Some Thoughts About Neuromarketing

I had the opportunity to read couple of weeks ago the excellent work Yasmina Chikh made to publish her thesis. She picked a very interesting and controversial topic: Neuromarketing.

Actually, the hype around neuromarketing seemed to have vanished. Indeed, a lot of work have been published about it, especially about how ethical this discipline may be, but also because of all the scientific work that has been undertaken in this field. I believe that now neuromarketing is operationnal, in terms of techniques. 

Nevertheless, and that is what Yasmina has underlined in her work, ethical issues remain. How far can we go to trigger a sale? Should we use these techniques, that are not based on arguments, but on irrational behaviors someone may get, because of how our brain functions?

In France, very few cases are available, as neuromarketing is forbidden. But I don't believe it will remain for long. European large companies have embraced the techniques, and soon, lobbies will force the European Union to validate its use in our country. 

Now will we see a lot of neuromarketing campaigns? It still needs to be seen, because these techniques are pretty pricy. You need a sophisticated equipment, most of the time you need to go through a university in order to use it. I believe the challenge of this kind of field is to be cost efficient, and to have clear results in the real life. So far, most of the findings have been made by scientific studies, and not yet in the real business field.

What I also really liked in Yasmina's report, is how extensive she has been in listing all the techniques you may use in neuromarketing.You should try to add her on LinkedIn, she may share with you that work (in French though).

Why You Should Not Spend Too Much Times In Concept Stores

As a retail and customer relationship management expert, I spend a lot of time in stores. As I have said most of the time, even though retailing online is growing fast, and customer experience in the E-commerce is constantly improving, the main customer relationship medium remains the retail. 

A lot of companies have understood it:

• Nespresso, who built its business model and customer service excellence on the Internet, has built a strong store network in order to be closer to its clientele.
• Apple doesn't stop opening stores, even though they are an hardware company, in order to master the way its products are distributed. 
• French E-commerce leader Cdiscount has strong ambitions in developping a store network.
• French Mayo and mustard producer Maille (Unilever group) owns two stores in France where they sell some premium products.

Most of the time, the idea of these companies are to use the point of sale as a showroom which emphasizes on the products, and on the greatness of their brands. Some may earn money (I believe it is the case of Apple's store), some are pure advertisement (like direct banking company ING Direct, or online Internet provider Free).

Not only "suppliers" or service companies are opening concept stores. Some retailers also have concept stores in order to prepare the future of their banners. One of the most well known concept store that has been launched those past few years was Carrefour Planet. Not only because it was the concept store of the largest retailer in the world beside Walmart, but also because it was innovative.

As a pro, I am seeking for those kind of initiatives to visits. Because they always have the most updated tools , but also because you can see in it what is the best service one company can provide to its customers.

But it is always interesting to put them into prospectives. Indeed, with concept stores, most of the time, you are in front of a non profitable store: a lot of tests are put in place in order to see what suits the most the customer, and what is the most efficient. It is always important to have that in mind. This is the reason why, it is always important to understand where profitability is, and where the cosmetic part is.

This is the reason why, you should not spend too much time in concept stores, because most of the time it can't be implemented at a large scale.

Why We Should Believe In Costco In France

I wanted to share with you some thoughts I had about the conference I attended about Costco at Paris Dauphine. As I have explained in a previous post, I really believe in the concept, and that it has some chances to grow in France. But during the Q&A session, I could feel how skeptical a large part of the audience was. Here are some of the issues they have pointed out, which I must admit will be some challenges to overcome for Costco in France:

• France is a very tough market. Carrefour, Casino and Auchan are among the largest grocery retailers in the world, and they excel in retailing. Furthermore, even though these 3 companies cruises in the international market, they have an even stronger local competitor, which gains marketshares month after Months: Leclerc. How can Costco find his place in between?
• France proposes very low margins: Due to the competition, prices are low, and therefore the French market tends to be less "profitable" in terms of %margins. 
• France has specific concepts, and don't know how a membership wholesale works. It will be difficult to explain the concept and to convince French people to pay 55€ to become members.

I know all of those problems: I experience them every day as a category manager at DIA. France is for sure a very difficult market. But what I notice, is that even though people who raise these issues are for sure retail experts, they are very pessimistic and negatives. We all know how negative French mindset can be. What these people calls obstacles I'd rather consider them as challenges. Here is how I see it:

• Sure the French market has a tough competition. But isn't Walmart a tough competitor in the US? Walmart succeeded in settling down in England, where there is Tesco, and where Carrefour failed couple of years ago. Also, they are in Japan, also a tough country where Carrefour failed.
• The French market proposes low margins? Costco knows how to work with low margins. And they know how to work with it everywhere. Yes it will be difficult, but Costco knows how to work with international suppliers, so they should be able to get strong partnership even in France.
• People don't know how a membership wholesaler works? Japanese got it, English got it. As long as you propose true advantages to a customer, he will get it. Costco has strong ambitions in France, so they should have the money to communicate on how it works.

Something that marked me, in the answers Costco's CEO gave, is that it seems they don't pay much attention to the competition's landscape. Indeed, they have their own concept, a unique concept, and therefore, they don't really have a true competitor, that proposes the same service. In the retail world, where pricing is one of the single factor of differenciation, I think it is a tremendous technique. They know that if they deliver what Costco's knows how to deliver, things would work. And I believe it is the right mindset. By focusing too much on competition and how a market is at a specific time, you don't focus on what is really important: satisfying customers.

Retail is Art: Gregoire Kaufman's Book "Retailart"

Grégoire Kaufman is working as a top manager of Group Carrefour. As an exeperienced manager, he has sailed the seven seas to look for new store concepts, and to study how different countries distributes fast moving consumer goods. 

Grégoire believes retail is somehow an art. It also pictures well the social and cultural landscape of one region or country. It is always interesting to visit stores in foreign countries, because you will always encounter new ideas, products you don't know, and different ways to promote products.

He has already published a bunch of his thoughts and pictures in his blog, couple of years ago. Unfortunately, he does not publish anymore (even though I understand: he is very busy as a professionnal). Nevertheless, he went a step further, as he published an online book, you will find on Blurb's website.

If you are a retailing professional, or simply curious about Gregoire's work, I highly recommend you to have a look at his work. 

What is very funny with retailing, is that the rules of the industry are very simple, and basically to keep it simple. Most of retailers have been inspired by Bernardo Trujillio, who held seminars for most of nowadays retail tycoons' founders (Carrefour, Auchan, Darty for French people)... But when you see how those rules are applied in different countries, you can clearly see the cultural aspect of retailing). If nothing looks like more a starbucks than an other starbucks, you should check out how in a global company like Walmart or Carrefour adapts to its clientele.

Here's a picture I liked of Gregoire's blog, about how an Argentinian Carrefour took advantage of the Soccer World Cup to animate its store.

Costco France's Conference at Paris Dauphine

Yesterday I attended a conference organized by my former business school, Paris Dauphine, Master "Distribution et relation client". This master often organizes conferences around the topic of retail and customer relationship management, and we had the opportunity to meet with CEO of Costco France, Gary Swindells.

The topic is very interesting to me, as I have always been a fan of this commercial concept:

•  I used to be a card member while I lived in the US.
• When I came back to France I had the opportunity to prepare a presentation for Auchan's marketing department, as I was eager to convince people in France of how good the concept was.
• I asked Lars Oloffson while he was CEO of Carrefour what he thought about the concept, if he was eager to try it in Europe, especially as he owns Promo cash, a btob card member wholesale chain. He responded to me that it was interesting, that they owned in Brazil Atacadao which is a concept close to Costco, and that they were on their way to launch a test, in the northern part of France. I don't think the project ever happened though.

It was also a good opportunity to see how Dauphine changes, as the main hall and the conference room has been fully renovated. It has been also my pleasure to have the opportunity to meet with Yves Soulabail, one of the main expert of Carrefour's history in France, but also an expert in Bernardo Trujillo's history, the person who invented the "modern retail". He owns a blog I visit almost daily, Carrefour un combat pour la liberté.

What is Costco

Costco is a warehouse, where both professionals and individuals may found products in large formats, at a great price/kg. In order to access their stores, you need to own a membership car you need to pay. Here is a great presentation.

Key figures and quotes of the conference:

• Costco works with a sales margin of 14%, which is actually very low compared to what other retailers have usually. But actually, I don't think that in this margin they count the money they get from the membership fee people needs to pay to get in ($55, $2 billion in membership yearly). What is interesting with the concept is that the membership fees is somehow the profitability they reach with each customers up front, even before they have bought any products... Which allows them to propose better pricing.
• $92 billion expected in 2012, which is I believe the 5th retailer worldwide.
• $148 millions in sales per stores, 13 205 m2 per stores. They even own a store in Korea that makes $478 M a year!
• 4 000 listed products: 3 500 listed permanently  500 which are in & out promotions, that goes from lobsters to cars, to pants...
• Customers visit stores on avarage every 10 days, which is actually high... I did not use to go that often...
• Costco don't communicate, meaning they don't do any flyers, any TV or radio promotions. They just have sometimes local campaigns for store openings. 
• Sometimes, they lend parts of their stores for "road shows", people that comes with a specific offer, and that shows products. 
• They believe they would be profitable once they would reach 3 or 4 stores! Which is not a lot actually.
• They forecast to own 10 to 12 stores in 10 years, and 20 in 15 years. You can clearly see they have a map and are eager to invest large amounts of money to settle in France.
• The average basket is 130$

Best Wishes for 2013

It has been a while I haven't posted something on my blog. As some of you may know, 2012 has been a very busy year on a personnal basis. I have moved to another appartment, became a landlord of my former appartment, and couple of days ago, I embraced parenthood. All these changes have kept me away from this blog. Also, as a category manager of DIA France, I extended my perimeter with new categories to deal with, which also took a lot of my available time.

2012 has in a certain sense allow me to grow my level of responsabilities, and I am quite happy about it, as I have always been eager to take some, both in my professionnal and personnal life.

As I have said, couple of years ago, while the beginning of the subprime crisis started, I expected as certain expert thought that the end of the crisis would approach in 2012. I believe my forecast was not that bad. But I don't believed that actually, 2013 would also be a tough year.

I have never been pessimistic, and I believe that 2013 will be a difficult year. But also, it will be great. Great because we will be forced to look after new opportunites, new way to create values. It is when times are difficult that you are actually forced to do more, and better.

I wish to all of you a happy 2013 year. I don't want in this post to make any forecasts, because 2013 will obviously be full of surprise. But what I wish you, is that 2013 will propose you the challenges and the opportunity that you need.

Orchestra Loyalty Program

As some of you may know, I am on my way to embrace fatherhood. This may explain the reason why I don't spend much time on this blog anymore, even though I still have the will to get back on track, and to blog as much as I can. 

As I am preparing the arrival of my child, I spend a lot of time in baby stores. And last week I went to Orchestra, a French retailer of baby clothes. Orchestra has invented a very smart loyalty reward programs.

As most of loyalty reward programs, you have a loyalty cards, which allows you to benefit from discounts. 

But there are several aspects that makes Orchestra's card remarkable:

• You need to pay for it: Some people may think it is awkward  but actually, I don't understand why not so many loyalty programs are payable ones. Indeed, for a customer to enter a loyalty reward programs, it needs to engage with the brand, and therefore, if it is accessible to anyone, the relationship is weaker. Paying a membership fee is a great way to engage, because it is a tangible sign the customers makes to enter into the club
• You also need to pay every year a fee, 10 € (to compare with the 30 € you need to get in), in order to  keep the benefits. This is also a good idea, because the customers who really wants to be in the club needs to renew its "vows".
• It offers you 50% off all your purchases years around. Of course, the prices of Orchestra are very expensive. They are far more expensive than the competition. But thanks to the discount, it becomes affordable.

Thanks to this system, Orchestra:

• Has a loyalty reward programs including people that are really loyal to the brand. I would like to know how much is the average budget of one customer in terms of baby clothings, but paying 30 € simply to get the card is not miscellaneous. That means it is worth getting it if you buy at least 60 € of clothings.
• The facial value of the benefits (50% off all year around) is so high that it pushes the shopper to get it at the first place, but also to purchase at least for 60 € the first time to benefit from the advantages right away. It improves the probability of a big shopping right from the beginning.
• They must have a high % of customers that use their card. This is important when you want to make data mining, or simply to target specific customer groups for a campaign, because your transformation rates will be high
• Because of the investment the customer make, he will tend more to make it profitable, so you will have a higher probability he will come back to your store.

I believe this is a very smart, and I believe that it is very innovative. 

Reverse Innovation Process: Procter & Gamble Case Study

I found this very interesting article about Procter and Gamble strategy in the emerging market. Procter & Gamble masters the worldwide market of shaver with its brand Gillette. Gillette products are very priy, all over the world, and they have succeeded in increasing the proposed value to customers through innovation. It is so pricy that in some French stores, those products have specific security measures to avoid robbery. 

But in a market like India, where people have low incomes, it is a challenged to propose an appropriate product to customers. India is a very interesting market as it is the biggest market in volumes of razors.  

Procter & Gamble had to apply a strategy I did not hear of, but which is very interesting: Reverse Innovation. For years, in its domestic market, Gillette did not stop innovating, proposing more and more complex products. But in India, Gillette needed to adapt to the level of development of the country.

Therefore they developed a specific product for the local market, with one single bladed, design for the specific needs of Indians. 

It is becoming more and more difficult to find revenue growth in our western countries market, and it is important to find new ways to conquer new foreign markets. This is somehow the same strategy Renault used with its Logan brand to get market shares in Eastern Europe countries.

What is also interesting in the article is that the author considers possible that Gillette may sell the products they defined for the Indian market in the US market. And hence, the reverse innovation process would be complete. I believe that sometimes, it is important that companies question their own business model, even when it is working and doing fine. Because someday, you will always find a disruptive competitors, which will be able to innovate where you simply wanted to keep revenues flows.

I believe it is interesting to read this article, and to see the whole process Procter and Gamble applied in order to get into the Indian market. It is especially interesting to see how they had a local approach, instead of simply focusing on selling their international products.

Looking For A Business Model For Start Ups: Freemium

I believe the economical crisis hitting the world right now has affected the social media business. Despite the fact the market still grows, and there are a lot of room for innovation, entrepreneurs have been challenged by the lower capacity to raise money, but also the aim to find a strong business model. I posted last week an article about how we could imagine someday Facebook asking users to pay for the service, as they were looking for sustainable sources of revenues.

For the longest time, the Internet companies have based their business model on the revenues of advertising. As the market was growing, it was easy for companies to get attention from brands to advertize on websites. 

Also, another very common business model strategy for Internet companies was  what iscold freemium: Propose a free service to user, attractive enough to get them hooked, and to convince them to upgrade to a version they would pay for.

But Freemium still remains a problem. 

“6.5 million unique users is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I don’t want hits. I want revenue. I want a real business,” said Matt Wensing, founder and CEO of Stormpulse, in aninterview with Mixergy.

In the oft-cited Hershey’s experiment that started the free-mania, behavioral economists from MIT tested customer preference for Hershey’s and Ferrero Rocher chocolates at two different price points. For one group, they offered Hershey’s at one cent and Ferrero Rocher for 26 cents. For another, they offered the chocolates at zero cents and 25 cents respectively. When the Hershey’s chocolate was free and the Ferrero Rocher chocolate was 25 cents, 90 percent of the participants chose Hershey’s. $0 price seems to have done the magic in driving customer adoption. The result became the foundation of the freemium school of thought — free is free marketing. First use the free version to drive adoption and build a large customer base, and then find ways to monetize that base by upselling the paid version and selling extras.

Questionning the business model of Facebook And Twitter

Would you pay for an add free Twitter or Facebook? This is the title of an article CNN published on its website couple of months ago. 

And this is a very interesting question. You know that even though I am an early adopter and strong believer in Twitter and Facebook future as a mass media, I am still wondering about how those companies are going to become profitable in the next few years. Indeed, I have always questioned the strategy of many Web 2.0 start up to focus on developping a large base of users without even thinking for a second about how to make profits out of it.

And so far, I have been right: Facebook's IPO has been a failure, I believe no one could say the contrary. Investors are worried about the revenue growth pace of Facebook, and its ability to perform as expected.

Same thing for Twitter, where most of their initiatives to implement ads to generate revenues has failed.

Now, people have been used to a free Internet, where services are paid by companies through ads. But the thing is there are way too many services on the Internet which base their revenues on ads for brands to finance all of them! And with the economical crisis, we all know that advertising budget is the first one to be frozen.

So now, would people pay to use Twitter or Facebook? The article has a good point: "If we're selling a service, our customers are our users and our job is to make our users happy,". Indeed, that is what Facebook and Twitter have been working on: Having a great product for users. But they have not integrated at an early stage of the process the way to get their "clients" (brands) involved in it. If users pay for the service, Facebook and Twitter will go on being interesting, but if now their main focus is to get as much advertising money as possible, I believe the service will deteriorate and in the end, they will never be able to become as profitable as they could be.

I would personnaly pay for Facebook or Twitter. The access to my network and to the information it allows me to get is just great, and I don't see myself living without it. Now the thing is how much am I eager to make out of it? VCs have based the value of these companies on how much money they can generate from an average user. Am I eager to pay that kind of money to use these services?

This is the answer to be asked. And let me be more precise about my thought: On the long run, to be honest, I don't see how Twitter or Facebook would be free.

Is Customer Loyalty A Myth?

Customer loyalty is a goal any companies is willing to achieve. All companies know how pricy the aquisition of one new prospect may be, and companies would rather make sure they keep a strong loyal customer base, securing their revenue flows at the same time.

Customer loyalty strategies have been set up when markets started to become mature, and as the "external growth opportunities" were starting to shrink. A bunch of strategies and tools are available to marketers in order to trigger customer retention or loyalty: Loyalty reward programs, data mining, create emotional bond with one brand...

But we all know, as marketing managers, it is tough to accomplish. 

I read a very interesting article not so long ago in French Newspaper website Le Monde, which questions the whole concept of customer loyalty. Indeed, Andrew Ehrenberg demonstrated while ago that customers tend in a natural way not to stick with one brand. On the long run, according to the article, only 5% of people remain loyal to one product on a one year basis.

Nevertheless the natural unloyalty of customers needs to be counterbalanced by the fact that loyal customers are the ones who built the profitability of one company. They are the one who counts for 80% of the business, and most of the time, for 80% or more of the profits.

The article does not really give any answers to this question. But the question is right to be set. Especially during economical crisis, customers are eager to find the best deal, more than securing quality through a brand they trust. But customer loyalty is a very complex concept. It implies several aspects, both statistical and emotional. Working on growing a loyal customer data base is something any company should go after.

No experiment should be believed until it has been confirmed by theory

This is a phrase you should meditate. I read it in a New York Times article, dealing with an experiment which you have probably heard of. Some scientists made an experimentation where they were able to make some neutrinos faster than the speed of light, which according to the relativity theory of Albert Einstein, was supposed to be the fastest speed possible. The theory of relativity is one of the base of all the physics laws.Breaking up the speed of light meant to think through all the discovers found out based on the Einstein theory. 

Nevertheless, it appeared that this results seemed to have no theory backing it up, meaning it was an abnormal results, rather than a truth. 

"No experiment should be believed until it has been confirmed by theory". Scientists should have confirmed their results through theory. What does that mean? It means that experiments results must be understood and then explained by a theory before they actually mean somethig.

This point is very interesting, and you could correlate it to the world of business. A lot of the times, you may experiment some marketing techniques, sales concept, or new products, experience success. But it is very important to get a theory (or I should say a strategy) behind in order to make sure you may turn your experiment into a success on a larger scale. Too many times, because companies implies to have results fast, managers implement fast new concept stores, or marketing techniques, even before having thought them enough to make sure they would work.

I believe this story and line is very interesting and should be thought while defining one strategy.

What do you think about it?

Some Thoughts About Apple vs Samsung's Trial Results: Copying Could Be Good

I know what you may say, I am a little late to give some thoughts about the news which hit all the headlines for days couple of weeks ago. Appel vs Samsung's trial result has been indeed huge, because of the amounts that were at stake. But actually, sometimes it is also good to step back in order to get a clear view of what happened.

I wanted mainly to comment an article I found during this trial on the Harvard Business Review website. Indeed, I really liked the point it was making. 

We can all agree that Apple has inspired most of smartphones manufacturers since the launch of the first Iphone. When most of smartphone was operated with keyboards, now about 90 % of them have tactile screen, have a system including applications to download. 

Now, does this imply the competitors have copied Apple? In some way, of course, the original idea comes from Apple, but having invented a cool tactile phone should not prevent anyone to be able to improve this idea. Most of the time, great innovations are built on existing one. The problem with the outcome of this trial, is that intellectual property patents have gone too far: for a good competition, and in order to emulate innovation thanks to competition, Samsung should not be considered as a copycat. Actually, because they have brought both innovation and competition, they have contributed as much as Apple to the growth of the cell phone market.

Let's also think about it, if Samsung needs to stop its tactile screen phone activities, who would be left in the market? Apple would probably be dominating the market and then they could be considered in a  monopolistic position. 

Because Samsung is in the market Apple needs to keep on innovating, and it is because of competition, even though companies dislike that, that innovation comes through.

I remember once one of my teacher in Dauphine telling me that companies dislike competitions. Of course they don't because it is costly to fight with others. But if there is no competition, one company has actually no much reasons to satisfy customers or to seek for innovation.

That is the reason why, I am not quite happy about the trial outcomes.

What do you think about it.

What Could Help Facebook Stock To Rise?

Facebook IPO has not been as succesful as expected. The financial world was looking forward one of the most profitable IPO, for one of the hypest company to enter the stock exchange for a long time. During these difficult times, to see such a success story would have been a great opportunity to get some of the lost money for them.

Nevertheless, there was no miracle. Hopes were too high, and the stock prices lost about 30% of its value. What could explain such a fall? Well, of course the price of the stock was way to high. It was calculated on an expected growth of revenue, whereas the company is experimenting a new business model (social media, based on several sources of revenues including advertizing, but also selling access to its network to applications company and so on). 

What could help Facebook to Rise its Stock Price? 

Well, Facebook had a great growth of its audience since its foundation. Now the audience growth is going to remain, but the pace will slow down. It is now time to find ways to generate as much revenues as expected.

The best way Facebook could improve its stock price is to match the stock market expectations in terms of growth pace. But to be honest, I don't see it happening. I believe expectations have been to high, and it is not helping Facebook to have to keep up with a revenue growth pace, while they are still luring to find the good chemistry.

I have always been frightened by companies who are focusing on recruiting new users instead of building up business model, but right now, Facebook needs to find the best way to monetize its audience.

If Facebook tries to near the gap between its entry stock price and its actual price right now, it is a lost battle. The should rather instead focus on long term revenues, the ones that they may achieved in 3 to  5 years.

What do you think about it?

Why I Still Love Blackberry

Blackberry have made the headlines lately because of their downturn. Nobody knows where the Canadian company is heading and people may doubt if Blackberry will still exists in the next few years, or even few months. People blame the company for not having been able to follow Apple's lead, which defined with its Iphone the landscape of smartphones right now. 

I find very sad what is happening to Blackberry. Indeed, as a lot of you may know, I am a fan of Blackberry. You may call me a has-been, but I love their keyboard, which allows me to type in a glance, emails, tweets, new appointments or tasks.

Here are the main reasons why I love my Blackberry bold:

• Once again, I love the keyboard. It is sharp, and I can type like crazy. I bet no one can type as fast as me on a Blackberry keyboard while using any touch screen device. However, I believe that the Bold with its tactile screen is also great, because it ads a better experience while surfing on the Internet I must admit. Nevertheless, both are key to me.
• I love the way I can manage my schedule, my tasks, and all my pros activities. My blackberry is at the core of my Getting Things Done Strategy. The only thing I regret is that I would love to have an online web interface while sitting in front of a computer, or also a tablet application (I own an Ipad, don't plan to by their Blackberry book). 
• The handheld is of great quality. In terms of the components, the camera is great.

Now here are where they could have improvements:

• They could have a better battery life: I am constantly charging my phone. I must admit though I am using it like crazy.
• The lack of applications. I have great applications. For example, the trip app is just awesome. Also, the one to deal with social media, and Twitter. Nevertheless, they have never achieved to get enough applications in their Blackberry app world to really get the most of the phone. They came to late on that market, when Iphone has been a trail blazer, and Google generate a lot of attention by creating an open market place, then for Blackberry it was hard to find its place. And to be honest, I think they will never get back.

Now that Blackberry said they would focus on tactile screen and abandon their keyboard, I have no idea what will be my next phone. But I really hope Blackberry find its way out.

Great Interview Of Loic Lemeur

Loic Lemeur  may have been experiencing problems with his latest start up seesmic, he remains one of the best French entrepreneurs, an example to follow. I watched recently this video interview, which is very interesting. Loic speaks frankly about the issue he faced as the CEO of Seesmic, his mistake, and his will to keep moving forward. This is very inspiring, especially in these times, when it is so difficult to experience success.

I wish Loic good luck for the future, and I hope LeWeb 2012 in Paris will be successfull.

Comment améliorer sa DN et DV

Ce post fait suite à une question que j'ai reçue au sujet d'un ancien article que j'ai publié sur mon blog il y a 6 ans, expliquant les concepts de la DN et la DV.

La DN, Distribution numérique, et la DV, distribution valeur, sont 2 très grands enjeux dans le monde de la distribution, et particulièrement dans le domaine de l'alimentaire, et l'augmentation de celle-ci pour un fournisseur est clé pour le succès d'un produit.

Alors comment augmenter sa DN et/ou sa DV? Il faut tout d'abord comprendre les facteurs qui peuvent influer sur celle-ci

Calcul de la détention par les panels

Tout d'abord, je souhaitais faire un rappel sur la manière dont est calculée la DN et la DV par les panélistes. Les 2 plus gros acteurs sont Nielsen et IRI. Ces 2 sociétés ont accès aux informations de sorties caisses des distributeurs, et considère qu'un produit est détenu à partir du moment où le produit concerné a été vendu au moins 1 fois dans le point de vente, sur une période d'un mois. Aussi, le produit ayant des rotations faibles, va peut être avoir des chiffres de DN et DV faible, car plus la VMM (vente moyenne magasin) est proche de 0, plus un nombre non négligeable de magasin va être considéré comme non distributeur, alors qu'ils ont bien eu sur leurs étagères le produit.

Comment augmenter la DN et la DV

Voici les facteurs qui peuvent influencer la DN et la DV:

• Référencer le produit auprès du plus de distributeur possible. Les plus gros produits sont incontournables, tels que le Coca Cola 1L, ou bien le pack d'Evian par exemple. Ces produits là sont référencés par le distributeur dans tous ses magasins. Par contre, pour bons nombres d'autres produits, ce n'est pas le cas. C'est le premier levier pour gagner de la DN et DV: convaincre le distributeur de réserver de la place en magasin et de le renseigner dans son système. D'où viennent mais 2 prochains points:
• Avoir une bonne rentabilité du produit: Il faut que le produit ait un intérêt pour le distributeur, et qu'il s'intègre bien dans la catégorie. C'est la condition sinéquanone. Donc il faut trouver le bon produit déjà. Souvent, la DN et la DV pour un distributeur est un indicateur de la légitimité d'un produit lorsque celui ci existe déjà sur le marché.
• Mais imaginons que le produit soit référencer. L'un des points à vérifier est la bonne détention du produit: Est ce que le produit est bien sur le planogramme, là où il devrait l'être. Est ce que le magasin le mets bien en magasin. Pour cela, il faut un suivi sur le terrain, ou bien vérifier sur les panels si la DN DV théorique = celle constatée. Cela demande un suivi.
• Les rotations. Plus le produit a de basse rotation, moins sa DN-DV va être bonne car le calcul sera moins fiable. En conséquence, pour augmenter la détention, notamment sur le début, il faut faire de la promotion afin de pouvoir déclencher les actes d'achats, mais aussi que les réassortsse fassent bien. Il est important le plus vite possible d'atteindre les VMM (ventes moyenes magasins) ambitionnées.
• Les problèmes de ruptures: Les problèmes de ruptures peuvent venir soit du fournisseur, soit des approvisionnements du distributeur, soit de problèmes opérationnels des magasins. Pour influer sur les ruptures, pour un industriel, c'est déjà avoir un taux de service à 100%, c'est à dire honoré l'ensemble des commandes passées par le distributeur. Par ailleurs, les grosses entreprises ayant beaucoup de moyen tel Coca Cola, va avoir une force de vente qui va vérifier en magasin que les produits soient bien détenus, et s'assurer du bon fonctionnement en magasin. C'est la raison pour laquelle, bien que les échanges commerciaux se font de plus en plus au national, les gros fournisseurs ont une force de vente pléthorique pour vérifier ces points.
• Maintenir une bonne détention, c'est aussi voir ce que fait la concurrence, qui pourrait sortir un produit comparable, qui va peut être impacter la détention du produit existant. Pour cela, il faut être capable dêtre réactif et de proposer ce qu'il faut pour maintenir sa détention, soit par de la promotion, soit par une meilleure rentabilité du produit

Voilà, j'espère que c'était clair, et que je n'ai rien oublié. N'hésitez pas à compléter en commentaire si vous avez d'autres idées...

Walt Disney's Vision Of Disney's Business

Here is a very interesting mind map I found on the web: It has been drawn by Walt Disney himself, to picture his whole idea of the industry he will create, back in 1957. You can clearly see how everything is linked, to create the magic of Disney we all know.

Walt Disney understood perfectly how all the existing media were working, and get the best out of them (TV, movie theater, music...). It would have been fun to see how he would have used social media. By the way, I think that Disney is the strongest brand on social media nowadays.

Quelques pensées sur les publicités de l'application mobile Leclerc

Depuis quelques semaines, Leclerc multiplie les publicités télévisées au sujet de son application mobile permettant de comparer les prix via son téléphone portable, en situation de mobilité. Il y a quelques temps déjà, j'avais prévu que ce type d'application sera là, et que celles-ci allaient forcer les enseignes à chercher d'autres axes de différenciations que le simple prix.

Leclerc peut se le permettre: Ils sont les moins chers, et ont trouver le moyen d'être sûr d'être les moins chers (coûts d'exploitations faible grâce à la structure décentralisée, pas d'expansion internationale à financer, moins de contraintes régalienne que des géants comme Auchan ou Carrefour). Et cela marche: Ils gagnent des parts de marché sur tous les concurrents, et principalement sûr le leader Carrefour, qui devrait se faire rattraper dans les mois qui viennent (à ce rythme avant la fin 2012).

Cette application est d'autant plus l'arme ultime, que le marché de l'alimentaire répond à des besoins primaires, avec des produits simples et comparables (un paquet de pâtes = un paquet de pâtes), et le prix est le 2ème (souvent derrière la proximité géographique) 2ème critète de choix d'un magasin (surtout le premier actionnable).

Maintenant, il y a 3 choix pour les enseignes:

1. Se battre sur ce registre, ce qui peût avoir des conséquences terribles en terme de marges.
2. Développer une stratégie innovante, permettant de créer de la valeur ajoutée intangible, justifiant l'écart de prix.
3. Trouver d'autres moyens de faire gagner de l'argent au client: Proposer de nouveaux services à prix casser.

En tout cas, Leclerc réussi dans cette période de crise à gagner des parts de marché. Une stratégie gagnante en attendant le retour de la croissance.

Samsung: Une entreprise pas comme les autres

Je souhaitais partager avec vous ce documentaire sur l'entreprise Coréenne Samsung. Ils ont réussi à dépasser le monstre Sony, et domine le monde de l'électronique. Ce qui est assez impressionant dans cette société, c'est les innovations qui arrivent, preuve que Samsung n'hésite pas à financer l'innovation, qui elle seule peut assurer un futur à long terme de la société (dans ce monde qui bouge si rapidement, il faut toujours avoir la vision de dans 8 - 10 ans, même si celle-ci ne se réalise pas).

Ce qui est aussi impressionant, c'est le côté "big brother", paternaliste, mais aussi très controversé.