunt roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Florida. (Look it up; it is designed to make riders feel as if they are a predator on a chase. And since would-be riders can’t see what’s in store for them from the line, they have no idea what to expect before they have their turn.) But to my mind, these times are as exciting as they are unpredictable and tumultuous. Imagine the power of being the ride’s designer. We in the CPG world have the potential to design Fluid Consumers’ experiences and expectations just as much as we have the responsibility to react to them. With so much unfolding in digital technologies and so much potential only just coming into focus for harnessing even the little we currently comprehend, I can’t think of a more invigorating time to be in the consumer goods and services field. I hope this book persuades you to feel the same way, and I would like to hear your thoughts on these ideas. Feel free to reach me at [email protected]. The journey is just beginning …

PART I: The Outside Focus

Chapter One

Experience or Utility: Setting a Course to Please the Fluid Consumer

Rapidly evolving digital technologies have given rise to Fluid Consumers: people who can dip in and out of the consumer packaged goods and services (CPG) environment at will, wherever they are, at any time. These consumers embrace new product features or digitally driven enhancements, acclimate, then raise their expectations, seemingly in the blink of an eye, leaving many CPG decision makers feeling that they’re always just behind the curve (and prone to making knee-jerk, ill-informed decisions).

To get ahead, brand guardians need to hit “pause” in a world where it can often seem as if pausing would be the worst thing to do. They need to carve out the time and brain space to examine the Fluid Consumer objectively. Then, they need to develop a clear and purposeful approach to brand building with Fluid Consumers in mind.

That process begins by answering one critical question for every brand in a portfolio: Is the brand better enhanced by offering consumers Experience or Utility? In other words, is it best suited to engage consumers directly in an ecosystem of activity and connections (experience) or focus on efficiency, “surfacing” only when needed, and leveraging unobtrusive connections to stay relevant and command loyalty (utility)?

When e-commerce first appeared in the late 1990s, most of us in and around consumer packaged goods and services (CPG) certainly believed that it heralded big changes in how consumers shopped and manufacturers and retailers delivered. Still, I don’t think any of us had a real appreciation of just how “big” those changes would be. Even our wildest guesses about how the world of shopping would change were woefully shortsighted. Now, however, we have a better understanding of just what those first forays into e-commerce signaled. This trend is only just gathering in ferocity. We are all still very much in the first phases of the digital revolution.

Consider: In 2010, Internet retailing accounted for 0.8 percent of global packaged food sales, or $15.4bn; by 2015 that share had grown to 1.6 percent, or an absolute dollar amount of $34.6bn. Between 2014 and 2015, Internet retailing for packaged food grew 15.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, dwarfing the rate in other retail channels.3 The digitally empowered consumers who are reaching adulthood today won’t remember a time when it wasn’t possible to reserve, order, purchase, and review online. In fact, they won’t even remember a time when it wasn’t possible to do all of those things through a small, glowing, hand-held device, at will. Being more and more plugged-in to a complex array of different digital propositions, these consumers have begun to see the Internet and mobile devices – along with the transparency, support, and services they provide – as ever-present companions, and, increasingly, as advisors, friends, coaches, assistants, nannies, mentors, and curators of all aspects of their lives.

These are Fluid Consumers. For these members of the contemporary species homo consumericus, exploring commercial life and executing purchases through the omnipresent lens of handheld devices and apps has become as normal as brushing teeth, boarding a bus, or enjoying a meal. Most follow digital routines instinctively and expand upon them without much thought. And more join their ranks each day. In 2015 there were approximately 2.6 billion smartphone users in the world, an increase of 23 percent from the prior year.4 Forty percent of consumers use their smartphones to track down goods and services today and 27 percent expect to purchase more via smartphone next year.5

Their power (our power, because most of us in the CPG arena are Fluid Consumers) to raise the bar for what CPG companies must deliver is still just gathering. In the next 10 years, the level of change driven by Fluid Consumers in the CPG industry will probably exceed the level it has experienced over the past 30 years.

In fact, the pressure that digitally powered markets and digitally enabled consumers are bringing to bear on CPG companies – to transform their brand promises, go-to-market strategies, and approaches to innovation and manufacturing – is enormous, unprecedented in the lives of most of us working in CPG today.

Figuring out how to be mindful and purposeful about building brands in the face of such tumult starts with understanding the Fluid Consumer in depth, really looking objectively at how this new breed behaves. Many of us probably think that because we are Fluid Consumers, we understand them. But, really, how often does looking in a mirror reveal useful knowledge? We need to use a wider lens and a higher vantage point.

High-Level Traits of Digitally Enabled Consumers

To that end, consider the following eight high-level traits of the Fluid Consumer as a general and broadly defined type of individual. Many people are becoming Fluid Consumers in stages, so although you personally may exhibit some of those attributes, you probably don’t exhibit them all.

• Fluid Consumers have fluid expectations. Once they have a unique experience or encounter a particularly high standard of service in one area of their lives, they are ready and willing to expect the same other areas, raising the bar across brands, categories, even industries. (“Why can’t I have an Uber-like experience with my favorite restaurant, or my bank?”) The qualities they value are thus fluid, and that translates into enormous challenges for brand guardians; essentially, they are aiming at moving targets.

• They are generally not very brand loyal. They are easily put off by sub-par digital interactions with a company. They will switch brand allegiances quickly if a brand overpromises and under-delivers and if other options are available to them. They will also switch if another product offers features that are immediately relevant to their lives. They are easily swayed by improved convenience and by readily accessible peer reviews. Roughly 40 percent of younger shoppers take information on social media platforms into account before they make a purchase decision.6

• They are impulsive, particularly with regard to consumer packaged goods and fashion items. With a world of shopping possibilities literally at their fingertips, a well-placed, well-timed “suggestion” from a friend or company can prompt an immediate transaction. Fifty-nine percent of consumers do not perceive switching to be a hassle and 44 percent are open to shopping for better deals. Some 41 percent are happy to receive promotional offers and discounts.7, 8

• They are agreeable to sharing a lot of personal information. The rising generation of consumers, while arguably concerned about privacy, has already in large part resigned itself to sharing massive amounts of personal information in return for all of the conveniences that digital technologies offer. Three out of four consumers are generally comfortable with retailers collecting personal data if they can control when and how it is used. Seventy percent of consumers claim to be generally comfortable with retailers collecting personal data if they are transparent about how they use it.9

• They do not treat shopping as an activity unto itself. Instead, in many cases, they integrate it into other life activities (working, commuting, dining out, dining in, socializing). Why shouldn’t they? They already do the same with other regular activities such as banking and making travel plans.

• They are irrevocably integrating digital technologies into most of their shopping activities. Fifty three percent of consumers want to use their mobile phone while out shopping to compare prices and reviews, and global online sales are expected to grow 184 percent within the next five years.10

• They multi-task most of the time. When they are eating with one friend, they are often communicating with several more. When they are communicating with friends, they are also often consulting reviews of products they’re interested in or activities they might participate in or restaurants they may decide to patronize. When they are participating in activities, eating at restaurants, spending time at the gym, or cooking at home, they may also be doing work, buying clothes, reading or writing reviews, taking and sending photos, making reservations, or some combination thereof. (What other things are on your mind as you read these words?)

• They have multiple consumer identities, and, more often than not, align those identities with various activities in their lives. Fluid Consumers (and in particular, Millennial Fluid Consumers) can have six, seven, eight, or even nine distinct identities, possibly attracted to different types of brands as they correspond to themes such as healthy, social, busy, anonymous, unique, conscious, curious, creative, and even VIP. (The graphic, created by Vic Lee, depicts this “World of Me”.)

Locating Your Brand on the Experience-Utility Spectrum

Pleasing one Fluid Consumer doesn’t mean pleasing them all. And, as noted, pleasing one today doesn’t even mean pleasing the same one tomorrow. So there’s no boilerplate solution to the challenge of serving them profitably. However, one thing is clear: In order to plug into these consumers’ lives effectively, meeting and exceeding their expectations now and over time, CPG companies must leverage digital technologies.

There’s just no question. Every brand needs to take advantage of the power of connectivity. Every brand needs to leverage the power that comes with real-time data and a community of users. Importantly, though, not