theconsumerlab.com moves to Twitter

Twitter / theconsumerlab

It is my goal to keep the Lab blog updated more frequently, so I’m going to try a little experiment. I will use Twitter to post the interesting stories, articles, reports, etc. that I come across. Maybe that will make it easier. Who knows, let’s try it out and see, shall we?

theconsumerlab.com moves to Twitter

https://twitter.com/theconsumerlab

I’m going to try something new for a while. Perhaps it will be easier to keep up with the blog if I tweet instead. Let’s see how this goes, shall we?

Can Bulgari Sell Glamour While Cutting Costs?

Can Bulgari Sell Glamour While Cutting Costs? – NYTimes.com

Since the 1990s, sales of luxury goods have exploded, along with the growth of a well-heeled new global elite, turning once little-known European brands into giants and transforming chic addresses like Fifth Avenue, Bond Street and the Champs-Élysées into veritable open-air malls for the upper middle class. However, demand for luxury goods is expected to drop by 3 to 7 percent next year, according to a recent study by Bain & Company, the first time the sector has recorded an annual sales decrease since Bain began tracking it in the early 1990s.

Consumers Trade Down from Restaurants to Grocery Store Prepared Meals

Consumers Trade Down from Restaurants to Grocery Store Prepared Meals

In a recent Nielsen research report forecasting the upcoming
holiday season, consumers reported that practical gifts will
dominate shopping lists this year and food items and gift cards to
grocery stores will be big sellers.

Study: Gamers Respond to Ads

Study: Gamers Respond to Ads

Of those surveyed, 11% said they purchased a brand that was advertised in a game. Some 19% said they talked about it after seeing an ad and 10% said they recommended the product. Eleven percent said they sought more information. (While no direct comparison rates were offered against other forms of media, 1% of consumers exposed to direct response advertising eventually buy the advertised product.)

Brown Bagging It Becomes Fashionable

Brown Bagging It Becomes Fashionable

Brown bagging is at an all-time high since 2001, per the NPD Group, Port Washington, New York. Adults ages 18-and-older consumed some 8.5 billion brown-bag lunches last year (38 bagged lunches per capita compared to 35 in 2006).

Nearly 12% of lunchtime opportunities were brought from home as of the year ended February 2008. In contrast, the February  2007 figure was 11.3%. Of those polled, cost-saving was the primary motivation.

Study: ‘Green Evangelists’ Are Spreading Eco-Friendly Message

Study: ‘Green Evangelists’ Are Spreading Eco-Friendly Message

For its Green AMPlified study, AMP surveyed 3,200 consumers ages 18-49 to capture opinions, beliefs and perceptions of people’s relationships with the “green movement.” Nineteen percent of respondents were defined as “Influentials” or “Green Evangelists”—those who, after learning that a company is environmentally friendly, are very likely to recommend the company and/or its products to others. Green Evangelists tend to be in the 18- to 30-year-old age range and 57% are female, the study found.

‘Precycling’ Catches On With Consumers

‘Precycling’ Catches On With Consumers

Consumers who precycle aren’t just content with throwing cans and bottles in the recycle bin and letting waste management sort it out. With increasing consumer interest in sustainable living, those engaged in precycling aim to avoid products that create more superfluous stuff. This could mean everything from buying bulk in order to avoid excess packaging to reusing everything from water bottles to shopping bags (the latter of which has caught on with retailers and the public at large).

Understanding ‘Digital Divas’

Understanding ‘Digital Divas’

“We sought to answer the burning questions keeping brand managers and advertisers up at night: How are women in the digital age different from women of past generations?” said Beth Uyenco, global research director of Microsoft’s advertiser and publisher solutions. “How can brands leverage digital media to deepen relationships with them?”

Promotional Swag More Effective Than Ads, Study Says

Promotional Swag More Effective Than Ads, Study Says

A new study released by the Advertising Specialty Institute found it’s not TV, print or radio that gets consumers’ attention, but good old promotional swag. This includes coffee mugs, pencils, retractable solar-powered flashlights or any other product bearing a company logo.