Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

ForeSee Results recently released its annual assessment of the top 100 online retailers, showing that customer satisfaction with e-retail remains at an all-time high score of 78 on the study’s 100-point scale. Nearly one-third of the rated e-retailers score 80 or higher, up significantly from 2007 when only four websites were considered top performers. After six years of leading the Index, Netflix drops two points to 85 and Amazon narrowly takes the lead, remaining unchanged at 86.

According to TripAdvisor’s new summer travel survey, 86% of travelers are planning leisure trips this summer; up from 83% that said they traveled last summer. While most Americans appear committed to taking vacations this summer, they are conscious of gas prices as 39% said the rising cost of fuel is affecting their summer travel plans. Eighteen percent of respondents expect to take fewer trips by car, 12% intend to take shorter driving trips and five percent are not planning to travel at all this summer, as a result of rising fuel prices.

New consumer research released recently demonstrates the market potential in North America for biobased and “green” household products with environmental benefits. The “Genecor Household Sustainability Index” found that four in ten American consumers already have heard of the term “biobased” to describe products or product ingredients used in cleaning and personal care products, clothing, and fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. About eight in ten consumers said they would definitely or likely purchase biobased household products instead of non-biobased products if comparable on cost and effectiveness. With skyrocketing gas prices and growing enthusiasm for products that are better for the environment, biobased products can provide an affordable and beneficial alternative to petroleum-based chemicals used in packaging and a range of household products.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Metal Fabricators. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

It turns out that promoting a product or service as being green often isn’t enough to sway consumers to make a purchase. New data indicates that marketers may have been targeting the wrong consumer groups with their green pitches. And marketers must appeal to consumers in just the right way to be sure the green angle works.

While using a home computer is the most common method of accessing the Internet among Hispanics, it seems that the cell phone is rapidly gaining popularity. According to the latest research from Mintel, a quarter (25%) of online Hispanics who often or occasionally access the Internet through a cell phone use it as their primary device for connecting to the Internet. Hispanic women are leading this trend; 30% of online Latinas report that their cell phone is the primary device used, while one in five online Hispanic men say the cell phone is their primary device for connecting online. Meanwhile, 38% of Hispanics who often or occasionally use their cell to access the Internet use it to check activity on social networking sites.