At Best Buy, Marketing Goes Micro
Returning military? Polish speakers? No niche is too small for local stores to identify and target
by Jena McGregor BW50 May 15, 2008, 5:00PM EST
Returning military? Polish speakers? No niche is too small for local stores to identify and target
by Jena McGregor BW50 May 15, 2008, 5:00PM EST
Lately, the employees at Best Buy store No. 952 is in Baytown have noticed a different stripe of shopper: Eastern European workers from cargo ships or oil tankers, temporarily docked at Baytown's busy port, are spending their hours scouring the store's aisles. They take a 15-minute cab or shuttle ride to stock up on iPods and Apple laptops priced cheaper than back home. To speed their shopping, the Baytown Best Buy has moved the iPods from the back corner of the store to the front, paired them with overseas power converters, and simplified the signage. Since the changes were made over the holidays, cash register receipts for the boat workers have increased by 67%
Best Buy is encouraging its outlets to go off script. Sure, European boat workers are a microscopic niche. But when multiplied by Best Buy's more than 900 stores, the retailer believes such bottom-up insights could have an outsize impact on sales growth.
Local insight is contributing to a relatively positive forecast from Best Buy. At a time high oil price, executives still project a growth rate of 1% to 3% at stores that have been open at least 14 months.
opinion
Today's customers perceive as having unique needs and interests, and they demand that businesses understand and meet those individual needs.
The shift from mass to micro marketing presents both opportunities and challenges to market researchers. In their effort to market to customers on a one-to-one basis, market-driven companies must quickly make the move. For this reason, companies will increasingly rely on market research for customer attitudinal analysis. True customer analysis requires an understanding of not only how and what customers think but also how they act.
Understanding how customers think can help explain and predict customer behavior. Unfortunately, in most companies, Market research and attitudinal analysis are owned by the market research department, and they are often outsourced to a market research agency.
I think it hinders interaction and cooperation between the research groups. There is also a cultural separation between these two disciplines at both the executive and field levels.
I'm sure you're able to find fans of your brand somewhere. Perhaps your brand and your micro marketing is mentioned on some of their Web sites. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." The better you are at involving your customers in the philosophy of your brand, the better they'll understand why you're special.
The shift from mass to micro marketing presents both opportunities and challenges to market researchers. In their effort to market to customers on a one-to-one basis, market-driven companies must quickly make the move. For this reason, companies will increasingly rely on market research for customer attitudinal analysis. True customer analysis requires an understanding of not only how and what customers think but also how they act.
Understanding how customers think can help explain and predict customer behavior. Unfortunately, in most companies, Market research and attitudinal analysis are owned by the market research department, and they are often outsourced to a market research agency.
I think it hinders interaction and cooperation between the research groups. There is also a cultural separation between these two disciplines at both the executive and field levels.
I'm sure you're able to find fans of your brand somewhere. Perhaps your brand and your micro marketing is mentioned on some of their Web sites. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." The better you are at involving your customers in the philosophy of your brand, the better they'll understand why you're special.
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