Big-Box retail is up 32%. Restaurants are down 121%.

The economy demands we take Coronavirus seriously.

Here’s why. On March 10, the Dow dropped 1,200 points. This came a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus a global pandemic.

So, what does that mean?

Coronavirus is sickening the stock market. And we need to get out ahead of it in order to protect ourselves from a recession. Protect yourself from a rapid decrease in consumer spending. Use research.

Be looking at buying behavior, and how to influence it in your favor.

Consumer spend is dying

We tracked real consumers for 30 days. In one month, they dramatically decreased shopping and being social. Figure 1 below shows how much they’ve changed due to the virus.

Figure 1: High-Traffic Visits: February vs. March 2020

Figure 1: percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from February to March waves.

These same people are now limiting time with friends and family by 92% and 74% are working remotely. When consumer spending is 73% of the economy, that’s a big problem.

Are your products sold in-stores?

Focus on what you can control.

If you sell clothing, or home décor, your in-store revenue will shrink.

We saw in-store home décor purchases among our consumer group drop 31%. Clothes fell 32%. But, hope isn’t lost. That same group is now buying online, where there’s a 46% increase in visits. They’re changing behavior: saying “no” to stores, but “yes” to online.

Take advantage of what they’re telling you. They’re still willing to buy, but they want to do it from the perceived safety and comfort of their own home. Act on what they’re asking for.

Do you sell food or home supplies?

Business is doing well here.

We tracked consumer visits to Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club and Costco using the Surveys On The Go® app. All visits were down in January and most of February. But then, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Coronavirus is a global pandemic¹ the week of February 20^th.

An instant jump in Figure 2 below. Consumers are stocking up for a potential quarantine.

Figure 2: Tracked Visits to Big Box Retailers from 1/1/20 to 3/4/20

Figure 2: percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from week over week from 1/1 through 2/26.

Methodology

Survey sent to 1,133 US consumers, male (48%) and female (52%) aged 18-44 years old. Participants were screened on knowledge of Coronavirus and a retailer visit within 30 days. Percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from week over week from 1/1 to 2/26. Qualified respondents received a 13-question survey. Location-based behavioral data was collected via the Surveys On The Go® app through GPS permissions, examining with a visit between January 1^st and March 4^th, 2020.

What they're buying

Immediately, there’s a demand for hand sanitizer (80%), household supplies (65%), nonperishable foods (49%), and face masks (35%).

And because consumers are preparing for two to four weeks, we’re seeing the buying shift at big box retailers, where they can buy in bulk. So, if you’re in the market to sell any of these items, now is the time to pull the levers on your supply chain to make more – and quickly.

What’s next?

No one knows.

Prepare by tracking consumers over time, so you’re not caught off guard. The economic situation is changing quickly. You want to stay ahead of the competition – as well as a potential recession. Take time to think through the questions you need answered, by your consumers, and then ask them.

Research is more important than ever. This is the time to take stock of your market position.

Need help?

We’re researching the impact of COVID-19 now for clients. If you want to know the impact on your marketplace, let’s look at it together. For the full research report, or for assistance, email solutions@mfour.com.

For a Full Copy of the Research Report click here to contact MFour.

References:

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/dow-futures-point-to-a-loss-of-more-than-400-points-after-tuesdays-surge.html

Elaina, O'Mahoney, VP of Product at MFour Mobile Research, is nominated for OC Women in Business Award, through OC Business Journal

MFour's Elaina O’Mahoney, VP of Product, has been nominated for the OC Business Journal Women in Business (WIB) Awards.

Featuring the top businesswomen in Orange County, the WIB Awards is a distinct recognition for O’Mahoney, who brings more than a decade of experience leading product teams in the technology sector.

Under her leadership, the product team has seen a 35% gain in productivity. Elaina is also actively managing the redesign of one of the App Stores’ most successful apps, Surveys On The Go® which ranks in the top 100 apps in the Lifestyle Section.

O’Mahoney holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University and is working on a Master's in Business Administration at Maryville University. Apart from work, Elaina loves to travel and spend at-home time with family. We are excited to see Elaina nominated for her fantastic work!

Coronavirus is a consumervirus.

It’s as deadly to the economy, as it is to people.

In less than two months, COVID-19¹ has ravaged the U.S. economy, savagly infecting consumer behavior as it spreads around the world. And, according to Oxford Economics, it’s estimated the virus will likely lead to $1 trillion in global losses² before it’s stopped.

Here’s why that matters.

Consumer spending in the U.S. accounts for about 70%³ of the economy. That’s a massive amount of balance precariously placed on the health of consumer behavior. Any move in the wrong direction, and we find ourselves in a very painful predicament.

Our economy depends on China. A lot.

The U.S. supply chain is very closely tied to China. And the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai has found that 78% of American companies don’t have enough staff to resume full production⁴. Nearly half said the shutdowns are impacting their global supply chains.

On Feb. 1, Apple closed all of its retail stores, and offices in China ⁵.

The impact on consumerism is clear, especially in technology. China makes roughly half of the world’s LCD panels for TVs, laptops, and computer monitors. Its economic impact⁶ is expected The longer Coronavirus is in play, the greater the impact will be.to be worse than:

• 2003 outbreak of SARS
• 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster
• 2011 Thailand floods

What we found in researching consumers

“We’re seeing the early impact on consumer behavior,” says Jeff Harrelson, COO at MFour. “Eighty-six percent of our consumer panel is limiting social interaction. Travel is social. So, we’d expect other high-traffic businesses to feel the effects³, as the outbreak continues.”

Research highlights from the Surveys On The Go® consumer panel:

• 38% airport decline was observed through GPS tracking on panelists’ smartphones
• 72% of panelists expected the concern of Coronavirus to last more than two months
• 86% planned to limit social interactions, or visits to public places, as a preventive step

This means COVID-19 caused a 38% drop in U.S. consumer behavior.

In early January, the first death⁷ linked to COVID-19 was reported. Consumers took notice. Two weeks later, MFour traced its consumer panel’s visitation to the top 10 U.S. airports. Using the market research app, Surveys On The Go®, the company found a 38% decline in airport visits. The drop correlates to the first reported Coronavirus case in the U.S⁸.

The behavioral data tells us travel was much more impacted than what was stated in the surveys we ran. This is why watching what consumers do is more important than just surveying. As we tracked people, we saw up to a 38% dip in travel, compared to the 23% that was stated in surveys. That’s a 15% shift in behavior, observed by tracking their locations.

Research was conducted comparing visitation to top 10 US airports by MFour's consumer panel.  Examined Jan - Feb 2019 vs. same period 2020.  

For a full copy of the Research Reports click here to contact MFour.

References:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html
2. https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/my-oxford/publications/537166
3. https://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/consumer-spending-and-the-economy/
4. https://www.amcham-shanghai.org/en/article/supply-chains-and-factory-openings-amcham-shanghai-mini-survey
5. https://qz.com/1800540/how-coronavirus-is-upending-the-tech-industrys-supply-chain/
6. https://www.wsj.com/articles/commentary-supply-chain-risks-from-the-coronavirus-demand-immediate-action-11582054704
7. https://apnews.com/c0e87e089a89fa5579e1c63acded7d46
8. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.html

Have you seen the article?

Surveys On The Go® is the #2 side hustle app for consumers.

That's why we get 50% completes on your surveys. They're paid cash for their input. And they're only too happy to give you photos and videos of their feedback on your brand.

Got a brand question? Our consumer panel will answer it.

And it only gets better.

Surveys On The Go® is now the nation's largest consumer panel. With that big of a panel, and a 50% return on your completes, there isn't a survey or a data project, we can't help you with.

So, why not try it out?

In many cases, we turn around research in less than 24 hours.

That’s accurate, validated consumer data - in a day.

And because we use an app, the feedback is in real-time. Your consumers are responding to surveys while they’re still experiencing your brand. It doesn’t get any better than that: freshly sourced data - straight from their smartphone.

So, if you’re asking:

• How can we better meet buyers’ needs?
• What do buyers think of the brand/product?
• What’s the market look like for the brand/product?

Get the answers.

We’ll deliver the data you need. Contact us.

USIM just won the Programmatic Agency of the Year Award.

Their data was powered by MFour. The award is for targeting active and prospective retail customers: something that was previously not possible in mass media.

And the targeting is working. The data has generated sales lifts averaging 10% to 15% — and as much as 50% — over normal targeted local TV advertising buys.

It all started when Rob Jayson, USIM Executive Vice President-Insights & Analytics, stumbled upon MFour's unique platform. Capable of providing an opt-in panel of mobile users, MFour gave Rob a way to track devices for media research purposes. He was intrigued.

MFour has nearly three million users, making its sample both big enough and stable enough to be used as a building block for refined analyses. So, USIM decided to use MFour's panel to create a geo-targeting methodology dubbed PureView. That allowed the firm to effectively create custom trading areas based on the actual travel patterns of its retail clients’ customers.

“The end result is a much more efficient deployment of programmatic and OTT and other media we can buy with geo tags that is much more efficient in driving traffic to stores,” Jayson explained when MediaPost first wrote about the innovation early last year.

For more information on the article, please view the original post, published by MediaPost.

Hint: Size isn't everything. Panel performance is.

When it comes to market research, we look at panel size for feasibility.

Right?

Wrong. What we want are the right people to take our surveys. See, what matters most when we're trying to conduct research is reaching our target audience. We want to know the number of completes we're going to get. 

I'll show you what I mean. 

Say you engage with a vendor who has a panel of 10 million people. They’re going to have a great response rate. Right? Not so fast. This panel only gets a 1% response rate.

10,000,000 x 1% = 100,000.

Uh oh.

That’s pretty small.

And it means that size isn't everything. Activity is.

So what is an active panelist? The AAPOR defines an active panelist as having participated in at least one survey or updated his/her profile in the last year. As such, panel size depends greatly on the status of a member.

This means that when it comes to panel size, consumer engagement is what counts. That's why the days of online panel groups are numbered (read the eBook) and why mobile research is where the value is. The secret is to work with a panel who wants to give you feedback, not a consumer who thinks they're ignoring email spam.

See, consumers who want to take your survey, and are incentivized to do so – they engage and become active.

That engagement can mean 100,000 completes or more.

Surveys On The Go®,  the nation's largest, first-party consumer panel, pays people to take surveys. These are consumers you need. They're representative and engaged, because they are paid to be.  Surveys On The Go® is a market research app, so we see where consumers shop, what phones they own, and what they do on their phones.

Look at who's in the app:

And they're ready to give you data. To the tune of 50% completes in under 24 hours of sending a survey.

You’re a lot more likely to reach the completes you need with an engaged panel. So, the next time you’re getting ready to field a survey, think about who you want to reach. Do you want a representative sample?

Surveys On The Go® is the largest, first-party panel in the US. The surveys are sent directly to the app on their phones. And because consumers are paid cash to share their data, they are happy to do so. Clients get a representative sample. Consumers get cash.

Everyone wins.

To learn more about our consumer panel, or see where they're shopping right now, visit our path to purchase page: www.mfour.com/consumer-panel. 

The average US adult spends 2 hours 55 minutes a day on their phone.

About 90% of that time is spent in apps. So, why is market research still done online? An online customer survey in today's smartphone world is a beach in the dead of winter: cold, quiet, and deserted.

Consumers have migrated.

They're not waiting for a survey to hit their inbox. Right now, they're on a smartphone in an app, and sharing feedback with companies who are willing to listen to what they have to say. Want to reach them? Follow these tips:

Tip #1: Be timely

People are busy. 

Customer surveys are often irrelevant - taking place long after an event occurs. Today's consumer expects instant results. Our surveys should be the same and sent out within 24 hours of a purchase. Let's take an example:

Shelly goes to Walmart.

She has a grocery list. It doesn't include diet coke. She walks out with a case anyway. If you're Coca-Cola, you'd probably like to know what prompted her to buy a diet coke. Should this survey be sent next week?

No.

By the time next week rolls around, Shelly can't remember when, and maybe even why, she bought the coke. By sending Shelly a customer survey within 24 hours of her purchase, she remembers her shopping trip, any ads she may have seen, and can now retrace her path to purchase.

Tip #2: Get personal

It's happened to all of us.

You're called by a wrong name, or see your name misspelled. It's impersonal, and it sucks. The same can be said for sending blanket customer surveys. The average survey response rate is 33%. That's a pretty low number, and it's likely because we're taking a shotgun approach: trying to talk to everyone the same way, at the same time. 

Market research must evolve. We have the technology now to marry surveys and data. You can see who passed your location, what they bought, and why they didn't choose a competitor. Use that technology to get personal with your consumers. Segment them and reach out accordingly, and you're likely to see a big difference.

Tip #3: Make it easy

Meet consumers where they are.

If adults spend 90% of their phone time on an app, consider connecting there. You may want to look into using a mobile consumer panel to field your customer surveys. These are consumers who have opted in to share their opinion and are being paid to do so. They want to give input, and will allow you to see their online shopping and buying journeys.

As behaviors change, market research needs to adapt.

To be accurate and trustworthy, customer surveys must be fast, flexible and multi-faceted. The goal is to make it simple for consumers to provide reliable input you can use today to adjust advertising spend and ROI. See how companies like Walmart, Warner Bros. Pictures, and PepsiCo are adjusting their approach to customer surveys.