Epsilon’s new New Mover Report 2012 finds brand loyalty challenged when consumers move. The online survey of 999 U.S. respondents covered a range of categories of loyalty, including household services, electronic products, appliances and professional services.

Top line findings include: 

• moving is an incentive to change service providers (60% of respondents) or upgrade (42% of respondents).
• movers change brands, but are also two to three times more likely to purchase/acquire or upgrade their products and services as well.
• across all categories 20% or more of new movers change their current products and services and 20% or more upgrade their current products and services.

“We have known for a long time that new movers represent a highly lucrative category for marketers as the average household moves every five years and during each move a household spends approximately $9,000 on a broad array of goods and services,” said Don Hinman, SVP of Data Strategy at Epsilon. “When marketing to new movers, brands aren’t just up against their competitors for share of spend, they’re also competing against goods and services providers in other categories.”Continue reading...

A new study from loyalty marketing company LoyaltyOne's Colloquy arm, sponsored by Epsilon, sheds light on current consumer attitudes toward brand loyalty in the context of current global economic challenges. The study looks at consumer attitudes in two sectors: emerging economies (Brazil, China and India) and developed economies (Australia, Canada and the U.S.). 

The study reveals how consumers in emerging markets respond differently to new brands and product opportunities than do their counterparts in developed nations. In emerging economies, 35 percent of shoppers welcome foreign brands, while only about 7 percent of consumers in developed countries felt that foreign competition was positive. In fact, 90 percent of Chinese consumers trust foreign brands over their own brands.

Consumers in Brazil and India were happier with their own domestic brands than the Chinese, but not nearly as much as consumers in developed economies. In Australia, Canada and the U.S., consumers are over twice as likely to trust their own brands versus ones from other countries.

Obviously, this presents an opportunity for well-established brands from developed nations to make significant inroads with consumers in emerging countries. This could explain why so many American brands, for example, have pursued an expansion strategy in such countries as Brazil, China and India, even as the same brands pull back and regroup in other sectors.Continue reading...

In the wake of cracks being found in three Southwest planes, FAA calls for cross-airline inspections of Boeing 737s.

Texas Instruments acquires National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion.

Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo, accused of drug cartel money-laundering.

American Airlines ends spat with Expedia.

Apple goes after Color and Instagram with iPhone's social photo stream, looks to become media gatekeeper.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric is negotiating her exit, and eyeing a syndicated talkshow with Jeff Zucker.Continue reading...