Innovation. It’s a word that appears in just about every annual report of consumer products companies. Although everyone talks about it, very few companies think innovatively about the concept, especially when it comes to new product development. Instead, many consumer-facing organizations remain focused on risk-averse activities aimed at slow-but-steady growth.
To be successful, companies will need to engage consumers in dialogue and leverage their insights to create nationally recognized brands that are worthy of their price. Consumer-Centric Innovation (CCI) can often be the path to this outcome as it can help create products that capture the customer’s imagination, provide entertaining brand experiences, or offer solutions to previously unmet needs.
In a new report, “Consumer-Centric Innovation: Tapping Into Consumer Insights to Drive Growth,” Deloitte’s Pat Conroy and Art Ash discuss six key action steps that companies should consider to help make their innovation efforts more consumer centric. These components provide companies with a new way of thinking about innovation that often can yield favorable long-term results. In a time when consumers are increasingly bypassing companies and creating their own products or solutions and sharing them with others, the power and potential of consumer-centric innovation is too important to ignore.
Want to read more? Download the full article . . . . How to tap into consumer insights to drive business growth
If you prefer a more detailed discussion, contact Professor Rodger George (Director at Deloitte Consulting Southern Africa) at rogeorge@deloitte.co.za
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We live in times characterised by change and volatility, yet we can be certain of one thing: consumer values, needs, and behaviours will continue to evolve. Consumer 2020 – reading the signs draws together insights into economic and demographic trends, considerations of finite resources, and the ever-more dramatic impact of technology on our daily lives, in order to make some predictions about how our attitudes and patterns of consumption will change over the next decade.
Read the full report . . . . Consumer 2020 – Reading the signs
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Consumer shopping habits have changed. Perceptions of brand have changed. This transformation in the consumer packaged goods and retail industry sheds new light on the increased competition between traditional national brands and store brands. Specifically, consumer perceptions of store brand quality have improved, there is a renewed focus on and investment in store brands by retailers, and a byproduct of the recession is that it induced trials of less expensive brands.
Like others, we have seen store brands gain market share over the long run in the U.S. across a number of personal care, household goods, and food categories. We have also seen U.S. retailers become more sophisticated with their store brands, like some European retailers, in terms of branding, multi-tier product portfolios, and use of point of sale data. As the differences between national and store brands seem to narrow, we perceived a blurring of the two and in some cases, a scenario in which traditional national brands seem to be ceding too much ground in terms of market share to the grocery and mass merchandiser store brands. We also heard a debate concerning the impact of the recession and eventual recovery on consumers’ buying behavior related to store brands.
With this in mind, it is my pleasure to present a Deloitte Research survey of consumer product (“CP”) and retail executives on the challenges that national brands face, and the actions they are taking.
Read the full article . . . . A walk down the grocery aisle
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Welcome to this our 13th Deloitte Annual Year End Holiday Survey. Nineteen countries are included in our 2010 survey. This year has certainly been challenging for retailers and consumers alike, not only in terms of the tough economic environment that provides the backdrop for this year’s holiday season spending outlook, but also in terms of the different and sometimes conflicting market messages that are filtered through to consumers almost on a daily basis.
As has been the case in prior years, we have sampled the spending habits and the underlying moods of consumers across all 19 countries ahead of the 2010 year-end festive season in order to assess their frame of mind and intentions toward planned spending on gifts, food, out-of-home entertainment and leisure over the coming holiday season.
Read the full article . . . . Deloitte Annual Year End Holiday Survey – 2010
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Deloitte is please to present the third annual Global Powers of the consumer products industry. This report identifies the 250 largest consumer products companies around the world based on publicly available data for the companies’ fiscal year 2008 (encompasses fiscal years ended through June 2009). The report also provides an outlook for the global economy; an analysis of market capitalisation in the industry; and a discussion of major trends affecting consumer products companies.
Read the full article . . . . Global Powers of the Consumer Products Industry 2010
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