47
33 10 7 3 Customer service and relationships: Building and managing relationships with key customers (retailers and distributors) to grow shelf presence and expand share of category
Differentiated marketing: Building brand equity by reaching consumers with compelling, relevant marketing
Operational excellence: Creating highly efficient processes
Product innovation: Being first to market with groundbreaking new products or services Other
In your view, which of the following best represents the core strength of your overall business? Select only one.
(% respondents)
1. No coordination; 2. Ad hoc coordination; 3. Some procedures 4. Procedures 5. Broad, systematic and Don’t know units are completely not systematic established, but not established, regular consistent integration of
separate or consistent consistently followed interaction information and strategies
Planning and executing promotional activity Developing and launching new products Planning and executing marketing campaigns Analysing and segmenting customers Analysing and segmenting consumers Gauging customer satisfaction Measuring effectiveness of processes Responding to customer demands or complaints Incorporating customer feedback into products/services Other
Each of the organisation’s customer-facing departments influences the customer via different channels. For each of the processes below, how closely do your marketing, sales and customer service units work together? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5.
(% respondents)
17 10 47 27
3 10 13 47 27 0 20 20 40 20
7 17 37 27 13 0 13 10 37 33 7 0 3 27 37 30 3 0
3 17 43 30 7 0
3 7 17 47 23 3 24 31 31 10 3
100
24 Economist Intelligence Unit 2009 Appendix 4
EMEA survey results
Beyond transactions
Building customer partnerships in consumer goods
Measuring/optimising effectiveness of marketing and promotional campaigns Maximising repeat purchases and building consumer loyalty
Reducing the cost of sales
Creating effective consumer marketing campaigns
Involving customers in product/service development (co-creation) Gathering consumer intelligence in the course of providing service Ensuring that service issues with retailers and distributors are resolved quickly Targeting the right consumers in order to achieve
sales volume and revenue objectives Cross-selling or upselling consumers
Measuring the satisfaction of retailers and distributors Segmenting and profiling consumers
Segmenting and profiling customers (retailers and distributors) Building long-term relationships with customers (retailers and distributors) Other
Don’t know
In your view, which of your organisation’s activities are most in need of improvement? Select up to four.
(% respondents)
53 47 43 37 30 27 23
20 20 20 10
10 10 0 0
Helping each function within your organisation find and act on ways to support the others
Presenting retailers and distributors with a consistent picture of the organisation
Integrating tracking of retailer relationships from annual planning through promotions to claims management
Establishing common definitions, assumptions and data Developing and sharing a detailed picture of consumer behaviors and preferences
Making each part of your organisation aware of how the others have interacted with a given retailer or distributor
Measuring the probability that planned promotions will result in achieving sales and volume targets
Prioritising resources directed towards retailers and distributors by total value over the life of the relationship
Our company sees no need to integrate our marketing, sales and service activities
Other
Don’t know/Not applicable
Which of the following would provide the biggest benefits in integrating your organisation’s marketing, sales and service activities? Select up to three.
(% respondents)
37
33
33 30
30
30
27
23
3 3 3
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
(% respondents)
In choosing to do business with my organisation, prices are the single most important factor most customers consider If price is not driving factor, my organisation can win shelf space and expand its presence in the category based on service, convenience, brand reputation or other intangibles
My organisation has stronger relationships with retailers and distributors than do our competitors My organisation has an accurate way to estimate the lifetime value of retailers or distributors
My organisation prioritises sales and marketing resources based on the lifetime value of each retailer or distributor We are currently developing a social media strategy
My organisation has more flexibility that its competitors in pricing its products
Despite the recession, my organisation has greatly strengthened customer relationships over the past 12 months
We are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively with retailers and distributors we were 12 months ago My organisation has integrated its activities to provide high-quality service to retailers and distributors at all touch points Consumers view my organisation’s products and services more as commodities now than five years ago
Our margins are higher than the margins of most of our competitors
Agree Disagree Don’t know
23 77
80 10 10
60 27 13
23 60 17
43 40 17
40 50 10
40 50 10
70 23 7
40 57 3
67 27 7
40 53 7
30 57 13
25 Economist Intelligence Unit 2009 Appendix 4
EMEA survey results
Beyond transactions
Building customer partnerships in consumer goods
Global economic downturn Emergence of new competitors
Changing requirements among retailers and distributors Evolving consumer needs
Significant demand shifts for our products/services Finding access to credit/capital
Disruptive technology developments Focusing on sustainability efforts
Emergence of new markets for our products and services Accessing key components or resources through our supply chain Other
Don’t know
Which of the following trends have had the greatest impact on your business over the past 12 months? Select up to three.
(% respondents)
80 40
30 30 23 13 10 10
7 3 10 0
Making prices and sales terms more transparent for easy comparability Investing in self-service tools across multiple channels
(web, mobile devices, e-mail, point of sale) Improving online or self-service product support tools Improving usability, search and navigation of retailer- and distributor-facing websites Other
Don’t know/Not applicable
In which of the following ways does your organisation empower retailers and distributors? Select all that apply.
(% respondents)
53
43 23
13 0
7
Offering additional value along with products (ie, in-store service, merchandising improvements, sustainable packaging, etc)
Creating educational forums for consumers (eg, online content, in-store content, communities of interest, direct-to-consumer outreach, etc) Improving usability, search and navigation of consumer-facing websites Building or supporting online communities of consumers
Other
Don’t know/Not applicable
In which of the following ways does your organisation empower consumers? Select all that apply.
(% respondents)
67
33 30 27 0
10
Point of sale feedback
Feedback from in-store sales staff
Our own e-commerce site(s)
Third-party e-commerce sites
Phone order interaction
Direct response feedback
Call center customer service interactions
Targeted focus groups
Online social media efforts
Other
Don’t know
What avenues of retailer and consumer feedback is your organisation best and worst at collecting and using to improve the experience of both types of customers?
Select up to three from each column.
(% respondents)
We are best at collecting and using We are worst at collecting and using
47 27
37 27
17
27 3
37 20
10
30 13
13 10
40 13
7
23 0
0 7 13
26 Economist Intelligence Unit 2009 Appendix 4
EMEA survey results
Beyond transactions
Building customer partnerships in consumer goods
Monitoring the results of actions in terms of consumer behavior and marketing metrics
Synthesising information from retail outlets into coherent recommendations Persuading consumers to share experiences, both positive and negative Persuading our employees to share feedback from retailers, both positive and negative
Putting recommendations into action
Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant retailer and consumer information Synthesising information from customer service
into coherent recommendations
Dealing systematically with extremely high volumes of retailer information Synthesising information from online channels
into coherent recommendations
Demonstrating to retailers and consumers that their comments are being addressed Other
Don’t know
My organisation’s greatest challenges in using information from retailers and consumers to improve the customer experience are:
Select up to three.
(% respondents)
43 33
30
27 27 23
23 20
17
13 0
3
Western Europe Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa Asia-Pacific Latin America North America
In which region are you personally based?
(% respondents)
57 23
20 0
0 0
50
40 10 Individuals
(eg, retail) Businesses or other organisations (eg, business-to-business) An equal mix of both Who are your organisation’s primary customers?
(% respondents)
1 Consistently and systematically 2 3 4 5 Not at all Don’t know Empower salespeople
Empower customer service staff Create effective marketing campaigns Refine product development process Forecast demand
Improve customer service
Improve retail offerings and selections Adjust pricing
How well is customer and consumer information from all sources used to accomplish the following goals?.
(% respondents)
14 31 31 14 3 7 10 27 43 17 3
23 33 17 23 3 13 33 30 20 3
27 27 30 17
24 34 38 3 3 60 23 10 3 17 47 23 7 3 3
27 Economist Intelligence Unit 2009 Appendix 4
EMEA survey results
Beyond transactions
Building customer partnerships in consumer goods
Board member
CEO/President/Managing director CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller CIO/Technology director Other C-level executive SVP/VP/Director Head of Business Unit Head of Department Manager Other
Which of the following best describes your title?
(% respondents)
3
20 10
7 3
13 3
20 13
7
40 3 0 10 47
$500m or less
$500m to $1bn
$1bn to $5bn
$5bn to $10bn
$10bn or more What are your organisation’s global annual revenues in US dollars?
(% respondents)
General management
Strategy and business development Marketing
Finance
Operations and production Sales
IT Procurement
Supply-chain management Risk
Customer service Legal Human resources Information and research R&D
Other
What are your main functional roles?
Please choose no more than three functions.
(% respondents)
50 33
30 20
17 17 13 10
7 3 3 3 3 0 0 0
28
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