It's the first blog of the new decade! We've seen a lot over the last ten years, from the boom of fast casual and delivery to the bust of Sears and Circuit City. It was a great decade for Tom Brady and Beyonce, not so much for Jared and Subway. But now, it's time to look forward! Below, we offer four market research topics that we already have in the hopper for 2020, things we've had on our mind for a while and can't wait to explore and share in this new year.
Retail Market Research: When Experiences are Products
You know what my boyfriend gave me for my birthday this year? He took me bungee jumping (and I wore wings). I took him to a concert for his. We are adorable, yes, but we are also a sign and symptom of an undeniable trend: experience-based expenditures are up 6.3% over the last five years while material purchase are only up 1%. Millennials spend an average of $164/month on entertainment, $30 more per year than Baby Boomers. How can retailers get in on the action, either by building out their own experience-based products or by partnering with existing providers? Get ready to take a trip from Coachella’s Stella Tent all the way to escape rooms and a night at the movies as we explore the experience economy.
The Kids Menus are More than Alright: A Food Service Market Research Assessment of Evolving Children’s Menus.
We can’t wait to talk about kids menus. No, seriously. I just saw my three-year-old niece get down on some sushi--we’re not talking California rolls, we are talking sashimi, like a hunk of raw fish tied on top of rice. And here’s the kicker: she ordered it off the kids menu. As restaurants find new ways to engage millennial families, they are realizing their kids are as adventurous and curious as their parents. Children’s menus are being reconceptualized to meet and profit from this changing state, and we can’t wait to dive deep into the market research, economics, and social implications of this change.
How the Grocery Industry Can Use Market Research to Elevate and Motivate In-Store Trips in an Omnichannel Era?
We’ve talked about omnichannel delivery and click & collect ad nauseum, and we’ve talked about how deep discounters like grocery outlet can use value to motivate in-store trips. But how can typical supermarkets--the Krogers and Safeways of the world--create in-store experiences that will draw in foot traffic? What types of loss leaders, product interactions, vendor partnerships, and technologies can combine to compete with the utter undeniable convenience of delivery?
A Cup of CPG Market Research: Coffee in the New Decade
You could say this blog has been percolating for a while. Having already exhaustively explored alcohol in 2019, we are going to be turning our attention to coffee, from the ground Folgers to the single-source $20/lb good stuff, from bottled cold brew to Nespresso. With some primary market research, we are going to be asking things like: what is the current state of jo, how is it evolving among different segmentations, how many people still use the standard plug-in drip maker every morning, and are there any Carly Simon clouds in the coffee market? You grind the beans...and we will just grind.
