Neuromarketing – The Art and Science of Marketing and Neurosciences Enabled by IoT Technologies
3500+ store locations 1 or have filed for
bankruptcy 2 in this year alone tells that
story.
I NTRODUCTION
Imagine you had the ability to understand
and influence human emotion – could you
use this to increase sales at your company,
identify the right advertisements or product
mix? Advertisers, psychologists, hypnotists
and top sales performers have long
recognized the relationship between
stimulating emotion and influencing action.
While this unique skill has been in the hands
of few, neuromarketing is a growing field of
science and technology that looks to put it in
the hands of many.
Historically, traditional focus groups have
been the “go to” method for marketers to
understand consumer receptiveness to
products and advertisements. However,
focus groups have limitations – people don’t
always say what they feel or behave in a
predictable manner. A person may say they
eat kale salad for lunch 3 days a week and go
mountain bike riding every other weekend,
but in reality, they are skipping lunch every
day and watching sports on television while
throwing back a six pack of beer to fuel their
team spirit. This behavior, and likely
inaccuracies, poses quite a dilemma for
retailers in focus group settings. As John
Wanamaker, a department store owner said
as far back in the 1800s: “Half the money I
spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble
is I don’t know which half.”
In today’s retail environment, companies are
facing an increasing shift in consumer
decision making and different buying habits
– from the rapid growth of online purchasing
to the practice of “showrooming” – where
consumers browse products at a physical
store and ultimately purchase online. These
factors are forcing brands and retailers, to
become better at measuring consumer
emotions and enhancing their marketing
efforts.
So how do retailers know what half works?
W ILL THE A RT OF N EUROSCIENCES
P LEASE S TEP U P
Retailers are aware of the critical need to
understand consumer behavior. By
understanding consumer behavior, retailers
can ensure the right products are available at
the right price and locations while
incentivizing purchases through targeted
promotions. When retailers lose touch with
continuously shifting consumers’ wants and
needs, and are unable to adapt in a timely
manner, the implications can be disastrous.
The number of retailers that are closing
Created by Dr. Richard Bandler and Dr. John
Grinder, Neuro Linguistic Programming
(NLP) was developed to identify different
types of verbal and nonverbal human
communications and examine internal and
1 “These 21 Retailers Are Closing 3,591 Stores -- Who Is Next?” Forbes, 3/20/2017
2 “Retail bankruptcies march toward post-recession high” CNBC, 3/31/2017
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June 2016