Today you can find our research published on the front page of Realtid.se, research that is also commented on by key players in the financial market, giving an in dept analysis of our findings. The study maps the consequences of the corona pandemic and the questions mainly regard opinions on government support, company resilience and the stock market.  

Among other things we found that a majority in all industry sectors (67.5 percent, the same proportion as in the previous survey), still considers the government’s crisis package to be inadequate, and more people believe in more far-reaching consequences for the economy now compared to Easter week. This follows the National Institute of Economic Research’s latest forecasts.  

The next measuring period will start within 1-2 weeks and will be able to show if opinions have changed more over the last period. 

Read the full article HERE.  

Beautiful Clarity has supplied its sensor technology to Karlstad University for a project aimed at researching shopper interactions with products in store.

As part of its research into the digital transformation of retail, Karlstad University is conducting research into the role of physical interaction and digital tools during the path to purchase.

Beautiful Clarity has developed proprietary IoT technology to measure consumer behaviour in-store and specifically how consumers touch products. By collecting data on conversion from attention to purchase in-store, including visual attention and physical interaction, the technology allows for the same iterative testing and improving as on-line retail offers through multiple data points.

We continue our own research into this field while conducting research for brands and retail clients who want to visualize the complete path to purchase in both physical and digital stores.

During Easter, the analytics team at Beautiful Clarity conducted a survey in collaboration with Realtid.se, one of Sweden’s most respected financial online news sites, on how their readers relate to the corona crisis. In 2019, Realtid.se was voted the second-best economy site in Sweden. 

The survey is based on 665 individuals. Almost 80 percent of the responses are from CEOs, co-owners, board members and senior officials. Although respondents are spread over different industries such as Real estate, Venture Capital, fintech/IT, commercial banks, investment banks and law.  

The survey included questions about their company and how it is affected by the pandemic, but also their view on society at large and the stock market. The study’s main objective is to capture changes in attitude as the crisis continues and will therefore be repeated as it progresses. 

And the findings are quite interesting… 

85 percent of the respondents answer that their company has not dismissed any employees up until Easter holidays. A positive finding during a difficult time. Right now, about 62 percent believe that the corona crisis will lead to a recession and some 20 percent to a depression. How that perception changes over time will be interesting to follow in the future surveys we do.  

Those who work within the Swedish investment banks are most positive about the economic development, where 24 percent believe that the crisis will only lead to a temporary dip. Which can be compared to, for example, the real estate industry where only 12 percent stand for that view. 

Are you interested in the other findings? Read the Realtid.se article here: HERE. 

Stay safe,  

The Beautiful Clarity Team 

These are difficult times. The world has come to a standstill and we are suddenly facing an invisible threat that is taking lives all around us. What makes this crisis even harder is that the threat comes from fellow humans. When we normally seek comfort with each other we now have to distance from friends and loved ones. And then there is the uncertainty…

We don’t know what is going to happen or how long this situation will last. We can’t plan and we don’t have control. These are traits that are at the core of what makes us human. Our ability to imagine things and to predict a future. But this ability is also flawed. Our frontal lobe is responsible for planning but also for anxiety.

It’s our biased vision of the future that creates the biggest problems right now. Because our ability to vision the future is not objective.

When we remember past events we don’t actually remember the details. We remember an subjective version and fill in the details based on our current reality.

We forget not only the details of our experience but also how we actually felt in that moment.

And we make the same mistake looking to the future. It’s a known fact that people who live through dramatic events like earthquakes or tsunami’s do recover and find joy. Because joy and happiness is relative not absolute.

The same way we get used to a state that brings happiness, and stop being satisfied with this after a while, we also get used to a new state, and find happiness in that state. This phenomenon is called the experience-stretching hypothesis: Once you know something exists and have experienced happiness/sadness from it, then your definition of happiness/sadness changes compared to what it was.

We tend to use the present as a template to imagine the future. Even scientists and experts make this mistake. That’s why we are surprised at big changes, even though they have occurred before. But it also limits us to imagine a brighter future during times of crises, because we base too much of this view of the future on today’s reality. Change will come again and humans are very adaptable and will change as well. And the future will again be a place of happiness. Maybe not like the place we knew before, or like the place we imagined back then, but happy in its own new way.

Recommended reading: “Stumbling on Happiness” by Prof. Daniel Gilbert

There is no question that the corona pandemic leaves many people feeling hopeless, fearful, and uncertain about the future. This situation is unprecedented in modern history, an experiment as some calls it. How do we as people react when there is so much uncertainty?

Our thoughts go out to the countries most affected, our EU neighbors and neighbors across the seas and continents. We want to show gratitude to health workers, scientists, and government officials who sacrifice their time and effort to manage the situation. We send our love to those being ill, and people who have lost a loved one. We emphasize that no one stands alone, we all stand together as a global collective.

How do we as company act in times of crisis? At Beautiful Clarity we strive to give our contribution based on our knowledge and line of work. As research analysists, we want to take the opportunity to create insight. Even though our knowledge does not involve epidemiology or medicine, we do know a lot about human behavior.

With our specialty in the financial market communication, we want to create knowledge about how the current pandemic affects investors and people working in the financial market during this difficult time. The health of the population is and should always be the main priority but we find it important to investigate the perceptions of the key players in the finance industry, and how the corona pandemic affects jobs, workplaces, and the overall economy.

In cooperation with Realtid, one of Sweden´s leading financial news medias, Beautiful Clarity is conducting a survey mapping financial market actors and their view on the company´s ability to manage government restrictions, society’s response and personal perception. We hope that the results will give insights that can be used for a better understanding of the complex human nature. See the result in a couple of days on www.realtid.se.

Together, with our own unique qualities and specialties, we can all improve the lives of others, today and tomorrow. Let us all both contribute and benefit from this.

Love,

The Beautiful Clarity team.

As consumers or shoppers, we are often confronted with a lot of choices.  This is when we use cognitive strategies to enable us to quickly, and with least possible effort, to make a choice. The choice is often not the perfect choice, but rather the most acceptable choice. As Rory Sutherland has said: “most people don’t optimize, they satisfice” 

And we arrive at this choice mostly by de-selecting the bad options rather than selecting the best.  

We have performed a large number of eye tracking studies on-line and in-store where we have mapped in great detail how shoppers navigate the store and assortment and how they de-select based on the available information and personal pre-conceptions. This process is off course dependent on the product, the cost of the product, and how pleasant it is to buy. But it always follows a clear de-selection process. 

So how do people de-select? On what basis are large numbers of available options discarded in seconds? And how does this affect established brands or new innovations? 

When searching for a new refrigerator most people start by googling the product to see what’s out there. 

Compare these two options:  

On-line: We google refrigerator and then click on the link of a retailer or aggregator. We are presented with a huge assortment displayed on a small 2D surface. It is quite hard to assess the whole assortment or navigate our way around it.  

Off-line: We enter a store selling refrigerators and are confronted with a smaller assortment, but it is placed in a large area where we have to walk around to assess and navigate. 

Both options have advantages and disadvantages. But it is the strategy and process that define the outcome.  

On-line: To be able to navigate and make sense of the on-line assortment most people will filter the search results. But how do you filter? We know too little about refrigerators to filter on technical details so we filter on what we know: Price and Brand. This helps us to limit the choices and get to the next phase of the process which is comparing among a consideration set. 

Off-line: We walk around and look at the fridges, de-selecting some based on size, design and possibly price. We don’t actually look at brands for guidance and price is not the first de-selection criteria. We also interact with fridges, some of which we might not have considered but look interesting. We discover new features, solutions and designs that we had not thought of. Some will be very expensive or otherwise not relevant, but our little discovery trip changes our perception of what we can buy and what we want to have. 

The result of these differences is shown in our studies. When shoppers buy online they de-select based on price and brand and thereby often miss out on new options, new discoveries and models that are better suited to their needs, regardless of brand. And when shoppers buy off-line they will more often choose products that are outside of their initial budget, making off-line products less price sensitive then on-line products. 

Large assortments are not necessarily good because of the paradox of choice. We also have a tendency to be less satisfied with our choice when the range of choices is too big. Combined with a difficult form of navigation this might lead to uncertainty and doubt. Which is why most shoppers actually do both. They search on-line, then visit a store, and after discovering new criteria and attributes they might continue on-line again.  

The majority of shoppers buying a refrigerator will do on-line searches and visit a store. And most refrigerators are still bought in a physical store. The most common reasons to buy in a physical store, as stated by consumers, are the ability to touch, the assessment of physical products and the assistance of sales staff with expertise. 

Humans have developed to navigate 3D environments and we do this remarkably well. We instinctively know where in the environment we are, and can judge objects in many ways, using all of our senses. It is cognitively much more difficult to navigate a 2D grid and to assess products based only on visual cues. 

The context of the channel makes a significant difference in how shoppers de-select and ultimately what choices they make. When a brand wants to market new models and new innovations, they have a clear advantage doing so in physical retail.  

For one of our multinational clients we have executed a large consumer research project measuring how, how often, and when shoppers touch products in-store. We installed our proprietary sensors solution in 20 consumer electronics stores in Spain and measured several key behavioural aspects over a three month period. We measured footfall at the products as well as interaction with the products and compared this to sales. 

The result of the study was a deeper understanding for the importance of physical interaction with products during the path to purchase. It also showed clearly how touching products is strongly correlated with purchase.  

Touching is a behaviour deeply rooted in our history and a primary way to discover and assess things around us. And touching products is not just a consequence of interest. Touching will itself increase familiarity and a desire to own the product. Our studies have shown a direct effect of increased touch and sales. If you can get shoppers to touch your product you will increase your sales.  

So how do you get people to touch your products more? 

Please contact us for more insights on the role of touch and the way to use this to increase conversion and sales in-store. 

Our technology partners Thingsquare

https://www.thingsquare.com/blog/articles/iot-mesh-retail/

During our annual Christmas afterwork – this year together with our client Samsung – Beautiful Clarity turned the evening into a prophecy event. Partners, clients and colleagues participated in a survey about Christmas 2039 answering questions like how Christmas gifts will be purchased, the possible travel options to visit relatives and the duration of the Christmas break. During the evening we decoded the answers and grouped the participants into five different personalities with regards to how they view the future.

The technology geek – This person believes in an optimistic future where technological advancements will make life easier. Artificial intelligence will give us longer holidays and Elon Musk succeeded in his latest trip to Mars. Uber drones is not a fantasy, it’s a reality of course! This person is somewhat an optimist and can find him- or herself reading about the latest technological advances for hours. When the first self-driven car is launched, we know who will be first in line!

The influencer – This person loves to perform in front of people, being in the center of attention and most of all, loves work. This person doesn’t need a holiday, and the future will of course be all about them! Even though this person can seem egocentric, beneath all the extravaganza there is a deep-rooted confidence in his or her own capabilities to create a difference. And we all know these types of people are needed in the world as well.

The cynical – With global warming, the possibility of a third world war and amazon owning more and more of the marker, this person does not feel that the future is something to be optimistic about. It will be difficult to reach relatives on the holiday break in a world with rising oceans. So why would I be happy? Yes, Elon Musk did land on the moon, but the battery reserve broke so everything is just a big tragedy really. Even though this person can kill the fun at the dinner party so effectively, we can’t help but love the dark sarcasm and punchy one-liners. But of course, we hope that “the cynical one” is terribly wrong.

The humanist – World peace for the win! Humanity will succeed in reaching the climate goals. And why buy Christmas gifts when love is the only currency? This person hopes that in all holidays can be adapted to each individual need, because after all, everyone is special and that’s worth fighting for. True optimism is rare, and these people will always get you in a better mood even in the darkest hour. No problem is too big, no challenge to difficult and no person to evil. With love, spirit and trust, humanity can create greatness. These people are essential for mankind and inspire us every day.

The traditionalist – Everyone is always talking about how things will change. But if we really think about it, people do not change much. And is it such a bad thing living the way we are living now? This person will never stop buying gifts in their local shopping mall and taking exactly two weeks holiday during Christmas. It has worked for this long, right? Maybe they will catch an occasional uber drone, but driving your old car down the highway is probably a more realistic guess. This person is always the best in making goals realistic and making decisions with caution. In a world moving with ever increasing speed, the traditionalists will be our life savers.

And the result?

Our crowd was mostly traditional – 29% actually – but diverse. Maybe we hoped for a great deal of future optimism. But if you think about it, it’s good to know that partners, clients and colleagues feel good about where we are now.

What do you think will happen in 2039? Which personality would you say that you are?

As the end of 2019 approaches and 2020 awaits with new challenges and aspirations, make sure to be beautiful out there.

/The Beautiful Clarity team

Our world is changing in an ever-growing pace, what we view as self-evident today may be a memory of the past tomorrow. Or maybe many things will stay exactly the same? Both B:Clarity and Samsung are future optimists, hoping to create an exciting and innovative future.

Together we invited a hundred “prophets”, chosen to give insights on the future with a holiday twist – Christmas 2039. Our guests will partake in an experiment where the unknown will be unfolded in a statistically assured maner… or kind of statistically assured at least 😉.  But the main focus of the afterwork is of course to gather friends, colleagues and partners to celebrate the dark, cold and fantastic winter that lies ahead.

We do buy more things on-line nowadays. But despite the growth of digital shops we still buy most of our things in stores. And even when we purchase on-line, we like to visit stores to touch and feel products before we buy them either in the store or on-line. Fact is that in most consumer categories on-line shopping is preceded by an off-line experience. 

We have studied all our senses and how they influence our decision making. Except the sense of touch. It is the forgotten cousin of emotional marketing. So, this year we have taken a deep dive into this sense and how it helps us to connect with our emotions and make better decisions. We have performed several studies where we have mapped how physical interactions with products effects preference, emotional bonding and purchase decisions.

The visual attributes of products work as a signaling tool, while tactile information and the experience of touching work as a confirmation of choice and feeling of ownership. 

Get in touch with us if you would like to know how you could use tactile signals, and physical touch, to optimize consumers experience, increase preference and generate more sales.