If you want a crocheted sweater or a bespoke engraved cutting board but need help finding an artisan, you might turn to platforms like Etsy that connect buyers with artisans on their eCommerce platforms. 

The last decade has brought a massive consumer shift in mindset. Consumers today care about where their products come from, who produced them, and under what conditions they were made. They care about the impact of everything they purchase —on the workers and the environment. 

Many trends are responsible for the maturation of the artisan economy around the globe, such as the rise of e-commerce, a growing interest in the environment and sustainability, the demand for rare, unique, personalized items, and a desire to support the local economy and small businesses. 

Consumers care about sustainability, ethical consumption, and small-batch production and are looking for unique pieces with a story to add to their lives. 

There has been a massive demand for handmade products globally. Handmade or artisanal products are high quality and unique, making them desirable for people looking for one-of-a-kind products with a strong narrative. 

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The need for personalization and the recent movements supporting local businesses and artisans have also helped promote bespoke brands or handmade products.

Unlike mass-produced goods, handmade products have certain deviations, and no two products will be the same, adding to the uniqueness consumers seek in the products they purchase.

When consumers purchase a handmade product, they are also buying into the story and history behind it and building a deep connection with the artisan making the product while supporting craftsmanship and local businesses. Consumers are avoiding off-the-shelf pieces, and artisan goods are becoming a staple. 

According to a U.K. Crafts Council report, 73 percent of U.K. adults had bought a craft in 2019 —which amounts to almost 25 million handmade items. About 32 percent of today’s buyers are under 35 years of age, making the younger populations of Millennials and Gen Z the biggest craft shoppers today. There are 11,620 craft businesses in the U.K., with over 43,000 employees. 

Consumers often save crafts and techniques that face extinction and erasure by purchasing artisanal goods. And now, many big brands want to add a piece of the traditional method to their products. For instance, independent watchmaker Daizoh Makihara decided to use the traditional Japanese glass-cutting technique called Edo-kiriko for the dial of his first watch. He found eight companies that specialized in the method, but only one agreed to do it. This was Kyosuke Hayashi, the president of Mitsuwa Glass Kogei. 

In English, Edo-kiriko means “cut glass from Edo”: Edo is an old name for Tokyo, and kiriko is the name of the cutting technique. This partnership gave birth to the first edo-kiriko watch in the world in 2018. 

The weavers and artisans work hard to keep the rich Indian arts and crafts heritage alive. According to IBEF, the total handicraft exports from India reached $3.5 billion in FY20. With over 200 million artisans, India’s handicraft sector is the second largest employer after agriculture. 

While fast fashion is pressuring the environment with its heavy carbon emissions, water waste, and poor working conditions and treatment of workers, consumers are hungry for a better model that offers trendy essentials and accessories without harmful environmental and socio-economic impact.

eCommerce has enabled many skilled artisans and hobbyists to profit from their passion and talent. 

Consumer obsession and interest in handmade products have also seeped into reality T.V., and craft reality T.V. shows have become quite the rage. 

British reality show Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker is a furniture-making competition similar to a cooking contest that has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide. Every major network and various streaming platforms are in on the trend. Other similar shows include BBC’s All that Glitters, Netflix’s Blown Away, NBC’s Making It, HBO Max’s Craftopia, ITV’s Bling, and Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throwdown.  

The pandemic spurred the demand for handmade goods. Online platforms have fuelled much of this growth: in December 2018, Etsy, a U.S.-based online platform for artisans to buy and sell handmade goods, reported that there were 220,000 active sellers in the U.K. with a further 9,000 makers on Folksy, a U.K.-based online platform to purchase handcrafted gifts and original artwork, sold directly by the artists and designers who have created them.

Top handmade product categories on Etsy 

According to a report, the top handmade product category on Etsy in 2020 was home and living, with a 25 percent seller share, followed by art and collectibles (21 percent), jewelry (15 percent), clothing (11 percent), accessories (8 percent), bath and beauty (6 percent), toys and games (4 percent), bags and purses (3 percent), weddings (2 percent), and books, movies and music (2 percent).

Etsy has three main sections in its online marketplace: Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies. Handmade represents 85 percent of sellers, Vintage represents 6 percent, and Supplies represent 12 percent of sellers.

Etsy, founded in 2005, now has more than 1.4 million sellers and 19.8 million buyers. Etsy focuses on handmade and vintage items and features over 5.4 million craft supply items.

Handmade gifts provide a personal touch and make the gift unique and personalized. This unique factor has driven platforms and brands that offer handmade products as popular choices during the Holidays. 

There has been an 80 percent jump in searches on the creator-driven platform Etsy for Holiday gifts in the past three months compared to last year. In 2020, CNBC reported that Etsy saw a 156 percent increase in search traffic during three months compared to the year prior for custom gifts.

Case Study: How Etsy carved a niche for the handmade sector using an e-commerce platform

The Overview

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Etsy is the largest online marketplace globally, connecting buyers to sellers of handmade and vintage goods and craft supplies. Etsy is built on a smart revenue model: it charges sellers a listing fee and a commission and upsells advertising services to push a seller’s products to boost reach. The company expanded through acquisitions, including Blackbird Tech for USD 32.5 million, Reverb in 2019 for USD 275 million, and the fashion resell marketplace Depop in 2021 for USD 1.63 billion.

The company has competitors like Amazon Handmade, Big Cartel, Folksy, iCraft, and eBay. 

The Approach

Etsy took the value creation approach and narrowed its product offering to handmade or artisan-made products. While it has created a community of buyers and sellers, it moved its focus to buyers as the core market when eBay vet Josh Silverman took over Etsy’s reins. A year after hitting an all-time low in 2017, Etsy’s stock rebounded and grew; today, it stands at USD 119.74 a share. Defining and focusing on its key audience helped the brand grow. 

Once the brand identified its core audience, the buyers, it hiked the fees it charged its sellers from 5 percent to 6.5 percent. Even though 20,000 of its sellers went on strike, the company did not budge, and the results showed in the most recent third-quarter earnings in 2022, reporting a revenue bump of 11\.7 percent over the same quarter of 2021, to USD 594.5 million. 

Etsy is also attracting more buyers to its platform via the mobile app. In 2021 alone, the brand reported a 45 percent increase in app downloads bringing 5.7 million new shoppers to download the app. The brand also leverages targeted, compelling email offers based on items favorited or shops browsed. The brand funded discounts and sent them to 18 million shoppers in 2021, and also provided discount technology allowing shoppers to discount goods from their shops. The brand also encourages buyers to follow more shops through sweepstakes and contests. 

The brand also offers multiple additional services to facilitate communication with sellers, on-platform transactions, and access to ratings and reviews. 

Etsy provides its sellers a collective to voice their concerns with congress members and local and federal governments. And lastly, the brand continuously invests in retail technologies like machine learning via acquisitions. The brand has designed convenient distribution channels, upgraded buying and selling software and merchant services, and improved its social media presence to boost brand awareness. This month, Etsy rolled out a new image search feature to allow shoppers to find an object faster than with a keyword search. Users on iOS can now tap the camera icon and search for images by uploading a picture. Etsy then scours its platform to find products visually similar to the ones the user is searching for. Etsy plans to expand image search to Android app users soon.

The Results

Etsy’s impact on the artisan economy is robust. The most recent quarterly earnings report disclosed revenues had risen to USD 198 million, a 31.64 percent increase year over year. Etsy currently holds a market cap of just under USD 5.5 billion – quite a climb from its USD 1.1 billion market cap back in March 2017. The brand attracted 6.3 million shoppers in the third quarter of 2022, ending with 88.3 million active buyers on the Etsy marketplace.

In most developing nations, the handicraft industry is fragmented, lacking legal Intellectual Property laws surrounding its products, and artisans not getting fair compensation for their craft. 

In most countries, handcrafts are highly valued because of the high skill level and talent required and are sold in luxury stores at premium prices. However, although India has a rich culture and many categories of handicrafts, they still need to be given their deserved value and place. Ramesh Menon founded Save the Loom, a nonprofit community group to revive, restore, and restructure the handloom industry in India.

Many other such organizations are helping artisans overcome the many challenges they face. However, online platforms and eCommerce websites like Etsy, Folksy, Amazon Handmade, and others have helped create a viable worldwide path forward for the handmade industry. 

While not every product fits the artisan-made model, the lessons from this growing trend apply to all categories. Consumers want to feel connected to the story behind the product, how a product is made, and the feel-good impact on the environment and people after purchase.

For more insights into the shifting trends in online shopping and consumer behavior around the globe, download our complete report, “The Future of Online Shopping.” 

Digitization has reset the online shopping game board, and the pandemic has accelerated technology adoption by both brands and consumers. Today, the most successful retailers have adopted technology at warp speeds. With breakthrough technology complementing every step of the retail process, where are we headed? 

Download our complete report, “The Future of Online Shopping,” to find out.

Here’s a summary of the most significant trends shaping the future of online shopping worldwide. 

Trend 1: The Future is ‘Phygital’ — Reinventing the retail experience. 

At the intersection of physical and digital is a connected retail environment where consumers are placed at the center. In this consumer-centric, channel-agnostic, connected environment, consumers can buy online and pick up from stores.

They can try clothes and accessories virtually, in-store or online, browse large touchscreens for product information, dispense products from vending machines, and even scan an aisle in a grocery store to view an overlay of information about products. 

The future of retail is omnichannel, an approach providing customers with a unified shopping experience. This approach connects experiences across multiple touchpoints, including brick-and-mortar, web, and mobile apps. 
Discover how Singapore’s NTUC grocery chain increased retention and repeat business using an omnichannel approach.

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Online Financing Options – “Buy-Now-Pay-Later.”

Retail brands are removing barriers to make the shopping experience as frictionless as possible, including easy financing terms. 

Apps Making Online Shopping Seamless.

Mobile apps offer retailers an engaged audience they can easily connect with to sweeten their shopping experience, building loyalty and driving in-store sales. 

Download the complete report to discover how Shopee, the leading eCommerce online shopping platform in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and Sephora, a multi-brand beauty retail store, leading the way in making the shopping experience seamless. 

Trend 2: DTC brands are booming worldwide.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) has disrupted the eCommerce industry. As more brands manufacture, design, market, sell and ship their products directly to customers, they are more agile than traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. 

Download the complete report to learn how Nike tapped into the DTC space along with other legacy brands.

Social media advertising significantly contributes to DTC sales; however, rising ad prices damper many of these brands. 

Download our report to discover how DTC brands target users in a cookieless world. 

Also, learn how a home-grown Vietnamese DTC start-up raised USD 2.3 million in the middle of V.C. winter in the country. 

Shein, another DTC brand based in China, adopted and perfected its business model and developed a massive, vibrant, international community around Shein with a customer-centric approach. 

Download our report for the complete case study and discover how Shein has tapped into a massive international market of online fast fashion shoppers in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and other big consumer markets. 

Trend 3: Influencers are the new sales associates.

In a crowded digital space, where media consumption is highly democratized, brands seek attention by creating entertaining content that moves the audience. 

Consumers are now in charge — and rather than listening to brands, they listen to peer-to-peer advice on products and services. Consumers are increasingly filtering content, ads, and posts that reek of brand promotions in favor of posts and promotions from people they trust, a.k.a. Influencers. 

So who are the top Instagram influencers right now? 

Download our report to find out who owns the top spot for earnings per paid promotion, and learn how Kim Kardashian sold 150,000 bottles of perfume within minutes on a live stream in China. 

Trend 4: Personalizing the online shopping experience. 

Customers have spoken. They don’t just want personalization; they expect it from brands. 

Research shows that when brands provide personalized experiences, 80 percent of customers are more likely to purchase. When brands personalize a customer’s experience, they anticipate what they want and deliver it to them, increasing engagement, improving conversions, boosting customer loyalty, enhancing the experience, and gaining a competitive advantage. 

Download our report to find out how U.S.-based grocery chain Kroger is delighting shoppers with next-level personalization strategies in our brand case study. 

The future belongs to retail brands that master the omnichannel experience.

Consumers are tightening their purse strings due to inflation and the fear of an impending recession.

High prices of fuel and food are impacting consumer spending. It’s time for brands to get more creative, and eCommerce sellers are in a favorable position to weather the economic downturn using competitive pricing software and data-rich touchpoints. 

Download our free report to find out how top retail brands are globally navigating the new online retail playing field during these uncertain times. 

Consumer behavior is shifting more rapidly and drastically than ever before. Brands are trying to keep up with massive changes in consumer behavior and preferences in virtually every sector, from groceries and fitness to banking and finance. Consumers continue to pivot their preferences and priorities with uncertainty, inflation, and an economic downturn. 

In the early days of the pandemic, an uncertain and dismal picture caused anxiety and depression, which led to panic buying globally. Those were short-term behaviors and did not last. However, many massive shifts due to the pandemic have stuck, including online shopping and the need for speed, efficiency, and convenience. 

The pandemic has changed certain habits for the long haul, with many consumers going to stores less frequently than before. Buyers are now more comfortable shopping online, and most consumers prefer a hybrid shopping experience combining the physical and digital worlds as convenience becomes paramount.

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With the growth of online shopping and technological advancements making online shopping as personalized as a store visit, consumers are exploring options beyond traditional brick-and-mortar stores and looking for a complete experience, be it physical, online, or hybrid. Businesses must adapt quickly to these changes and shifts in consumer preferences to remain competitive in a dynamic and ever-changing market. These changes have been taking place for some time, but the pandemic accelerated the rate of change unexpectedly. 

Some of the consumer behaviors that have drastically shifted post-pandemic are food and grocery delivery services. In the U.S., consumers did not regularly use grocery delivery services. According to some reports, about 15 percent of U.S. consumers tried grocery delivery services for the first time due to the pandemic, about 80 percent of those first-timers liked the service, and 40 percent said they would continue using it post-pandemic. 

While convenience and safety were the two reasons delivery services skyrocketed during the pandemic, the price will likely supersede convenience as we enter a time of out-of-control inflation. Consumers will try to make their money stretch further because savvy consumers know the premium they pay for using delivery services like Instacart. 

In this new economy, will they still be comfortable paying a premium and missing out on discounts for fuel when they don’t shop in person? 

Food delivery services also became more popular worldwide, and the takeout and delivery trend was rising. However, as people returned to in-person dining, food delivery apps took a hit. These apps will also follow the same path as grocery delivery services because when consumers buy from DoorDash, the prices are higher, and they cannot use vouchers. 

Many big retailers like Walmart are following shifts in consumer behavior by offering pick-up and delivery with no markup on prices. Other delivery apps are double-dipping on price, and the consumer pays more than they would in the store. 

Brands need to understand that just as convenience and safety were top priorities during the pandemic, consumers prioritize value and price over everything else, given the current economic environment. 

The fitness market is also seeing massive shifts, and consumers now want an omnichannel approach to fitness, where they use at-home gym equipment and online classes and apps in combination with in-person classes. 

Many e-commerce brands capitalized on creating connections with their consumers by using hand-written-style notes to add to the unboxing experience.

Beauty and fashion brands made it easier for consumers to shop online by using machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer personalized suggestions, experiences, and Virtual try-on sessions using Virtual Reality to mirror an in-store experience. 

Brands need access to high-quality consumer data, insights, and business Intelligence to stay in the game, meet customers’ demands, and outpace the competition.  

In any business environment, enterprises need to clearly understand the psychology behind why consumers behave the way they do. Consumer behavior is the study of consumers and analyzes how consumers decide what to buy, when, and how to buy. It seeks to understand the psychology behind consumers’ needs, wants, and desires and how they purchase, use and dispose of products and services. 

This study is critical because it helps brands understand the motivations and influences behind their purchases. It allows brands and marketers to develop the right products for the right audiences and market the product with the right messaging to convert prospects into buyers and retain them over time. 

Several factors come into play during the purchase decision stage, and these may include personal (age, culture, values, beliefs), psychological (brand perception), or social (friends, family, influencers, social media).

There are four types of consumer behavior:

  1. Complex buying behavior

This type of buying behavior is associated with big-ticket purchases, like buying a home or a car, where consumers invest a lot of time and energy. 

2. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

This type of consumer behavior is often seen when a consumer is highly involved in the buying process but takes longer than usual because they do not want to regret the decision. This happens when multiple brands are very similar, and choosing one is tricky.

3. Variety-seeking behavior

This behavior is exhibited by consumers who opt for a different brand, even if they were happy with their previous purchases because they value variety.

4. Habitual buying behavior

Consumers that purchase the same brand because of habit rather than brand loyalty are in this category. 

A grasp of the type of consumers your brand attracts will allow you to segment your market based on consumer characteristics.  

Marketers also need to understand buying roles and who is the decision maker regarding their specific product. In a family, for instance, the parents make major buying decisions; however, in some cases, young children are highly influential in the decision. In fact, unlike in the past, the younger cohorts, Generation Alpha (those born after 2010) and Gen Zs (those born between 1995-2010), make many important buying decisions regarding what they wear, eat, or travel. 

There are six major buying roles brands need to take into consideration:

  1. Influencer(s): Several people may be involved in the purchase decision in many cases, but they may not all be consumers. Influencers are those who can exert influence in the final decision. These could be bloggers in today’s world or friends and family whose advice commands weightage in the purchase decision. 
  2. Gatekeepers are usually family members who control the information flow regarding a product within a household. 
  3. Initiator: This is the person who first initiates the purchase idea. 
  4. Decider: This person has the final say in the purchase decision and decides whether or not to buy the product. He also may determine how and where to buy it. 
  5. Buyer: This is the person who ends up buying the product.
  6. User: This is the person who consumes or uses the product purchased. 

Consumer behavior helps with market segmentation, as it goes beyond the essential demographic elements like age, gender, and location to explore the behavior patterns customers exhibit when interacting with a particular product, brand, or website. This concept is instrumental in e-commerce and online shopping environments. 

Here’s how e-commerce brands use consumer behavior to segment customers and users based on their level of engagement with the website, app, or product page. 

They segment or group their customers by their attitude toward their brand, level of brand recognition, usage, frequency and timing of purchase, and purchasing patterns or tendencies, like special occasion buying behavior. 

This allows them to tailor their marketing messages and create compelling campaigns to achieve their goals. 

By utilizing behavioral segmentation, brands can get a complete picture of their customers and filter them by the highest levels of engagement. For instance, brands can track those who regularly open their emails or visit their product pages. Marketers can also target ads with the most appealing messaging to customers based on their needs. For instance, an online shoe store can show those interested in athletic wear more running shoes and sneaker ads, and at the same time, serve ads with formal shoes for those interested in evening shoes. 

Another significant shift in consumer behavior is related to a demand for personalized and customized products, especially amongst the younger cohort of Gen Zs. Using behavioral segmentation, brands can provide more refined personalized experiences to win business. Brands can gain deep insights into their consumers’ needs, wants, desires, challenges, preferences, and concerns to gain a competitive advantage. Upselling and showing complementary products and replenishment reminders based on customer history and interests can reduce cart abandonment and boost brand loyalty. 

The use of behavior segmentation beyond the purchase also helps provide a high level of customer service to cement the relationship with the customer, leading to higher retention rates, more repeat business, referrals, and brand loyalty. 

Using behavioral segmentation, brands can unearth invaluable data and insights that may otherwise never have been discovered.

Understanding consumer behavior comprehensively helps brands improve performance across channels to diversify their marketing efforts. Brands can use these insights to adjust brand messaging, packaging, design, features, pricing, and more to stay ahead of the competition and boost brand equity. 

Kadence International helps leading brands make game-changing decisions. If you are looking for a research partner to help better understand your customers, we would love to help. Simply fill out our Request for a Proposal here.

Just like reaching an unknown destination without a map is difficult, so is building a business strategy without competitive intelligence. 

Competitive intelligence helps brands shape their product development, distribution channels, pricing, messaging, positioning, brand promotions, and features. It allows brands to identify their challenges and opportunities in the market in relation to their competition, so they can see what their competitors are doing and differentiate themselves from them. 

What is competitive intelligence (CI)?

Competitive intelligence refers to any intentional research where brands collect, analyze, and utilize data and information gathered on their competitors, customers, and other external factors, potentially providing brands with a competitive advantage.

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When brands ethically and legally collect competitive intelligence, it can help boost the organization’s decision-making capabilities. The goal of any competitive intelligence study is to create a business plan and strategy so organizations can make well-informed decisions based on market considerations.

Competitive intelligence goes beyond knowing the competition; the process is designed to take a deep dive to unravel the finer points of the competitor’s target markets and business strategy. 

The Japanese auto industry carried out a compelling competitive intelligence study in the 1970s. The Japanese automobile industry analyzed the U.S. automobile market to discover a need for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in a country where gasoline prices were rising. Using competitive intelligence across its borders, Japanese automakers identified a critical trend to beat their competition in the U.S. 

Competitive intelligence plays a vital role in all major departments of an organization and can take on a different meaning for each department or function. For instance, for a product development team, competitive intelligence may mean new features being added to products. For a sales executive, it may be helpful to know how to create a winning proposal. For leadership, it may be understanding the competitor’s marketing strategies so they can craft a plan to gain more foothold in the market.

Competitive Intelligence studies and exercises can be tactical (shorter-term) or strategic (longer-term). The goal of tactical competitive intelligence studies, for instance, can be to obtain insights into increasing revenues or gaining market share. At the same time, strategic or longer-term reporting focuses on significant risks, threats, and opportunities, present or emerging. 

A competitive intelligence study typically includes a wealth of information and insights from various sources, like government records, online mentions, social media, trade shows and journals, customer data and interviews, and traditional news media, to name a few. These sources are easily accessible and form the starting point for the studies. More in-depth information from distributors, suppliers, competitors, and customers is needed to make truly informed decisions. 

What are the key benefits of competitive intelligence?

There is no substitute for Competitive intelligence research when it is undertaken with care and diligence. It is a powerful tool for brands to gain market share, boost revenue, and continue to build the right products at competitive prices.

Here are some key benefits of using competitive intelligence for brands:

#1. Ability to predict patterns and emerging trends

As brands excavate an enormous amount of data and insights related to their competitor’s activities, they begin to identify and foresee emerging trends in the industry. This allows brands to gain deep foresight to make informed decisions and strategic business plans. 

#2. Aids in brand positioning

As brands gather insights and data about the competitive landscape, they also gain clarity on their activities and messaging. It helps them understand what works and doesn’t and cement their marketing. 

#3. Helps make more informed decisions.

When brands unearth information, they gain critical insights into how the customers feel about their brand and the competing brands. This gives brands a better view of their customers’ wants and how their competitors are meeting the needs of the target markets. 

#4. Boosts returns and profits

When you have a good understanding of the strategies and tactics employed by your competition and how they are performing, you will be better able to invest in areas that bring the highest returns, reducing risks and boosting profits.

Going back to the definition of Competitive Intelligence, we can see three necessary steps: “collect, analyze, and use competitor and market information to make informed decisions.”

Collecting data

There are many ways of unearthing relevant competitor data legally and ethically. Searching for information online may seem rudimentary, but it can provide invaluable information about the competitors and their activities. This information is readily available and accessible on the internet and is considered low-hanging fruit. With a few simple web searches, you can find great information on what the competitor is doing and what it has done in the past. You can also learn about product features, pricing, innovations, leadership, and important news and announcements relevant to your competition. There are tools that provide insight into the competitor’s search engine optimization activities and their online advertising efforts. 

From here, brands often go deeper and beyond the internet to analyze target markets and customer segments. Brands use quantitative and qualitative market research to gain more market insight. 

Brands use data to analyze their competition beyond the simple search process. This entails going through endless data and making sense of it all can become cumbersome. This is where data mining comes into play. Besides gathering data from third-party sources, brands also gather human intelligence by interviewing relevant people, including customers and past suppliers. This is a time-consuming process and must be undertaken by experts in market research to ensure it is done ethically and legally.  

Analyzing data

Analysis of data is a crucial step in the competitive intelligence process. Once brands collect data, it needs to be analyzed carefully to provide actionable insights. This allows brands to understand the patterns and separate them from the outliers. 

The analysis aims to uncover strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as they relate to the competitive landscape. Therefore, collecting and analyzing information from disparate sources is essential in verifying their authenticity and validity. This helps us move away from making assumptions and gaining real insights from more accurate pieces of data. 

Crafting a strategy 

Once a brand has enough verified data and information on its competitors and strategies, it can utilize it to differentiate itself and make informed decisions regarding product, price, messaging, and other essential aspects. It allows brands to weigh the competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in relation to their own to gain a competitive advantage.

For instance, pricing is an important area for differentiation but can only be done right if everything is studied and taken into account to find the right price that is profitable and aligns with the customer’s perceived value of a brand or product offering. Therefore, a successful price is not about pricing your product at the same or lower price than your competitor but positioning your brand as the choice that provides the greatest value. And to make that happen, you need to know the price of competing products and their perceived value in the buyer’s mind. This calls for a thorough study and analysis of the competing products, markets, and consumers. 

Today, e-commerce companies use sophisticated software for competitive pricing due to the market’s highly competitive and dynamic nature. Read more on how e-commerce brands utilize price monitoring software technology to track competitor pricing here.

To get the complete picture, brands may conduct competitive intelligence surveys. They can define their target audience and use various demographic and psychographic questions to identify consumer behavior. These also include questions about competing products and services. You may also use ranking and rating type questions and identify any unmet needs or gaps in the marketplace or use open-ended questions to get a more in-depth view of the consumer’s mind. Brand recall and recognition surveys are also helpful in gaining consumer perception of various brands. For instance, a sparkling water brand may ask: “When you think of bottled sparkling water, what brand comes to mind first?” This can help brands discover how frequently their brand is mentioned compared to competing brands in the category.

When armed with the powerful insights gained through competitive intelligence, brands can be more strategic in all aspects of business, from product development to pricing and distribution. By differentiating themselves from competitors, they can gain valuable market share, grow brand value, and brand equity, and boost their return on investment (ROI).

Doing good doesn’t have to be at odds with profit. Organizations focused on their triple line in today’s marketplace will outperform their less socially conscious competitors. 

So what is the triple line? And what does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) entail?

In economics, the triple bottom line (TBL) explains how organizations should commit to focusing on social and environmental welfare as much as they do on profits. 

The triple bottom line theory asserts there should be three bottom lines: profit, people, and the planet. A TBL measures a corporation’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a self-regulating business model aimed at helping a brand become socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, the public, and its environmental impact over time.

Reducing carbon footprints to avert the climate crisis, improving labor policies, adding employee welfare programs, embracing fair trade, and incorporating charitable giving are examples of ways brands can support CSR initiatives.

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Why is CSR important in your brand strategy?

The idea behind social responsibility is based on the concept of businesses doing good and balancing their profit goals with initiatives that benefit society and the environment. 

Social responsibility is also good for business. Many brands focus on local, national, and even global philanthropic initiatives to attract consumers, making social responsibility a means of growing the brand. 

Customers like to do business with socially responsible organizations and enhance brand equity by boosting their sales, profits, and goodwill. CSR activities allow companies to improve their reputation, positively impacting brand equity and value.

CSR also helps an organization internally. Research led by Verizon and the Campbell Soup Company quantified the advantages of being socially responsible. The study showed how CSR lowers turnover by up to 50 percent, boosts team productivity by up to 13 percent, and enhances employee satisfaction by up to 7.5 percent. 

Millennials and Gen Zers demand social responsibility from the brands they interact with

A survey of 30,000 consumers in 60 countries found that 66 percent of consumers were willing to pay more for brands with CSR initiatives that resonated with them or aligned with their values and beliefs. 

Another study revealed that 87 percent of Americans would purchase a product based on the advocacy of an issue that resonates with them. 

This is especially true of the younger generations, including millennials and Gen Z. In our recent report on Gen Z —the definitive guide, there are several examples of brands demonstrating social responsibility to attract this cohort of consumers who demand social and environmental responsibility from brands. 

Why does this matter?

In 2020, there were 1.8 billion millennials worldwide, making them the largest generation cohort in recent times. Furthermore, with most of them employed, their spending power has dramatically increased over the past few years. 

In 2021, overall spending by Millenials had also considerably increased because most wanted to make up for the time lost during the pandemic. This cohort is a self-indulgent group that also cares deeply about society and the environment. 

According to a Deloitte survey in 2020, 60 percent of Millennials said they would be willing to support a business that takes care of its employees and positively impacts society. 

It’s not just societal impact but also an organization’s impact on the environment that matters to the younger Millennial and Gen Z cohorts.

Another critical factor is how brands lead diversity and inclusion. As detailed in our exhaustive Gen Z report on emerging beauty trends, today’s consumers, especially younger generations, demand brands to be diverse and inclusive. 

It is worth noting that brands cannot mislead consumers and send out a social message that is not executed because these discerning consumers also expect authenticity. 

Greenwashing, for instance, is a term that has gained prominence in recent times. The term refers to brands and organizations that say they are environmentally friendly, but in practice, they do nothing to protect the environment or actually harm the environment. 

Marrying profits with purpose

Gone are the days when profit and doing good were mutually exclusive. Today, corporations are increasingly incorporating purpose into their brand strategy. Having a cause attached to an organization is not just nice to have but a necessity. Governments worldwide have established mandates to ensure that big corporations are socially responsible. 

In Asia, CSR-related investment is conspicuous in the major economies. While we see a global trend with businesses taking a more significant share of responsibility for social and environmental good, different nations approach CSR with varying levels of vigor and pace.

Let’s look at the American, European, and Asia Pacific countries where we have a presence to see how they approach CSR and corporate citizenship. 

CSR initiatives are part of company law in China

A worldwide survey on millennials revealed that 83 percent wanted businesses to address social issues. In China, this percentage was higher at 92 percent. 

Typically, CSR is considered a voluntary initiative; yet in the past few decades, we have seen the rise of CSR mandates worldwide that explicitly target corporations to include CSR programs. 

One such country is China, where CSR initiatives are in Article 5 of the 2006 Chinese Company Law and explicitly require all Chinese companies to be socially responsible. 

The Chinese government incentivizes companies to incorporate social responsibility into their business practices. 

In 2014, Coca-Cola launched a socially conscious bottled water brand called Ice Dew “Chun Yue,” or Pure Joy in China. This was the company’s first socially conscious brand. Although priced slightly higher than competing brands, this bottled water targeted Millennials who care about social issues and are more likely to pay more for an environmentally conscious brand.

With the fitting tagline, “Drink Good, Do Good, Feel Good,” the brand claimed it would set aside funds to develop safe drinking water sources for schoolchildren in rural provinces such as Yunnan and Sichuan.

Japanese brands face pressure to get involved in CSR activities.

Japanese culture is all about relationships, and giving money to unknown people or charity has never been common practice. Until recent years, the Japanese considered social responsibility mainly the government’s job.

However, this has changed recently as issues such as the climate crisis, human rights, women’s equality, and poverty have come into the forefront of mass consciousness. 

The Japanese understand the adverse impact of poverty, social injustice, well-being, and the environment on society and realize the extent to which individual companies and people can help promote a better community. 

As a result, Japanese corporations face pressure to do more “good” and be responsible for their actions.

CSR in a net zero U.K.

One of the world’s largest automotive companies, Japanese automaker Toyota now faces increased international scrutiny as its growth continues.

In 1989, the company set up its Corporate Citizenship Activity Committee, and in 1995 it established the Basic Principles of Social Contribution Activities. In 2006, the company launched the Corporate Citizenship Division to consolidate all its social responsibility functions globally and become more strategic. In 2009, it opened the Toyomori Institute of Sustainable Living. 

Balancing the amount of greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere with the amount we remove to tackle the climate crisis is called ‘net zero.’

The U.K. government has urged more businesses to pledge to this net zero target by 2050. In an industrialized world, reaching this goal is challenging and requires massive efforts from governments, corporations, and societies worldwide. 

Various countries and organizations have now adopted the target of ‘net-zero emissions by 2050,’ and about one-third of the largest U.K. businesses, representing a £650 billion market capital, have pledged to eliminate their carbon emissions by 2050. 

One such brand is luxury automaker Rolls-Royce, which is committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations and facilities by 2030. 

U.K. pharmaceutical brand AstraZeneca has also committed to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2025 and becoming carbon negative across its value chain by 2030. 

Not mandatory in The U.S., but consumers expect brands to incorporate CSR.

From how we grow our food and how we deal with the climate crisis to how we treat our labor force, consumers in the U.S. are increasingly demanding accountability from corporations and organizations.

While CSR is not required by U.S. statute or regulations, it is somewhat soft law as consumers demand social responsibility from the brands they use.

In recent years, there has been a growth in CSR initiatives in the U.S., and major corporations have made massive strides in improving their environmental disclosure through annual sustainability reports.

Driven by its mission, Tom shoes is top-of-the-mind for social responsibility in the U.S. 

Toms shoes are likely the first brand that comes to mind when discussing corporate social responsibility. And for good reason —the brand’s CSR initiative is intertwined with its mission statement. 

In 2006, TOMS launched with the mission “to match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes for a child in need.” During its first year, TOMS sold 10,000 pairs of shoes, and today, it has partnered with social organizations in more than 50 countries worldwide. 

The company’s social efforts focus on improving environmental and social issues and are seen globally in every aspect of its operations. The brand is an excellent example of authentic social responsibility.

CSR focuses on labor welfare and environmental consciousness in Indonesia.

Indonesian company law states that “companies with an impact on natural resources must implement CSR, and the same must be budgeted as a cost.” 

Recently, issues concerning worker abuse, severe climate, and environmental concerns have heightened interest in CSR. 

For example, Indonesia Eximbank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encompasses four areas: environmental responsibility, responsibility towards social and community development, labor and workplace health and safety responsibilities, and responsibility to their customers. 

CSR is a complementary approach to doing business in Singapore

Singapore is among the world’s fastest-growing economies and is in tune with the sustainability trend. 

The climate crisis and societal issues have propelled social responsibility and sustainable business practices to the forefront. A growing population demanding brand corporate responsibility has turned “doing good” into a winning business strategy. 

In Singapore, most CSR initiatives are handled by the state in partnership with employers and labor unions, making the government a key driver of CSR in the island state. 

The Singaporean code of governance urges domestic companies to follow high standards, and while the code is not mandatory, listed companies are required to disclose their corporate governance practices and explain any deviations from the code in their annual reports.  

In Singapore, Yakult, a probiotic beverage brand, stopped using plastic straws in its efforts to be environmentally conscious. 

Additionally, Yakult has partnered with many non-profit organizations in the health arena, sponsoring public projects and health-related events in Singapore. 

CSR is part and parcel of doing business in Thailand

The fundamental concepts of the Thai way of life and religious beliefs are centered around doing good deeds for others without any selfish motives. This thought process has seeped into business life, and Thai businesses accept their social responsibility.

During the 1997-1998 financial crisis in Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumiphol Adulyadej recommended the “Sufficiency Economy” philosophy to guide the Thai people towards a balanced way of life. 

Wonderland products, a manufacturer of wooden toys in Thailand, enforces CSR initiatives internally by ensuring the quality of life and humane labor practices and externally by supporting environmental protection. Its plants reuse and recycle waste for environmental reasons. 

What the world can learn from India about CSR implementation

Corporate social responsibility is a practice in which businesses voluntarily contribute positively to social and environmental projects. However, in the Indian context, the phrase takes on a different meaning. 

While organizations voluntarily participate in CSR in the rest of the world, it is not the case in India. As the world’s fastest-growing economy, India requires companies to have a CSR policy. 

In 2014, with the implementation of the new company law on April 1, India became the only country in the world with legislated corporate social responsibility (CSR) and a spending threshold of up to INR 15,000 crore (USD 2.5 billion). 

The new law mandates that “all companies, including foreign firms, with a minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore, turnover of Rs. 1,000 crores, and net profit of at least Rs 5 crore, spend at least two percent of their profit on CSR.”

In India, CSR is approached with a stringency not found anywhere else in the world. 

The law requires three Board directors to form a CSR committee to enforce the organization’s CSR policy. The law also dictates that the CSR policy be elaborate and the money spent audited. Organizations must also detail their CSR policy in their annual reports and websites. 

For example, Coca-Cola’s 2015 “Support My School” campaign was one of India’s most extensive CSR campaigns ever undertaken. The viral campaign earned Coca-Cola media exposure to an extent even the most planned marketing campaigns cannot replicate.

It is well established worldwide that businesses cannot progress at the cost of society or the environment. Most nations are on board with Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that are good for the employees, consumers, businesses, and society. Brands are integrating societal and environmental goals into their operations to help reduce waste, enhance reputation and identity, attract top talent, and increase their bottom line. 

For international brands entering new markets, CSR provides a remarkable branding opportunity and helps them build their reputation locally as socially responsible brands.

Emerging technological advancements are transforming market research forever. As many consumers move online, the way brands identify and understand consumer needs is being reimagined.

Many technology trends disrupt the market research industry —from data collection and new product launches to tracking brand performance. This blog post will focus on the breakthroughs in technology impacting brand tracking and product performance tracking.

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Brand and performance tracking refers to the process of continually measuring brand health over a period within the target audience. It allows brands to measure the performance of a product in relation to its competition. After a new product is launched, market research helps brands gauge performance to stay competitive. 

With consumers increasingly moving online, brands can tap into new, vast, and reliable consumer behavior data in real-time. This has also made Direct to Consumer marketing much more common. Brands like Happy Human (Singapore), Dime Beauty (U.S.A.), Joi (Malaysia), Sleepy Owl (India), Recess (Philipines), Adopt a Cow (China), and Knot (Japan) have eliminated the middleman to create, develop, sell, and distribute their products directly to the end-user. The absence of middlemen and brick-and-mortar stores allows them to maintain quality and reduce prices. But this is not all. These brands also have the added advantage of measuring performance directly without employing market research across several retail outlets. They can discover brand sentiment directly, making them more agile, nimble, and competitive. 

While there is still a place for traditional research methodologies, technologies like machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and chatbots continue to reinvent the market research industry. 

Let’s look at the primary technologies in brand tracking and competition analysis that are changing the face of market research. 

E-commerce brands utilize price monitoring software technology to track competitor pricing.

In the fiercely competitive E-commerce world, the key to outperforming the competition is tracking and monitoring the price competing brands charge for similar products and services. Brands need to keep a keen eye on their competitor’s pricing strategy and price changes over several products to stay competitive, and that’s not an easy task even for larger companies. 

This is where e-commerce price monitoring technology comes into play. 

Ecommerce price monitoring software allows brands to track their competitor’s price changes and dynamically adjust their pricing. 

By employing this type of software, brands can stay abreast with competitor pricing and adjust pricing based on demand, competition, and inventory levels. 

Many such tools are available in the market, including Minderest, Price2Spy, and Prisync, with sophisticated matching technology and high levels of accuracy. 

Market research utilizes machine learning and A.I. for brand and performance tracking to revamp advertising and messaging. 

While some grey areas are associated with A.I. in other fields, the market research industry has embraced this technology.

One of the things brands need to track constantly is how their messaging is resonating with the target audience and how the market perceives their brand. This is because a brand is not just the logo and tagline. It is a sum of all parts and is an overall feeling that tells a narrative and evokes sentiment and emotion in the audience. 

Technology helps brands better understand brand performance and perception to inform better decision-making. It allows brands to measure and bridge the gaps between their intent and how the audiences interpret and perceive their message.

The use of A.I. in brand tracking has allowed market researchers to analyze qualitative surveys at a fraction of the time taken by manual data collection methods. Furthermore, this enables them to ask more open-ended and follow-up questions, find the right panelists faster, eliminate bias, write reports quickly, and significantly improve the quality of their surveys and reports. 

In today’s dynamic digital marketplaces, A.I. is powering brand tracking to gauge the changing consumer perceptions. 

Sentiment analysis is a sub-category of A.I. and N.L.P., which automatically uncovers feelings, emotions, and sentiments behind plain blocks of text. It is extensively used in brand tracking because it is efficient, reliable, and accurate. 

Over 45 percent of the world is on social media. There are about 500 million tweets per day, and about 1.96 billion people worldwide use Facebook every day. Consumers constantly call out brands on these social media platforms and review sites. It would be overwhelming and near impossible to collect data manually. Brands can effectively gauge overall brand sentiment across platforms and channels online using automated tools. 

For instance, when the popular ride-sharing service, UBER, launched a new version of its app, it used social media monitoring and text analytics to measure user sentiment about the new version of the app. Eye-tracking technology works similarly and can track users’ engagement scores and emotions on a website. 

There are several brand tracking tools available for brands. Candymaker Mars used one such tool that combines the standard digital video metrics, like view-through rates and skip rates, with facial expression tracking of the viewers while watching the ad using an A.I. algorithm.

While the tool measures digital behaviors, it puts enormous weight on gauging emotion and sentiment. This technology is essential to track brand performance in a world plagued with minuscule attention spans. It allows brands to obtain a complete picture of consumer perception. 

Many technologies use participants’ webcams to track their facial and emotional responses while viewing ads, providing invaluable data used to inform sales forecasts. 

Chatbots are aggregating vast amounts of consumer data.

The usage of chatbots as a communication channel between brands and consumers has increased by 92 percent since 2019. 

As many consumers shop online, they engage with chatbots, making them the fastest-growing brand communication channel.  

A survey found that up to 80 percent of users answered questions, three times higher than responses from email surveys. 

Brands like IKEA are using chatbots to gather valuable consumer feedback. Companies use Whatsapp and Facebook messenger to measure consumer sentiment and feedback efficiently. 

The use of brand tracking cannot be overemphasized. It allows brands to understand how their current audience perceives the brand. It can also lead brands to uncover until now undiscovered target audiences. 

With brand tracking software, brands can see the true impact of their campaigns. Brand tracking holds the key to insights any brand needs to thrive. Using the right tools and technology, brands can obtain actionable information about the brand perception among the target audience and how it scores against the competition.

A brand is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. It is, therefore, critical to continually measure satisfaction, awareness, and perception. Incorporating brand tracking into their marketing strategy can help brands understand their target audiences and consumer needs and make more profitable marketing decisions. Technology has made it easier to uncover massive data sets to monitor a brand effectively and accurately. By combining this technology with digital metrics, brands can increase their competitive advantage.

This summary of the report, “The Asian Consumer: 4 Key Trends for the Next Normal,” examines the purchasing trends, consumer characteristics, and brand preferences of major Asian markets that embody a unique national and cultural identity.

If you want to grow your company’s presence in Asia, make sure you read the full report here. 

This report is based on the analysis of local experts across Kadence International’s eight Asian offices: China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan.

In this summary, let’s look at how four driving forces are changing the consumer landscape in major Asian markets.

Read the full report to determine what drives consumer interest and engagement in individual countries in the region. 

Trend One: Changes in food and shopping patterns

Since the beginning of 2020, wet markets have taken a hit in popularity and accessibility throughout the Asia Pacific region, just like the rest of the world. This trend is unlikely to change substantially in the coming years, and therefore, Asian consumers are starting to look for food and grocery alternatives.

Read the full report to learn more about the impact of COVID19 on wet markets across major South Asian countries, including China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia. 

There is a burgeoning demand for meal kits and prepared foods. Asian consumers are lured toward meal kits not only due to their convenience and simplicity but also the healthy food options and the high-quality food products included in these popular “Next Gen TV Dinners.”

Read the full report to discover the key players in the Meal Kits market in China. 

While most industry experts don’t predict the demise of wet markets and wildlife trade any time soon, changes in Asian consumer behaviors and preferences in what food they eat and how they purchase it continue to evolve.

Adopt a Cow, a new entrant in dairy within China, capitalized on these changes to capture the dairy market that two leading Chinese dairy brands previously dominated. Adopt a Cow connected with China’s consumers in a way that spoke to their evolving tastes and behaviors. 

Read this intriguing case study to discover how this new dairy brand broke into the market and faced its competition head-on, ultimately becoming the leading dairy company in China. 

Trend Two:  In the age of Zoom, work from home has altered how we work and live at home. 

The WFH employment trend is destined to stay in some form well into 2022 and beyond. Even after the pandemic, the Asian workforce will continue working 80% from home in some hybrid form. For Asian consumers, this translates into not just the way they work, but even more so, a new relationship with the space in which they now both live and work.

Unlike workers in both China and Japan, employees in India prefer video conferences rather than in-person meetings. It is also interesting that companies in Asia do not embrace remote working options for their employees as readily as businesses in the West.

Japan has some of the lowest WFH employees in all of Asia. Like many households throughout the region, Japanese remote workers deal with small, overcrowded home environments and cramped spaces that are less conducive to productivity. In many parts of Japan, space has always been tight and comes at a premium. 

Savvy homebuilders in Japan knew it was time to rethink the Tiny House model into Tiny Home Office structures.

Read the case study to learn how a real estate company found a market among those struggling to work in tight spaces at home with Tiny Home Office. 

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Trend Three: Gen Z and the demand for customizable consumer goods.

Gen Z is poised to set market trends for many years to come.

According to McKinsey & Company, Asia’s consumerism is rapidly growing and expected to reach 3 billion by 2030, a 50 percent increase from today’s consuming class.

Discover how the convergence of personalization and social media influencers drives consumer engagement for Gen Z Asian consumers in the full report here.

To build a personal brand on TikTok, Gen Z Asian consumers feel the need to create a unique personal online identity. This is why they gravitate toward products that allow room for personalization, customization, and exclusivity.

While many major luxury brands have jumped on the customization trend, the best example of the popularity of personalization comes from a rubber shoe company.

Learn how Crocs exploded in the Asian Marketplace through customization and celebrity influencers.

India is among the top five nations globally in beauty and cosmetics manufacturing and distribution. Mass beauty in India possesses a market value of more than $11 billion, with an additional $3 billion if you add hair care and personal hygiene products. There is also a growing market for customizable beauty products.

Discover the exceptional opportunities for industry innovators entering the Indian beauty market in the case study when you download the full report here.

Trend Four: The rise of Electric Vehicles. 

China is the global leader in electromobility, with a 5.75 percent market share of electric cars in the Asia Pacific region.

Even though September 2021 car sales in China took a 17 percent dip year over year, electric automobile sales in the country trended up with a jaw-dropping 355,000 registered electric vehicles that month. The year-over-year growth rate was more than 170 percent, and these Chinese consumer buying trends are expected to continue to grow well into the future. 

Japan is lagging in this category with a 0.64% market share. India follows Japan occupying the seventh position with a relatively low 0.06% market share.

On the other hand, Singaporean consumers welcome the onset of the age of electric cars. 

Sales of Teslas in Singapore have also substantially increased throughout 2021, rising from just 30 cars sold in the first six months of the year to nearly 500 in Q3 alone, even though these cars cost more than three times the cost of the US sticker price.

Read the full report to discover EV trends and consumer demand in all major countries in the region. 

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