2011 retail brands report
DESCRIPTION
For most people, Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season. It’s a time of year to relish terrific savings and wonderful retail experiences. Others find all the activity too frenzied to participate, saving their dollars and time for Cyber Monday. No matter where you stand on the spectrum of holiday consumerism, it’s undeniably the most important time of year for most brands and retailers.Download the 2011 Retail Brands Report and see how consumers speak about the five largest retail brands in social media and discover how and why brands relate to their customers. Networked Insights’s analysts examined real-time consumer data to reveal trending topics and brand conversations, as well as insights on consumer behavior/preference, all segmented by five different consumer types.TRANSCRIPT
2011 RETAILBRANDS REPORT2011 RETAILBRANDS REPORTWHAT CONSUMER AUDIENCES ARE SAYINGABOUT SHOPPING AT TOP RETAILERSWHAT CONSUMER AUDIENCES ARE SAYINGABOUT SHOPPING AT TOP RETAILERS
For most people, Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season. It’s a time of year to relish terrific savings and tremendous purchases and to enjoy the positive elements of consumerism. Others find all the hype and activity too frenzied to participate, saving their dollars and time for Cyber Monday. No matter where you stand on the spectrum of holiday consumerism, it’s undeniably the most important time of year for most brands and retailers.
Research analysts at Networked Insights wanted to compare and contrast consumers’ conversations about shopping to discover how and why brands relate to their customers. We analyzed the five largest retail brands, examining five different consumer segments, or what we call audiences, at various times throughout the year. The report below provides brands with information derived from real-time consumer data. It offers details on trending topics and brand conversations, as well as insights on consumer behavior/preference, all segmented by consumer type.
2011 RETAIL BRANDS REPORT
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BRAND PERFORMANCENOVEMBER 2010 | DECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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Smallest share of conversation,but offer the most niche products
Top Brand for Christmas Shopping
Leads in Black Friday social conversations due to Moms
Conversation Increase in Septemberdue to “back-to-school” shopping
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When brands begin to analyze social media conversations, they typically start with owned media or brand terms. At Networked Insights, our analysis starts in a different direction altogether. We begin by asking either a) “who” is talking about said topic or b) “what” is being said about said topic. For this report, we started with audience segments, or the “who.”
To better understand the meta themes in an audience’s and brand’s ecosystem, Networked Insights ana-lysts looked at a year’s worth of data from blogs, forums, comments, Twit-ter and Facebook. This allowed us to ascertain the optimal times to distribute content and the content that resonated most with consumers.
The audiences we examine are considered primary targets for at least one of the retailers analyzed in the report. Additionally, the audience segments chosen serve to contrast consumer behavior and sentiment. We believe this approach makes it
TARGET YOUR LISTENINGeasier to identify the marketing elements that drive consumer behavior.
This also reduces the time of discovery for retailers, allowing them to shift focus to engaging with consumers on the topics they’re interested in now. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, this approach uncovers the best time to create and distribute con-tent that directs target audiences to particular retailers. Hence, it helps guide marketing decisions through the voice of the customer expressed in real-time consumer data.
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BRAND ENGAGEMENT AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
MOMS (54%)The costs of raising kids are high, and Moms are always sharing with each other the best deals they can find (especially on diapers and work out clothes). Moms also love comparing Wal-Mart to Target.
CONSUMER TECH (19%)Electronic Consumers view Target as the largest competitor to Wal-Mart. Netflix’s DVD-mail service also appears in Wal-Mart-related conversations. EC’s also like Wal-Mart’s prices and price match services. Blu-Ray film releases, home theater, and Apple products are frequently discussed.
GAMERS (12%)Gamers love midnight releases of new titles, being able to pre-order and receive exclusive features or gear, and free shipping. Amazon is consider to be direct competition in Gamers’ minds.
MILLENNIALS (10%)Millennials discuss a lot about going to, hanging out at midnight, or working at their local Wal-Mart. Considering Wal-Mart gift cards as excellent gifts and pre-ordering new videogames also come up often.
SPORTS FANS (6%)Part of being a Sports Fan is about how important the experience is to your enjoyment. Sports Fans consider Wal-Mart a good place to buy TVs and snacks for the big game.
54%
6%10%
19%
12%
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MOMS (2%)Moms don’t have a lot to say about Best Buy, but they love when BB has sales to use as a price comparison for buying new TVs, cameras, phones, and other appliances.
CONSUMER TECH (71%)Other than discussing when a film’s Blu-Ray release is, Electronic Consumers love talking about some of the services offered by Best Buy: service plans, pre-order bonuses, and price matching. Products of special interest include 3DTV, Laptops, Apple products, and speakers.
GAMERS (18%)The main reason that gamers obviously care about Best Buy is to purchase and pre-order new games. However in addition to that gamers really care a lot about their gaming experiences, so they discuss what laptops, TVs, and home theaters that will maximize their gaming.
MILLENNIALS (7%)Millennials heavily associate Best Buy with gaming. They like being able to pre-order to get copies of the game at midnight release parties. Amazon and Gamestop appear frequently as competitors.
SPORTS FANS (2%)Sports Fans like to buy videogames (e.g. Madden Football) and console gaming systems from Best Buy.
71%2%2%
7%
18%
BRAND ENGAGEMENT AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
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BRAND ENGAGEMENT AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
MOMS (65%)When thinking about Target, buying clothes comes to the top of their conversations. Diapers, baby car seats, and shoes come next in mind. Coupons, and being able to set up gift registries are also important to building the Target experience with Moms. Wal-Mart and Old Navy show up in competitive comparison.
CONSUMER TECH (9%)Electronic Consumers are always looking for the best deals, particularly on Blu-Ray films and Apple products. Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Amazon are often discussed as alternative brands to get deals from.
GAMERS (9%)Gamers are always interested in picking up the newest titles in gaming, or the latest Blu-Ray or DVD releases. Price matching is also an important service to Gamers.
MILLENNIALS (8%)Millennials like to buy games and DVDs from Target. They also talk about purchasing school supplies and what they need for their college apartments at Target.
SPORTS FANS (9%)Sports Fans care a lot about their viewing experience, and often times look at purchasing new TVs, especially ones on sale.
65%
9%8%
9%
9%
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BRAND ENGAGEMENT AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
MOMS (87%)Coupon deals are on the top of Moms’ minds when they think of CVS, especially for diapers and brand name wipes. Walgreens as a competitor is also brought up often.
CONSUMER TECH (5%)CVS-related conversation only appears in off-topic discussions (i.e. “talk about the last thing you purchased”), and for the most part Electronic Consumers do no engage directly with CVS as a brand.
GAMERS (3%)Gamers talk about the kinds of products they get from CVS like candy, soda, and gamer maga-zines like PC Gamer. Gamers also frequently compare CVS to Walgreens.
MILLENNIALS (3%)Millennials are the only group to refer to CVS as a grocery store. They also frequently compare CVS to Walgreens.
SPORTS FANS (2%)CVS was only brought up in off-topic discussions, like if there was a CVS near where they lived, and it’s hours of operation.
87%5%
3%
3%
2%
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BRAND ENGAGEMENT AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
MOMS (27%)Lowes is often compared to Home Depot in Mom conversations. Moms also like to talk about what they get from Home Depot (particularly paint) in order to decorate their baby’s room.
CONSUMER TECH (33%)Electronic Consumers talk about the materials they want/need for various DIY projects (like making their own projector screen, or building boxes for their speakers/Subwoofers).
GAMERS (14%)Gamers shop at Home Depot to get parts for various DIY projects that are similar to Electronic Consumers’ DIY projects, or to get materials to mod their PC gaming cases, like screw-drivers and spraypaint. Home Depot’s credit card is also considered an easy card to get in order to start building credit.
MILLENNIALS (12%)It turns out that Millennials have a strong interest in gardening, and consider Home Depot a great source for gardening supplies.
SPORTS FANS (13%)When Sports Fans bring up teams that Home Depot sponsors, like the LA Galaxy.
33%
27%13%
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As others have noted, social media has become the new water cooler. Today, however, these informal communications are available on multiple devices with the capability of reaching consumers at nontraditional times to drive new behaviors.
For CPG brands, navigating these emerging communications channels requires agility. Capitalizing on the potential of a multiscreen environment in and out of the home is critical as brands evolve to thrive in a world of frag-mented media. The speed in which brands collect and evaluate consumer data has never been more critical. Understanding consumers as it relates to your brand, products and marketing is increasingly not enough to help mar-keters as they work to ensure that their brand becomes part of the consider-ation set. Knowing the consumers’ world outside your product category has changed from helpful to essential when developing messaging and content that persuades. Recognizing the topics and themes important to consumers takes the guesswork out of marketing that ultimately affects social interactions and influences purchase behavior.
The promising news for brands is that their ability to apply consumer data to marketing decisions will rise as they become more comfortable tracking con-sumer behavior from social data. The traditional persona data used in plan-ning will include a social profile gathered from implicit and explicit data col-lected across the social web. The benefit for marketers is that consumer data can be updated in real time at the moment of decision, enabling a more effi-cient marketing spend while increasing the frequency in which messaging reaches a desired target.
INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND PURCHASE CYCLES
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Black Fridaydeals inspiredall audiencesto interact morewith Wal-Mart
Millennials conversation increaseddramatically in September due to“back-to-school” shopping, but dropsin December when the schoolsemester starts to wrap up
The year-round near consistentlevels of conversation from Momsindicates their year-round interestsin getting the best deals and coupons
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ELECTRONICCONSUMERS
GAMERS MOMS SPORTSENTHUSIASTS
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BRAND CONVERSATION BY AUDIENCEDECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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Christmas shopping inspires the mostconversation out of Moms and Sports Fans
Millennials’ conversation washigher in September due tothe buzz around the AppleiPhone 4s
Conversations decrease for mostafter the holidayseason, due in part to game and DVDrelease schedules
ELECTRONICCONSUMERS
GAMERS MOMS SPORTSENTHUSIASTS
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BRAND CONVERSATION BY AUDIENCEDECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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Similar to Wal-Mart, Moms are lookingfor deals almost consistently all yearround, but peaks in November
For almost all audiences, Target-relatedconversations are the lowest in December;this is partially related to the gaming andmedia industry pushing for more newreleases in October and NovemberGamers interactions with Target
is almost double in Novemberthan any other month
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BRAND CONVERSATION BY AUDIENCEDECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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Unlike the other retail brands,Black Friday had the least amountof impact within the audiences
Since the overall CVS conversationwas fairly low across all the analyzedaudiences, off-topic conversationseasily influenced what month wasthe most popular for CVS-relatedconversations
August is considered to be statisticallythe highest month for births, and we cansee that trend directly reflected in theincrease of Moms conversations lookingfor discounted, or coupons for diapers
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BRAND CONVERSATION BY AUDIENCEDECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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With the exception of the Millennials, May was the largest month of conversation, and the most popular month to start new DIY projects
Home Depot conversation spikeswith Sports fans in November as they discuss many of the athletesthat Home Depot sponsors September was Millennials’ favorite
month to discuss DIY projects
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BRAND CONVERSATION BY AUDIENCEDECEMBER 2010 | MAY 2011 | SEPTEMBER 2011 | NOVEMBER 2011
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Brands are experts in the consumers who use their products. They’ve developed systems to gather data, synthesize it and apply it to product development, advertising, strategy and marketing programs. Retailers have a slight edge in understanding consumers because of access to sales data. Knowing what people are buying and when improves forecasting and provides the ability to capitalize on trends with complementary product offerings.
The broader system we’ve developed and perfected in the 20th century works in a world of centralized control and limited communications channels. After all, it allowed the once only brick and mortar retailers in this report to become titans. However, just as the arrival of the Internet ushered in ecommerce and a new group of online retailers, so too will social technology platforms. Today marketers are working in a world with diminished reach but heightened targeting. Monitoring consumers shifted from a highly manual, time-consuming and expensive endeavor to something you can now do online without ever having to communicate with a customer. The social
TAKING YOUR MARKETING TO THE NEXT LEVELconsumers in our current demand economy have more digital tools at their disposal than the marketers trying to reach them. It’s time for marketers to work smarter and embrace the era of agile marketing.
Brands living in the post-advertising world understand the need to develop content that meets the objectives of the various stages of the buyer’s journey. Achieving relevancy requires an appreciation for timing and recognizing the cues of the consumer. This is imperative when you rely on word of mouth through social media to carry your marketing messages just as much as your advertising.
Networked Insights was founded in 2006 by industry leaders and seasoned entrepreneurs in the fields of social media and customer intelligence. Offices in New York, Chicago, Toronto and Madison, WI.
646.545.3900 | [email protected] | networkedinsights.com
ADVANCING WITH A SKILLEDANALYTICS PARTNERNetworked Insights helps brands, agencies and networks mitigate risk, make more informed real-time data-driven decisions, and get more reach for the same media spend. Our blended approach of technology and expert analysis help marketers understand who is engaging, where and when they are doing it, on what content, and how.
As illustrated in this report, fields of social media and analytics require distinguishing the segments within your customer base and the information that influences them. Moreover, knowing your digital consumers requires accepting the fact that their social profile is continuously in flux, guided by foreseeable circumstances such as life phases and unexpected trends in popular culture. In the take-no-prisoners retail season of the holidays, it’s never been more important to make marketing decisions driven by real-time consumer data.
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