Looking Forward

As the next phases of pandemic living unfold, it’s critical to examine what can be learned from the earlier stages. Consumer changes are still unfolding, short- and long-term ones, and businesses are forced to adjust to target audiences that look different then they did a year and a half ago. Coates highlighted:

"We have seen a significant amount of market disruption in the cosmetics, personal care, food, and fashion space before the pandemic as consumer needs evolved faster than legacy brands could react. COVID accelerated a number of emerging needs and made them universal among industries. Industries having to move quickly to adjust their strategies and offerings to keep-up."

Web and mobile have become to go-to sources for enabling these trends too, a major shift that companies needed to adjust to to find new ways to connect with consumers not going instore. Grocery shopping saw a major shift and Rusnak’s business responded:

"Customers moved heavily to eCommerce shopping during the pandemic with many trying pick-up or delivery for the first time. From our research and consumer insights, customers prefer an omnichannel approach and each of the local brands of Ahold Delhaize USA have taken measures to address customer preferences, including a personalized online experience and adding additional pick-up points."

Brands realized how important an omni-channel, personalized experience is for customers. Moving forward, research and insights professionals will need to work with the broader organization to make sure they have access to the most relevant first party data. As Newswanger highlighted, regular touch points to gather complete voice of the customer feedback is imperative.The combination of first party data analytics and consumer insights will prove crucial to discovering, understanding and addressing those fads and long-term trends. Wong pointed out that researchers need to continue to develop that agility muscle that was forced early in the pandemic:Traditional tools, trackers, and even modeling work great in times of stability. You can use historical data and lean on consistent consumer preferences. But today is different. Being nimble, flexible, and having the ability to pivot aren’t just for startups anymore. We live in a time where our lives are now in constant flux because of a pandemic, we are up against global supply chain challenges and ever-changing consumer tastes. This impact is felt internally when it comes to CRM, supply chain, and advertising/marketing spend. The research community simply needs to move with the speed of reality.

While most researchers and insights professionals feel the push to provide more insights to their organizations or customers, as noted earlier, bandwidth is tight. It can be challenging to keep up with the demand, never mind keep up with the newest methodological approaches or available tools. Coates had the best advice in this arena:

"I recommend collaborating with your customers or industry peers. Conducting workshops or sharing sessions with insight professionals in your space or in connected industries can help get a new perspective on key issues and/or get alerted to a major change coming your way. Plus, there is the added benefit of sharing best practices and war stories with your peers that can just make you and your teams stronger researchers."

It's important to remember that, as an industry, there’s an incredible opportunity to learn from each other and move the industry forward, together. Events like TMRE create the perfect, dedicated space to connect with peers, learn about new best practices and uncover new solutions to work into the mix. Connecting with and learning from peers is essential to future success navigating the unknown.