Every shopper embarks upon a journey when purchasing desired goods or services. That journey can differ dramatically among various types of audiences. On the other hand, certain aspects of the shopper’s journey are similar, regardless of the product or service involved. This is where organizations can benefit dramatically by mapping the customer journey.

A comprehensive understanding of the customer experience enables businesses to: 

  • Refine offerings and identification of gaps in what a company offers 
  • Pinpoint relevant marketing channels and promote targeted offers
  • Deliver on customer expectations
  • Respond to ever-evolving customer preferences
  • Anticipate customer needs and boost retention

Agile adaptation is key to any business’s long-term success. As we have noted before, “many sales and marketing leaders take for granted that they know what their customers need.” Assumptions like these can prove costly and lose business and trigger a loss in customer retention rates.

By contrast, when you know your offerings suit current and emerging customer needs, your business will develop a reputation for being wholly customer-centric that your competitors can’t match. 

Digging Deep into Customer Needs and Preferences

What are you attempting to uncover through shopper research? Information that describes customer behavior is key, with many elements that fit together for a broader picture. These elements include insights into:

  • Why do consumers contemplate buying a product? 
  • Why do they ultimately decide not to make a purchase?
  • Buying behaviors of different target audiences 

Conducting shopper research isn’t just about identifying shortcomings in how to deliver what people want. This information enables companies to undertake proactive steps that anticipate changing trends in shopper preferences and behaviors. Ultimately, pinpointing innovative ways to reduce gaps between your business and customer needs can result in a significant boost in customer acquisition and retention.

It’s essential to recognize that a wealth of data may already exist in your company. Everything gleaned from business analytics, and customer survey scores to the reasons behind customer service calls offer potential insights into customer behavior. This is an excellent place to start with your research to reduce any duplication in data mining.

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Incorporate Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Broadly speaking, two types of research into customer experiences yield the most helpful insights. 

The first is quantitative, a kind of “view from 30,000 feet” of consumer behavior. The process involves gathering numerical data points to help establish trends and patterns of behavior. The benefits lie in a deeper understanding about:

  • Broad groups of individuals
  • How different groups of shoppers behave (designated, for example, by age, gender, or market) 
  • Reducing complicated issues around shopper behavior into a clear-cut number of factors

Among the most useful tools to employ are online surveys, where consumers can be asked (a) about the decision that led to a purchase; (b) what obstacles prevented them from buying; (c) the type of research they conducted before purchase, and (d) what, if any, competitors they considered. 

Demographic data on the makeup of a “typical” shopper is also helpful. This can include information on age, gender, income level, etc., which can lead to creating buyer or shopper personas (more to come below). 

The raw data produced by quantitative research can be analyzed through a range of online tools that helps closely define who wants to buy a particular product or service and predict future customer behavior. 

Qualitative research aims at drilling down for more precise insights than typically yielded by quantitative study efforts. In general, this approach is more human-focused and relies less upon numbers and figures. What counts is gaining a better grasp of what customers have to say. The objective is to explore “the more intangible and subjective reasons why customers behave the way they do.” 

While there may be occasional overlap in quantitative and qualitative research methods, the latter is designed to zero in on identified target populations to examine more closely what drives them to make specific buying decisions.

Tools include:

  • Open-ended questions in online surveys that require more than a simple “yes” or “no” answer and can also identify shopper pain points (specific problems or challenges that a given product or service can favorably address)
  • “Contextual” inquiries that focus on observing shoppers in their “native habitat” (retail outlet, e-commerce, etc.)
  • Social listening, where information is gathered from social media platforms and other online communities 
  • Shopper journals or diaries, where selected customers maintain a running record of their shopping preferences and behaviors

As part of qualitative research, direct customer interviews can be very effective. Key market questions to ask during this process may include:

  • What specific problem were you attempting to solve when you selected our product/service?
  • What made you choose us over a competitor?
  • How well did our product/service address your needs?
  • What do you like the most (and the least) about our product/service?
  • How would you rate your customer experience with our company?

A combination of quantitative and qualitative research efforts often generates the most accurate insights into why shoppers act the way they do.

Creating a Shopper Persona

What can you do with all the data you collect as part of your research efforts? One necessary action is creating a shopper (or buyer) persona—a fictional representation of your ideal customer. This can be achieved through a focus on your most loyal customers. What shopping patterns are common within this specific group? Do they share specific demographic qualities (such as age or gender)? In what ways are their experiences, motivations, and pain points alike? 

Use the answers to these and related questions to put together a profile consisting of information on a typical shopper’s purchasing decisions and objections, competitors they consider, and final determining factors that lead them to become your loyal customer. For greater ease of understanding, companies often attach a fake name and stock profile to round out the shopper persona. 

A Map of the Shopper’s Journey

It’s often helpful to translate research findings into a visual representation of the shopper’s journey. Outlining the exact steps customers undertake from first becoming conscious of a brand to actual purchase and delivery. When depicted in visual form (map, diagram, etc.), the journey becomes clearer to understand and makes it easier to address any gaps or shortcomings in the process.

In general, the shopper’s journey proceeds from awareness (shoppers recognize a problem or challenge they must contend with) to consideration (shoppers seek ways to address those problems or challenges), culminating with a decision (shoppers determine a preferred solution and begin to act on it). 

You can pinpoint where each of your existing customers stands within these three stages through a well-crafted journey map. This can prove enormously valuable for tailoring your marketing and related communications where they can have the most impact.

Also included in a journey map are clearly defined touchpoints—that is, every possible place where a shopper comes into contact with (or becomes aware of) your business. Touchpoints cover a wide range, including:

  • Customer interactions with employees
  • Business website
  • Digital content
  • Product catalogs
  • Social media platform
  • Paid advertisements
  • Third-party review sites
  • Articles in print/electronic media

The shopper journey “can rarely be represented in a linear journey from point A to point B because buyers often take a back and forth, cyclical, multi-channel journey,” notes HubSpot. To facilitate visualization of this non-linear path, “savvy business leaders use a variety of methods [ranging] from post-it notes on a boardroom wall, to Excel Spreadsheets, to infographics.” It’s critically important that “the map makes sense to those who’ll be using it.”

Take a Tour of Your Shopper’s Journey

After marshalling your resources and analyzing your data, it’s time to create a shopper’s journey map. But the process isn’t complete until you and your team take the journey map for a “spin” and see what your customers experience.

“Take time once a quarter to go through every step of the customer experience yourself,” advises Forbes. Only by adopting a “do-it-yourself” approach to shopper journey mapping “can you understand and prioritize essential changes and improvements.” 

Two key points to keep in mind:

Shopper research always means more than merely locating and identifying problems along the customer’s journey. Adopting a broader view of this research enables businesses to become more proficient in terms of customer service. When the quality of this service improves, and disgruntled customers become satisfied customers, there’s more room for upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Another powerful marketing resource is favorable word-of-mouth from shoppers who feel a business anticipates and responds to issues quickly. 

Also, customer needs and priorities never remain static. (The ever-widening ramifications of the global pandemic are a stark reminder of this fact.) Customer loyalty remains a moving target, mainly when it’s relatively easy for shoppers to move from one company to another, claiming “more improved” products or services.

In-depth shopper research and mapping helps businesses anticipate, predict, and plan for future contingencies. Companies possessing detailed shopper research and a vibrant, real-time shopper journey map are unlikely to be caught wrong-footed when shopping trends take an unexpected turn. 

Do you think you know what your customers need and want from your business? Based on your company’s experience in the industry, you may have a general idea. Still, a comprehensive understanding will only occur when you and your team conduct extensive (and highly focused) shopper journey research.

Market research is an essential activity for companies of all kinds. When entering a new local market or category, it’s crucial to do as much research as possible in many areas to ensure you’re as prepared as possible to launch successfully, with minimal risk.

Market research is even more important when entering an international market, as the stakes are higher, and you’ll be facing entirely new market conditions.

This article will examine international market research, how it typically differs from what you’re used to in your domestic market, and some of the main reasons companies need to do it.

What is international market research?

International market research is a blanket term for all the research and preparation on a new market, usually before entering it. Unlike domestic market research, international market research focuses on an overseas market, often with different cultures, business conditions, and consumer behaviors.

There are many different methods and stages involved in international market research. In some cases, the particular methods and techniques are the same as domestic market research, but your overall strategy will likely be very different.

What are the objectives of international marketing research?

International market research is a way of understanding a new, overseas market before you launch a product or service there. The main objectives are to understand your target customers, identify any challenges, get familiar with your competitors, and do anything else to boost your chances of success and avoid unpleasant surprises.

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How is international market research different from domestic research?

There are several key differentiating factors between domestic market research and international market research. Here are three of the key differences:

1. You’re entering a market with social and cultural differences

Domestic market research is already tricky, but the often vast differences between your home country and your target country make international market research much more challenging in many ways.

Often, the reasons for this difficulty are the same reasons why you need to research in the first place — you need to learn as much as possible about a region and culture that may be entirely unlike your own. 

The differences between countries can create many challenges for researchers. For example, a research method like one-on-one interviews that work well in western countries like the UK and US may fail miserably in other parts of the world where it is considered suspicious.

2. There may be more restrictions around research

In addition to cultural and social differences, international markets also come with legal differences. While you might have a good understanding of how the law (as it relates to market research) works at home, the reality abroad may be very different.

You’ll need to be aware of an entirely new set of rules to avoid breaking them and ending up in legal trouble. One example is the USA’s TCPA, which forbids calling a cellphone using an automated dialing system.

Legal differences make it imperative to conduct legal research and coordinate with lawyers in your target market before beginning any research. Ending up on the wrong side of the law could be catastrophic.

3. It requires more investment

Conducting market research on your home soil can often be undertaken relatively cheaply. However, costs can quickly skyrocket doing research abroad. Seemingly simple things like hiring venues, running telephone interviews, and gathering people to interview can become exponentially more complicated when you’re doing it in a foreign country with people who speak another language.

You may find yourself needing to hire a small army of staff on the ground to help you carry out these tasks. To make things even more frustrating, the cheaper market research methods like email and online surveys don’t work nearly as well in developing countries with less widespread internet access.

8 reasons why companies need to research their international markets

Despite the additional challenges involved, international market research is simply unavoidable if entering a new market overseas. Here are some of the reasons why.

1. Differences in culture

The culture of your overseas target market may be completely different. Failing to research the culture of your target market adequately could result in serious blunders, which could seriously harm your market entry and brand reputation.

Cultural differences don’t have to be vast to cause significant problems. For example, in many African countries, containers are labeled with a picture of their contents. When baby nutrition company Gerber entered this market with their jars labeled with photos of babies, the reaction was understandably negative and seriously impacted sales.

2. Differences in laws and regulations

Laws and regulations don’t just have an impact on your market research methods. They can affect every part of your market entry process and how you conduct your business in your new market.

If you enter a new market without a comprehensive understanding of the law concerning your activities, you risk getting into legal trouble.

There are many different potential legal pitfalls to consider when entering a new market. Some examples are environmental regulations, tax laws, and laws that pertain to hiring new staff. On top of this, rules can change quickly, and what was legal five years ago might be a no-go today. 

Understanding legal and regulatory differences is where one-off research isn’t enough — you’ll have to conduct regular and ongoing research as well as work with legal experts in your target market.

3. Differences in customer preferences

Customers in one country may have completely different preferences to those in another. Cultural differences can be due to the earlier issues, but they can also result from other factors.

When China began allowing its citizens to buy and own homes a few decades ago, US do-it-yourself chain Home Depot quickly capitalized on this new opportunity. Six years later, they closed all their Chinese stores, never to return.

The reason — they opened all their stores in the suburbs, but most middle-class Chinese citizens tend to live in apartment blocks in the cities, homes that don’t require or allow much renovation. This simple misunderstanding due to incomplete research led to the failure of Home Depot’s market entry attempt.

4. Understand the competition

When you enter a new market, you’ll need to compete with already existing brands. Brand competition is not easy — you’re already at a significant disadvantage compared to companies that have been established in that region for a long time and are well-known to the local consumers.

It’s essential to understand who you are competing against and — more importantly — how they have been able to succeed. What exactly is it that customers like about your competitors? What keeps them coming back? What has allowed them to gain and maintain a hold in your target market?

Answering these questions through research will give you valuable direction on what your brand must do to succeed. It will also highlight weaknesses in your competitors that you can address in your marketing.

5. Mitigate risk

Entering any new market is a risky venture, and that risk increases when you expand abroad. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies operating abroad faced far lower Return on Assets than those in domestic markets. Many of these companies do not survive the attempt.

Market research allows you to mitigate your risk by being as prepared as possible for the many challenges of entering a foreign market. You’ll better understand your customers and what they want, be more prepared to take on your competition, avoid legal issues, and have a more viable strategy. 

Entering a new market overseas will never be risk-free, but research allows you to minimize that risk.

6. Logistical challenges

The logistical challenges involved in entering a foreign market can be enormous. Everything from selecting and evaluating suppliers to finding ways to transport your products around your new market, there are many things to consider.

When entering a market in the developing world, these challenges become compounded. Regions without well-established transport infrastructure, financial systems, labor laws, government, and so on can create an endless series of logistical challenges.

To prepare for this, you’ll need to research your new market rigorously. Understand all the potential issues facing you so you have time to prepare and aren’t caught unawares by a problem that might set back your operations by a significant amount.

7. Prepare a solid strategy and budget

A well-established strategy and budget plan is an essential starting point for any market entry process. The only way to do this effectively is through diligent market research.

Market research allows you to understand the costs of your new market, including unexpected expenses. It also helps you anticipate obstacles and challenges and flesh out your strategy in a way that boosts your chances of success.

Suppose you need to win the support of high-level stakeholders in your organization. In that case, a well-prepared and financed strategy is an excellent way to convince them that your market entry attempt is well-placed to go ahead.

8. Find available marketing channels

Marketing your product in a foreign market comes with a unique set of challenges and considerations. Channels that work well in your home country may fail abroad — for example, digital marketing in a country with poor internet access.

On top of that, your messaging will need to consider all the cultural and linguistic characteristics of your target market. An advertising campaign that works well at home may very well perform terribly on the other side of the world.

Market research is a great way to identify the marketing channels and approaches that typically work well for similar products in your target market, helping you plan an effective marketing strategy and boost your chances of success from the start.

Market research is an essential and unavoidable task if you want to enter a foreign market successfully. Done right, it can help reduce the many risks involved and give your product the best possible chances of succeeding in a market that may be radically different from the ones you currently operate.

Contact Kadence to learn more about how we can help you with international market research, along with all other kinds.

Considering expanding into an overseas market? If so, you’ll need to do international market research, but be warned, there are many different methods involved and choices.

The difference between good and bad market research can make the difference between the success or failure of your product launch. This is even more true when launching in foreign markets.

All the various challenges and obstacles of market entry are compounded when you enter a market with different cultures, customs, languages, laws, and infrastructure to what you’re used to dealing with in your domestic market. 

Without conducting rigorous research beforehand, you risk being unprepared for an already challenging process.

This article will look at some of the most effective methods for international market research and what you’ll need to consider compared to domestic research. 

The three main types of data

Before we explore the methods available to researchers, it’s essential to look at the three main types of data you will be aiming to collect:

1. Secondary data

Secondary data refers to data not collected specifically for the task at hand (in contrast with primary data). It can involve things like government records, business reports, information from NGOs, and scientific publications. 

Secondary data is usually the easiest to collect and makes a good starting point for your international market research. When researching a foreign market, it’s crucial to consider linguistic differences and that specific data may be less accessible for political reasons.

2. Survey data

Survey data is a blanket term for all the data you gather through speaking to real people in your target market. There are many ways to collect it, including face-to-face surveys and interviews, electronic methods like email surveys, via telephone, and more.

When dealing with an international market, surveys can be highly effective as they offer a direct connection with your target customers in your new market. However, there are challenges to overcoming language barriers and cultural differences.

The best way to conduct an international survey is to appoint a research firm with direct market knowledge and experience.

3. Experimental data

Experimental data is gathered through an experiment. In market research, this can take many forms. For example, you could divide customers into groups and offer one a full-price product and the other a discounted product, then measure which has more uptake.

Once again, experimental data is a helpful tool when researching an international market since it yields real-world findings and allows you to draw concrete insights about how the market will respond to your product.

It’s worth noting that primary data refers to any information collected solely for the task at hand, so survey data and experimental data can be considered primary or secondary depending on the source.

9 of the most effective methods in international market research

Now, let’s explore some of the most effective methods available to market researchers when getting started in a new, overseas market.

1. Overseas business research

The research conducted by other businesses can be a good starting point for your market research. Companies in your space may have already collected this data. It may have been collected by businesses based in your target market or a nearby location.

Business research is valuable because it’s an example of another organization that has done some of its work for you. You can learn a lot about business trends, cultural differences, markets, laws, and more from the research of other companies.

However, this is always just a starting point. No business in the world will have the same set of questions, challenges, and needs as yours, and nobody will have the same product and audience for it. For effective market research, you’ll have to do your own work too.

2. Collecting foreign government information

Governments collect a tremendous amount of information about their populations and the business within their borders. This includes demographics, geography, and culture, which can be extremely useful when planning your marketing and choosing where to sell your product.

In addition, government data can provide valuable insights on the legal challenges you might face when entering a new market and the various regulations you’ll be required to comply with as you market and launch your product. Much of this information is readily available on government websites.

3. Collecting information from NGOs

Non-governmental organizations like charities can be excellent sources of data due to their work in research. NGOs may provide more accurate and up-to-date data than governments in developing regions of the world, which can lack the infrastructure to collect information properly.

4. Face-to-face research

One-to-one interviews and focus groups can both be highly effective market research methods. They afford you a direct insight into what your customers think, what they want, as well as what concerns them, what their pain points are, and how they feel about your competitors, among many other things.

However, doing face-to-face research in an international market comes with a unique set of challenges. The logistical demands are higher — you’ll need to locate and hire venues and work with interviewers on the ground, which may be more complex than doing so back home. You’ll also need to consider linguistic differences, which means hiring interpreters or locally-based staff.

Another challenge is cultural differences. For example, some Middle Eastern cultures treat interviews with suspicion, and it may be not easy to gather a meaningful sample group. 

5. Attitude scales

Attitude scales — like the Likert scale — allow respondents to give a score on how they feel about a question or statement, usually on a scale of “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”.

There are many benefits to using this type of research method in international markets. It tends to transcend language, and questions are easily translated. It’s also easy to distribute and can quickly be done either in person or electronically.

However, there are still challenges. Some cultures, such as Japan, may be unwilling to give strong responses, leading to many neutral answers and no meaningful takeaway.

6. Text message (SMS) survey

Text message surveys involve sending out a series of questions to a group of respondents via SMS. It’s quick, easy, cheap, and allows you to reach a large number of people. You won’t get detailed responses from this kind of survey, and it tends to miss out on nuances, but it’s potentially an excellent way to get lots of feedback with minimal effort.

The drawbacks are that it’s dependent on mobile access. Many countries worldwide lack this — Laos, for example, has a mobile phone penetration of just 53.4%. This makes it harder to distribute your surveys to a significant number of people.

7. Online survey

There are many different types of online surveys available to you when conducting international market research. Email, social media, and web forums are just a few examples of places you can connect with respondents and distribute surveys and questionnaires.

Online surveys are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to gather information and can be done from anywhere globally with no need to hire additional staff or deal with logistics in your target market. You’ll get fast responses, and surveys are also easy to translate into multiple languages.

There are some challenges involved, however. Anything involving the internet is dependent on internet access in your target market, which may be very low in some parts of the world. This method works well in North America and Europe but is poorly suited to countries like Eritrea, where only 14% of the population uses the internet.

8. Mobile web survey

This method involves distributing surveys via smartphones through applications or some of the other online methods mentioned above. In many countries, smartphone ownership exceeds computer ownership, making this a valid alternative.

In other countries, however, very few people own smartphones. Pakistan is one example — smartphone penetration here is just 18.4%. However, if your target market has a high smartphone penetration, this can be a reliable research channel.

9. Remote Face-to-Face

In recent years, we’ve all seen an explosion in the use of video chat software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Today, this is used regularly to communicate with friends and family, attend work meetings, and even see your doctor. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend and forced us to rely on remote communication for almost all of our social interactions.

This technology applies to market research and is ideally suited to researching foreign markets. Now, face-to-face interviews and focus groups can take place entirely digitally, removing the need to send team members abroad or hire people in your target market.

There are still limitations, of course — it relies on your audience having access to electronic devices which can lead to skewed results (for example, you end up interviewing only younger and more affluent people). It should be combined with other methods for best results.

Market research is an essential but often challenging process, and it becomes harder when you try to do it in a completely new market far from home. Fortunately, market researchers today have access to a wealth of methods and tools, many of which did not exist even in the recent past.
Get in touch to learn how Kadence can help you conduct international market research as effectively as possible, allowing you to mount a confident and informed market entry.

Understanding your customer is key to business success. Learn how to make your products or services meet customer pain points along the customer journey.

Customers make or break businesses. Companies that meet buyers’ needs are more profitable, while those that don’t will lose buyers and may fail.

Even so, some businesses pay little to no attention to customers’ expectations. Instead, they chase trends or pursue ideas from their top brass, assuming that they know what interests buyers. And companies that check on customer needs often don’t do so frequently enough to keep up with the rapidly changing world.

This guide is about understanding customer needs—what they are, why they matter, how to identify them, and how to use them to win more customers.

What are Customer Needs?

Simply put, customer needs are the physical or psychological factors that motivate a person to purchase a particular product or service. These can be as varied as the hundreds or millions of customers in your marketplace.

Physical motivators are anything that has a measurable or tangible cause. If a person is hungry, they’ll buy food. If they’re cold, they’ll buy a coat. If their car breaks down, they’ll have it repaired.

Psychological needs are emotional reasons for purchase, and they’re almost always more important than physical needs. Any food, coat, or repair shop would solve the problems above, so how does someone pick where to make their purchase?

Opinions, desires, and preferences shape most purchasing. That’s why things like convenience, pricing, reliability, reputation, service, and values often lead a customer to choose one company over the competition.

“Customer needs” are often called “pain points.” While not all marketing professionals agree that these terms are interchangeable, they are indeed similar. Customer pain points are specific problems that people need help solving. Pain points can happen all along the customer journey and can include any physical or psychological issues that stand in the way of their happiness, growth, or success.

No matter what term you use, understanding what motivates buyers in your marketplace is key to winning new business and keeping loyal customers.

Importance of Understanding Customer Needs
customer profiles

As the saying goes, the customer is king because they’re a company’s most valuable asset. Without a solid customer base, a business will eventually die.

Unfortunately, many sales and marketing leaders take for granted that they know what their customers need. These assumptions can be costly, resulting in lost business and lower customer retention rates.

Other organizations view customer feedback as criticism, which may have a negative connotation. Leaning into their critiques, however, allows you to flip problems into opportunities.

When a business takes the time to identify, anticipate, and meet customer needs regularly, it can expect to:

● Improve products/services: Understanding the motivations behind your prospective customers’ purchasing decisions will help you refine your offers. You can identify gaps in your offer stack or enhance existing offers with only limited development costs.

● Generate more sales: The better you know your customer base, the easier it will be to identify relevant marketing channels and cost-effectively promote targeted offers, increasing the likelihood of high-conversion sales.

● Deliver expected results: When you know what your customers need, you can plan appropriately to meet their expectations.

● Improve customer service: Customer service channels constantly evolve, so it’s imperative to keep up with customer preferences. Being available to customers where and when they prefer makes them feel valued and can give your company a distinct competitive edge.

● Boost customer retention: Anticipating, meeting, and even exceeding customers’ needs establishes trust and makes them feel valued and engaged in your business. This, in turn, creates loyal and repeat customers.

● Survive long term: Agile adaptation is key to long-term success in a fast-paced world where the customer needs frequently change. When your offers suit current needs, you’ll develop a reputation that attracts and retains more customers than the competition.

Managing Rapid Change

Another significant benefit of customer needs analysis is ensuring that your company keeps pace in a rapidly changing world.

One of the biggest challenges any company faces is remaining relevant to its target market in the modern world. Customer mindsets and behaviors change so quickly because they have more choice and opportunity than ever.

When consumers can easily switch to a new company with better products or services, it’s imperative to anticipate, predict, and plan for the future. Falling a step behind is a quick path to losing market share.

For example, the recent shift to mass homeworking and the international uptick in tech solutions to support the change has created entirely new pain points for millions of people.

In a short amount of time, the pandemic taught nearly everyone how to communicate online. Zoom has made tech-deficient industries like food service more accessible and shifted many consumers’ preferences from in-person or in-home to virtual options (even in once digital-resistant markets like Asia).

These types of changes have far-reaching tentacles that can affect consumer needs across a wide range of industries.

Avoid the temptation to use customer research as a tool for reflection. Instead, bring a wide-angle lens to work and examine what’s happening in your industry now and in the months and years ahead.

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How to Identify Customer Needs

Understanding your customers shouldn’t be a guessing game based on experience or hunches. To get inside your customer’s mindset, you need to learn who they are and exactly why they need your product or service. The best way to do this is by asking them directly.

A customer needs analysis helps determine a company’s position in their market or how they stack up against the competition at meeting customer needs.The insights can be used to make changes to offers, marketing, and customer service to deliver the best possible value.

The first step in this process is to conduct customer research to understand customer behavior. You’ll use this information to create personas that provide a detailed description of your target audience.

There are several tried-and-true methods for gathering helpful customer feedback. While any one of them can be beneficial, you’ll get the most robust picture of customer needs by using more than one.

Conducting Customer Needs Research

The easiest way to identify your customers’ needs is to ask them. The goal of market research is to learn about your best customers’ backgrounds, what drives their purchasing decisions, their expectations for your product or service, and what challenges may get in the way of their satisfaction.

The most common tools for this type of research include:

1. Customer interviews

The most direct way to collect data is by having one-on-one conversations with existing customers. Interviews typically elicit the most detailed answers, but customers may be less forthcoming without the promise of anonymity.

2. Focus groups

Pulling together a small group of handpicked customers is a quick way to get more feedback. Hiring a market research firm allows participants to speak candidly. On the downside, individuals can sometimes become influenced by the opinions of others in the group.

Focus group research

3. Surveys

The fastest and most cost-effective method for gathering information from a large group of customers is a survey, typically using an online tool. On the downside, response rates tend to drop if the survey is too long or detailed, limiting how much information they provide.

With any of these methods, you’ll first need to craft questions that elicit the type of feedback you’re seeking. After gathering demographic information (age, marital status, location, occupation, etc.), it’s best to devise open-ended questions that allow the customer freedom to say anything without outside influence.

A few examples of helpful market-research questions include:

● What specific problem were you trying to solve when you chose our product/service?

● What made you choose us over a competitor?

● How well does our product/service meet your needs?

● What do you like most/least about our product/service?

● What challenges have you encountered with our product/service?

● What do you wish our product/service could do?

● How would you rate your experience with us?

● Would you recommend us to others (why/why not)?

Questions should primarily focus on your brand, competitors, and customers’ buying behavior and mindset. This may also include asking broader questions about their overall values, interests, and opinions.

While there’s nothing quite as valuable as a customer’s own words, it’s possible to get valuable insights without speaking directly with a person using social media listening or keyword research.

Social media listening is the process of analyzing online conversations and trends related to your brand and to your industry as a whole. It goes beyond monitoring basic metrics like mentions and followers to consider the mood behind the data instead.

People frequently head to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to candidly speak about products and services. Watching for this real-time feedback about what they like and don’t about your company or your competitors is a great way to identify opportunities for change or growth.

Keyword research looks at the popular keywords and terms related to your product or service that people type into search engines. For example, try typing an industry-related question into Google’s search bar and see what auto-suggestions pop up. This is a good glimpse into what problems your customers are trying to solve.

Also, use a tool like Moz Keyword Explorer or SEMrush to research words related to your offer and find similar keywords. Check the average search volume to determine what language your customers and prospects use to describe their needs.

Creating Customer Personas

target personnas

It’s a good idea to turn data you collect during customer research into a customer or buyer persona. This fictional representation of your ideal customer will ensure that every part of the customer experience is tailored to their needs.

Focus on your best, most loyal customers. What are the patterns and commonalities among them? What demographics do they share? What are their similar experiences, motivations, and opinions?

Distill all the data into one profile that includes the most common demographics and interests. Include answers to what needs, and pain points brought them to your solution, what considerations went into their purchasing decision, what objections they had, the competitors they considered, and what made them purchase from you.

If you serve multiple market segments or different types of customers, you may need more than one persona to address each group.

This fictional profile provides a simple, actionable snapshot of your prospective customers’ mindset and behaviors. It reveals the specific needs that drive them to choose you, a competitor, or no solution at all.

Customer personas typically include a fake name, stock photo, and beautiful design, but it’s unnecessary. Sharing the same information as a “customer needs statement” in a basic text document is also perfectly acceptable.

Either way, share the profile with your team to give everyone a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs. These profiles should guide everything from product development to prioritizing projects and marketing campaigns to customer service solutions.

Understanding Customer Behavior

Good customer research should uncover the many factors influencing your ideal customers’ purchasing decisions. The best research is robust enough to determine how customer mindset and behaviors change at various points along the customer journey.

The strategic practice of detailing these changes is called journey mapping. The goal is to outline the exact steps that customers take as they move from awareness to research and consideration, purchase and delivery, and finally (hopefully) to loyalty and brand advocacy.

If your research sample is large enough, segment the results based on where participants fall along the journey map. This allows you to analyze how your customer’s mindset and behavior changes over time.

Look for recurring trends or common roadblocks for each of the different stages. This added context can help you make more specific improvements to the entire customer experience.

How to Deliver on Customer Needs

Once you have all the necessary insights to identify your ideal customer and their needs along the buying journey, it’s time to put the information to good use.

First, review the research for any glaring problems that need a quick solution, especially anything driving customers away. Prioritize these issues and assign the appropriate staff to implement changes.

For example, if multiple customers expressed frustration about long wait times for answers to simple questions, you may decide to add a FAQ section or a live chat option to your website.

Customer research is about more than finding problems. Just as important is using the information to make proactive changes that allow your company to grow. Every part of your company can benefit from the insights of a customer needs analysis.

The key is to look for gaps between your business and customer needs. Finding innovative ways to reduce even minor gaps can make a significant difference in customer acquisition and retention.

Marketing

A customer needs analysis almost always offers insights for optimizing marketing efforts. The better you understand customer mindset and customer behavior, the more effectively you can tweak your marketing messages.

Use the data to speak specifically to the needs of customers at every point along the journey map. Your research should tell you exactly what will motivate them to make a purchase.

In addition to understanding what content will resonate best with customers, you’ll also know their preferred social media or other marketing channels.

Offer development

Asking questions about what customers wish your product or service did can help you discover areas for improvement or create an entirely new offer.

Examining the data to determine a need before taking action dramatically improves the success rate of new product or service offers.

Also, when you repeatedly and consistently conduct customer needs research, you’ll be more likely to notice a shift in market trends early. This can help you be the first to address a burgeoning need and capture market share before the competition.

Customer service

Identifying the varying needs of customers along the journey map can help you better tailor good service solutions. It’s easier to capture questions, comments, and suggestions when you know the preferred social media channels.

Knowing where roadblocks tend to occur along your customer journey map also allows the customer service team to provide perfectly timed help. This includes upsell and cross-sell offers that solve the exact problem that your customers face.

Customer retention

Studies have shown that acquiring a new customer costs at least 5x more than retaining one. The best use of a customer needs analysis is to devise methods for reducing customer churn and creating repeat, loyal buyers and brand advocates.

Customers’ expectations include special recognition when they’re a “good customer,” according to Accenture. Use your research to ask about ways your customers would like to be acknowledged (handwritten notes, social media shoutouts, discounts, etc.).

You can also ask questions to test whether a referral program might be beneficial in growing your market share.

Ongoing Market Research

Ongoing market research

After making changes based on customer research, communicate them to your customer base. Share the story of how you identified customer pain points and the efforts you took to resolve them. It demonstrates that you care about customer experience, which builds trust and increases engagement with your brand.

It’s also essential to ask for customer feedback on how well those efforts meet their needs. This is an excellent opportunity to send another survey and collect more data.

Your research shouldn’t end there, however. It should never end. Build feedback loops into your business operation so that you are constantly revalidating your unique selling proposition (USP) and always striving to understand your customers’ needs.

Keep a pulse on how your customers feel with interviews, surveys, and social media polls. Also, frequently review metrics like conversion rate, acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value to track how well you’re meeting customer needs.

Some businesses may assign a dedicated team to collect customer insights, while others may prefer to add it to the responsibilities of existing departments. Either way, develop a system for discovering, analyzing, and delivering on customer needs.

By creating a repeatable process, you’ll shine a bright light on customer experience and stay one step ahead of the competition on addressing customer needs.

Global manufacturing leaders are carefully considering the pros and cons of both.

China still leads the world in manufacturing, with close to 30% of the country’s economic output coming from this sector. Many industry experts and leading economists believe that China will no longer be the manufacturing powerhouse it once was within the next five years.

How the pandemic changed the manufacturing industry

The global pandemic caused a notable decrease in manufacturing production in 2020 due to containment strategies in economic and social lockdowns. Both had a significant impact on both supply and demand. 

Consumer demand declined overall due to uncertainties triggered by travel restrictions, remote working, business cessations, and job losses. At the same time, the production of many goods came to a halt worldwide for many months. 

A shift away from Made in China

For some major manufacturing companies, the pandemic spurred a sea-change in where they manufactured their product. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shenzhen, China, surveyed its manufacturing membership and learned that over 30 percent were in the process of moving some of its manufacturing out of China.

In July 2020, Apple announced it was shifting the assembly of its iPhone 11, the most advanced model in its product line, from China to India.

A couple of weeks later, Samsung and several other Apple suppliers applied for the Indian government’s incentive program targeted towards large-scale manufacturers of electronic products, which would see a significant part of these companies’ manufacturing transferred to India.

In recent years, China has attempted to replace the term “Made in China” with “Engineered in China”: the country would no longer be known as the world’s factory, a cheap place for countries to outsource manufacturing. Chinese manufacturers have increased automation and switched to using robots instead. In these instances, up to 80 percent of workers were sent home and replaced with specialized production line workers — typically experts in machine maintenance and machine learning. Mechanized factories boast much higher output with fewer errors and accidents, and a higher dependence on technology and automation meant wage costs were no longer critical.

With these changes, China is slowly losing its foothold in the global manufacturing sector for reasons with nothing to do with costs and output.

Other factors affecting this shift also include; trade tensions between China and the US (along with its western allies), the realization by global manufacturers during the pandemic of the flaw in the supply chain delivery due to over-reliance on one country for production, increased costs, and tariffs, and consumer sentiment of products made in China.

Even so, manufacturing in China is expected to recover in 2021, growing by 9 percent.

The growth in manufacturing in India

By comparison, India is expected to grow by 10 percent, recovering from significant economic strain during the pandemic.

The average age of a citizen in India is 28 years versus 38 years in China. This country has a massive population, and the demand for technology is high. Manufacturing overseas is not always about importing; it is also about global supply. If you have a product that appeals to 20 somethings or 30 somethings, manufacturing locally in India makes sense.

India is a lot less controversial geopolitically, and the Indian government is poised to capitalize on that notion.  

The government of India has launched several policies over the past few years to create a favorable environment and attract investment in manufacturing, with a focus on electronics manufacturing, including mobile phones, industrial electronics, consumer electronics, electronic components, computer hardware, and LED products.

Due to these commercially favorable initiatives, India’s electronics production has more than doubled in the last five years (2015-2020). According to the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information technology, India’s electronics market is expected to reach US$132 billion by the end of 2021.

In China, manufacturing labor wages by location (in USD per hour) is $3.80 compared to India’s 0.70. Even with China’s focus on automation and robotics, labor in India is five times less than in China.

While the shift from solely or wholly manufacturing in China has seemingly begun, China will still be a global manufacturing hub. 

Perception of manufacturing locale 

Supply is synonymous with manufacturing. In economics, the rule of supply and demand states that if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of a good, the fewer people will demand that good. For most, regardless of generation, price and availability are essential, if not the most important, in buying decisions. 

However, in economics, “movements” and “shifts” represent different market phenomena concerning supply and demand. 

In the past, companies chose to manufacture from an outside country due to price. Now other factors could negatively affect demand and brand perception.

Price, or cost of goods sold, is an easy measurement to evaluate in manufacturing. However, more and more companies see that consumer sentiment is a factor contributing to growth and demand.

Consumer sentiment is becoming an essential factor in manufacturing. After all, it does not matter how cheaply you can manufacture a product, whether that is in China or India, if the demand is not there or if consumers will choose a different, competitively priced product based on the manufacturer’s location.

A key question a company should ask is whether consumers would feel differently and ultimately decide to buy a product based on a “Made in India” label versus “Made in China.” 

For Gen Z and millennials, these two generations are much more brand conscious. In one study, 62% of millennials surveyed said buying from brands that support their own political and social beliefs is essential. In another study, Gen Z consumers are more likely to switch brands that meet specific values like sustainability. 

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The role of research in manufacturing 

Moving the manufacture of parts or components to multiple countries is a huge undertaking. Deciding to enter a new market, along with evaluating manufacturers, can be incredibly daunting if “on the ground” knowledge is limited or non-existent. Commissioning a research agency to find out where to direct your attention is a crucial first step. Selecting a research company with direct market knowledge can save time and capital investment.

Understanding how your target audience perceives where your product is manufactured, alongside any impacts on demand, should be researched and evaluated. 

Read case studies from the Manufacturing sector here

Kadence International is proud to be announced a finalist for the 2021 Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards.

Known as the Quirk’s Awards, Kadence learned that placed as finalists under the Best New Product/Service Innovation category. The category honors a research product, tool or service making an impact on the marketing research industry.

The award nominations are open to all researchers worldwide. All attempts are made to ensure the judging is blind so that the judges do not know the name or company they are evaluating.

“Being named a finalist for a Quirk’s award is a huge accomplishment in itself” said Darren Lewis, Kadence International’s UK Country Manager.

“To be judged by your peers in the research industry, who know firsthand what “best in show” research truly looks like, means to be named a finalist is a badge of honor,” he said.

Even so, Lewis and the entire Kadence International team are hopeful of a win. Winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony held on November 9, 2021.

“Being a finalist in an award category that acknowledges an impact in the industry is humbling,” said Ramsey Yomen, who leads the Kadence International brand through the 10 countries it operates.

“Kadence has always been about pushing the boundaries in the research data and insight industry. Being named a finalist, and hopefully a winner, will prove we continue to be on the right track and forefront of innovation in research.”

Kadence International has won multiple industry awards in recent years including winning Gold as Consultant of the Year – Agency of the Year Awards, 2021 and Market Research Agency of the Year, Agency of the Year Awards, 2021. The international agency last won a Quirk’s Award in 2019 for Market Research Supplier of the Year.

Kadence International prides itself as a being a boutique, yet global marketing research agency. Whether it be strictly for delivering well-sourced data for company’s research divisions or conducting end to end full data research and insight reporting, Kadence delivers it all. With offices in 10 countries (USA, UK, India, Malaysia, Sinapore, Phillipines, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and China), Kadence is provides research expertise across the globe.

Exploring the priorities of APAC’s business decision-makers —past, present, and future 

Download the summary of our latest report

The global business community was hit hard in 2020, with COVID-19 creating unprecedented challenges for organizations worldwide. 

Supported by Kadence International, Bloomberg Media embarked on a research program with 3800 executive business decision-makers in six markets across APAC —Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia in waves 1 – 4 and India and Vietnam in wave 5. 

Wave 1: 22nd April – 3rd May 2020 (n=714) 

Wave 2: 16th – 22nd June 2020 (n=700) 

Wave 3: 17th – 25th August 2020 (n=700) 

Wave 4: 2nd – 9th November 2020 (n=729) 

Wave 5: 5th – 23rd February 2021 (n=969)

Spanning five waves – from April 2020 to February 2021, we’ve stayed with business decision-makers at every step of the way —from the immediate aftermath of the outbreak to the economic reopening and beyond.

Not only does this research provide unparalleled insight into how organizations adapt during uncertain times, but it also helps us anticipate the key trends, challenges, and strategic focus areas for the future, which we will explore in this report.

Overall Business Outlook

The sustained roll-out of vaccines in major economies and more informed knowledge of controlling the virus has led to a positive outlook amongst decision-makers. More than half of the decision-makers (55%) anticipate a recovery period following the uncertainty of 2020. 

The pandemic has spurred the speed with which organizations embraced specific ideas and priorities, most notably in the areas of new technology, flexible work, commitment to staff wellbeing, and businesses’ roles in contributing towards a more sustainable and equitable world. 

Get more insights into how business decision-makers perceive the overall business landscape here by downloading our free report.

Critical concerns for business decision-makers 

For decision-makers, there has been a shift in the focus areas. During the first wave of this research conducted in April 2020, their top three concerns centered around the protection and safety of their employees, guarding against disruptions to business operations, and working capital and funding. 

Concerns around protecting employees against disease have remained consistent throughout the five waves; however, other focus areas have shifted. The fear of disruptions to business operations is far less prevalent today as organizations have innovated and painstakingly adapted to continue operating despite challenging conditions.  

Focus has shifted to facing the unknown, data security, and overcoming work visas and international travel issues. Compared to the pandemic’s start, more business decision-makers cite facing the unknown as a critical concern. Data security has come into sharper focus as a result of working conditions in the new normal. 

For 68% of the decision-makers, overseas business travel is either very or of utmost importance for meeting new and prospective clients and for training and development. This has brought the importance of mitigating work visas and international travel challenges posed by the pandemic. 

As decision-makers actively follow COVID news coverage to navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic, news organizations have played a significant role in supporting businesses. With 77% of business decision-makers telling us they use their smartphone more often to follow the news, we see smartphones playing an increasingly important role in accessing information. 

Get more in-depth analysis of the most significant business concerns for decision-makers. Download our free report here.

Priorities for the future —Harnessing technology is a top priority.

In the final research wave, we asked decision-makers to reflect on how their priorities have changed now compared to before the pandemic. Digital transformation was the predominant theme as businesses have had to make rapid changes to ride the pandemic and survive it. In fact, 82% attribute their company’s increased prioritization of digital investment to COVID-19. This is not a short-term trend, and decision-makers will continue to harness technology for their companies in the future.  

According to the report, 77% expect their company’s overall technology budget to increase in the next 1 to 3 years. 

So, where do companies expect to be investing their digital spending? IT support tops the list as organizations recognize the importance of securing and installing new tools. 

Download our full report to find out what other areas are envisioned for increased tech budgets in 2021 and beyond.

Attitudes towards foreign investment

In the near future, business decision-makers are most confident that Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan are the markets they would like to invest in. 

This is because these top five countries are perceived to prosper across four critical pillars of market confidence: political stability, economic reopening, virus containment, and society’s resilience. 

Discover how APAC business decision-makers rate the factors that will play a critical role in informing which foreign countries to invest in the future by downloading our free report.

The role of the office

The pandemic caused a significant shift in the office’s role, with many companies moving fully remote and others offering the flexibility of a hybrid work model. 

Read the full report to learn what percentage of companies allowed the flexibility to work from home or office over the three waves.

Flexibility is not limited to where people work from, but also the hours they work. Working from home during the pandemic meant juggling household responsibilities, like childcare while schools were closed. Again, this trend is not short-term as many companies have made flexible work a part of their long-term strategy. 

Flexible work has not been without its share of challenges. Therefore, decision-makers are adopting new tools and methodologies. 

Find out which areas companies are focused on developing and how they are planning to overcome post-pandemic human resource challenges by downloading our full free report.

People Management

There has been an emphasis on physical and mental health both in their personal and business lives. Throughout the research, decision-makers have placed health and wellbeing on top of their list, considering it more important than their career and business, financial stability, and even relationships with family and friends.  

According to the research, 79% of business decision-makers say that their company has become more aware of safety, personal values, and their employees’ wellbeing. 

Read the full report to find out how decision-makers are translating this awareness of the health and wellbeing of their employees and how they plan on continuing to increase investments in their company’s healthcare and wellness programs. 

Decision-makers have also made helping employees manage their mental health a priority.

Companies are increasingly engaging with an expert or vendor to provide healthcare/wellbeing training or services for their staff. According to the research, this percentage has jumped from 55% in wave 4 (November 2020) to 66% in wave 5 (February 2021).

Businesses are considering several options to support staff, but mental health and stress management are on top of their list, with almost half (49%) of firms considering this. 

Discover the other top areas considered to enhance the company’s corporate wellness program by downloading our free report here.

Aligning personal and business values 

The pandemic experience has caused many people to re-evaluate what’s important to them, extending to the world of business. 

According to the research in wave 5 (February 2021), 75% of business decision-makers say they have placed greater emphasis on giving back to society. 

Not only is an increasing focus on altruism informing business strategy, but it’s also influencing brand choice. 

Read the full report to discover the two most prominent social causes that are the focus of decision-makers. 

After witnessing what might be the most challenging year in recent history, there’s a sense of optimism from APAC’s business decision-makers. 

With new shifts in the way we work and feel, there are evolving challenges. However, flexibility, wellbeing, and altruism are here to stay long-term, allowing business decision-makers to align their values with their commercial goals. 

In this research, we take a deep dive into major focus areas within each trend and discover what decision-makers consider their top priorities in the near future. If you need more detailed information to help make decisions for your organization or brand, download the full report here. 

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The automotive industry has a clear, shared vision of a dramatically transformed future with electronic vehicles, autonomous vehicles, connected cars, shared ownership, and subscriptions. But are consumers ready to transition just yet? The pandemic has changed how much people travel, and this leaves us with the big question: how will the economic damage caused by COVID impact the car industry?

To further understand where consumers stand and what economic recovery looks like for the automotive industry —one of the hardest hit by the pandemic —we looked at five significant trends. We explored what’s at stake for each of these five trends, evaluated the rate of progress, and put the spotlight on innovative brands and solutions leading the way.

  1. Post-COVID caution: A battered industry navigates massive uncertainty.
  2. Plugged In: The electronic vehicle revolution is happening but still powered by subsidies.
  3. In Control: Artificial Intelligence is enhancing, not replacing, human driving abilities.
  4. Connected Vehicles
  5. Older Drivers, Younger Drivers

Ｄownload the full report and read the summary of the top 5 trends shaping the future of the automotive industry, with a spotlight on the brands that are capitalizing on these trends with their cutting-edge innovative solutions.

#1 Post-COVID caution: A battered industry navigates massive uncertainty.

According to analysts, Jato Dynamics, global new car sales fell by over 12% in 2020, that’s around twice the drop recorded in IEA figures for the worst year of the last financial crisis (2007-2008).

While this drop was only 2% in China, the automotive industry felt a heavy blow globally. France, Germany, the UK, and Brazil saw declines of over 20%.

Consumer behavior changed dramatically, and while new car sales declined due to the pandemic, the automobile aftermarket flourished as people tried to preserve their existing vehicles. Consumers started putting off purchases of luxury cars, hybrids, and EVs.

The early COVID-19 spread brought with it a new innovative trend —virtual showrooms, whereby consumers could move all or at least some part of their car buying experience online. In many parts of the world, COVID restrictions will become a part of life indefinitely, and therefore, this trend is here to stay.

Learn more about how the pandemic has reshaped the automotive industry here by downloading our free report.

#2 Plugged In: The electronic vehicle revolution is happening but still powered by subsidies.

As with much of the electronic vehicle (EV) revolution, subsidies and regulation may be needed for mass EV adoption.

In Norway, subsidies and tax breaks make the cost of an EV virtually identical to that of a non-electric car. 74% of the new cars sold in Norway are EVs, whereas it’s just 2% in the US. In the USA and China, EV sales plateaued when subsidies were reduced or phased out.

In 2021, US President Joe Biden took a step toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions signing an executive order aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric, a move made with backing from the biggest US automakers.

Amazon is started testing electric delivery vans in 2021. The vehicles were developed in partnership with start-up Rivian, which raised $8 billion from investors, including Amazon through its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund. The fund includes an agreement to purchase 100,000 electric vehicles from the start-up as part of its ambitious push to make Amazon’s fleet run entirely on renewable energy. Each van has a range of 150 miles per charge.

Before consumers join the EV revolution, they want to know there is a plan for infrastructure for charging stations.

A Deloitte study showed that consumers were putting off plans to buy EVs due to price and driving range. With ranges for EVs now often well over 400km, that is taken care of, but there needs to be a visible EV infrastructure in terms of charging stations. Therefore, at the moment, innovators need to tackle the two most critical factors —price and infrastructure.

Wireless charging stations are an essential solution. Although the technology exists, firms don’t want to build the infrastructure without enough cars; and manufacturers don’t want to create more expensive wireless options without that infrastructure.

Learn more about how Electronic Vehicles or EVs are perceived and the challenges ahead here by downloading our free report.

#3 In Control: Artificial Intelligence is enhancing, not replacing, human driving abilities.

Even though Tesla has made huge strides with its self-driving cars, the adoption is still slow due to consumer trust issues.

Moreover, driverless cars pose problems —of AI, of laws and ethics, and public perception. 

In this scenario, autonomous vehicles with Driver Assistance Systems are becoming the norm in many markets. 

The ultra-high-end Cadillac Escalade Platinum, launched in Summer 2021, is the first vehicle to boast GM’s Super Cruise technology. The vehicle handles your highway driving for you on major mapped roads. However, your car monitors you and will warn you if you stop paying attention to the road for more than five seconds before switching back to manual.

AI is set to become more prevalent in vehicles, learn more about the challenges for these enhancements here.

#4 Connected Vehicles

So far, automotive and infrastructure innovation has happened chiefly at the individual car level. However, traffic jams and rush hours occur at a network level when all those individual cars interact.

We see a change in this direction as businesses and transportation planners recognize the idea of the “mobility ecosystem” —where software platforms can connect, manage and mitigate network-level inefficiencies between transport services and their users.

Navigation apps showing real-time traffic data are already being used widely. We also see more adoption of smart speed limits and smart traffic light systems.

The next generation of connected vehicles goes deeper and broader with tools that allow bikes or mobility scooters to connect to the same systems cars use. Connected vehicles also make fleet management —of buses or utility vehicles, more efficient.

What are the implications for individual drivers? For the mobility ecosystem to work, each car requires a digital identity. They do, however, present the issue of privacy.

Your car’s digital identity can also be linked to your own distinct identity as a driver, which makes the car more secure with keyless entry using facial or voice recognition and biometric sensors.

Our innovation spotlight is on Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing giant which makes the iPhone. Foxconn is developing an EV platform that any brand can use to bring vehicles to market —in the same way as the Android phone platform. Foxconn bets that the real differentiator in the future EV market won’t be looks or performance; it’ll be the array of connected features and AI capabilities they possess.

A connected mobility ecosystem is one of the trends emerging in the transportation and automotive industry. Download our report to discover more about this emerging trend.

#5 Older Drivers, Younger Drivers

The automotive trends influenced by the aging population and the changing expectations of Gen Z are creating significant changes. For older people, AI can help extend their driving lifetime. For the young, the big question is whether ownership will decline in favor of sharing and subscription mobility.

Late Millennial and Gen Z consumers are a post-ownership generation —they prefer renting to buying houses or vehicles. Car manufacturers have been trying to introduce the idea of Mobility-as-a-Service solutions, which replaces car ownership with car-sharing or subscription-based offers at a lower cost.

However, while Mobility-as-a-Service has had some successes in the bikes and e-Scooter sectors, especially in busy cities, it’s been tougher ask for cars.

Overall, we see a shift away from the brand to features and capabilities.

If you need more detailed information to help make decisions for your organization or brand, download the full report here.

To learn more, download the full report: Automotive Trends For 2022

To learn more about how these trends, download the full report. Alternatively if you’d like to speak to us to understand more about how these trends are playing out in your market, get in touch.

Our lifestyle is still undergoing significant transformation in response to Covid. The overseas trend is getting blurred even more. Our Introduction to Overseas Trend’s seminars series is for getting rid of such a problem when considering overseas marketing research.

This time, our local team members from across our Southeast Asia offices introduced the lifestyle changes during the pandemic as well as provided anecdotes and case studies of the products and services that are rapidly growing in the region. Let’s catch up by watching the recordings below.

Watch the session in English

Watch the session in Japanese

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