Europe, 2014
Europe Council, 2012: European retailers and manufacturers are today pitted in a fierce battle for share of declining disposable income. They are facing major disruptions such as new shopper values, changing habits and technologies. In short, developing and selling new products and services has become more complex. In order to survive, companies need to understand the changing shopper needs and proactively alter their business models.
In our study, we found that many well-known shopper needs, such as Smart Convenience or Green Responsibility, are still poorly met and can provide further growth opportunities by finding better solutions to those needs. In addition, new shopper needs are emerging, such as Social Networking and Back to Origins; however, European retailers and manufacturers are only sporadically addressing these needs today.
If retailers and manufacturers want to reignite growth in the European retail sector, they need to move away from lengthy market research projects and increasingly learn from actual testing by adhering to three fundamental principles: think big, test small and learn fast.