Total Lawn care Infographic Q1 2020
What are the best brands and outlets in total lawn care market share? - An infographic
TraQline answers the "who", "what", "where", "when", "why", and "how" for lawn care market shares. Our quarterly survey will help you understand who's buying lawn care products, where they're buying it, and what drives their decisions. Our Lawn Care Market infographic will help you answer the following questions about the total lawn care market and how it is changing...
Who is leading sales in the lawn care market?
Our infographic will give you greater details, but for now, here's what you need to know about the market leaders for total lawn care:
- Together, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart make up over 50% of dollar shares for total lawn care.
- Ace Hardware stores win nearly 5% of US total lawn care dollar share.
How much do consumers spend on lawn care products?
When buying lawn care products, the industry average price paid for these products is $23. However, the average amount spent at different retailers can vary. For example:
- In line with the industry average, the average amount spent at Home Depot on lawn care products is also $23.
- Shoppers at Amazon spend an average of $27 on lawn care products.
- Walmart shoppers spend less on average, at about $18.
What demographic is buying lawn care products?
Just who buys lawn care products like annuals and perennials and sprinklers? TraQline's census-balanced respondent pool has given us insights like:
- More than 80% of lawn care buyers own their own home- 63% of buyers have lived in their home 5+ years.
- Half of all lawn care product buyers have at least $75K annual incomes.
- 2 in 5 lawn care buyers are 65 or older.
Lawn Care Market - Online Sales Trends:
With 8% of lawn care product purchases being made online, it's a good idea to keep track of online sales trends. Here's just some of the trends that TraQline has uncovered:
- Amazon draws 6% of all lawn care shoppers, and closes sales more than 3/4 of the time.
- 15% of lawn care buyers shop around online, with price comparisons being the most common activity shoppers engage in.
Lawn Care Market Share Facts:
Curious about other information TraQline's survey has uncovered? Here's another preview for you:
- While competitive prices drive shoppers’ #retailer choices for total lawn care, “already in store” accounts for 35% of the why behind consumers’ buys.
- Home Depot is the first store shopped for 26% of lawn care buyers.
- Only 7% of lawn care buyers shop three or more stores before making a purchase.
To see everything we've included on our infographic, fill out the form below and download your own copy:
OPE Repair Parts Inspire Consumer Loyalty
While brands like Stihl and WORX inspire loyalty, others have room to grow.
According to TraQline’s Maintenance and Replacement Parts™ (MRP) survey for the Full Year 2019, on average 39% of people who own a specific brand of OPE product will buy replacement parts or products that are the same brand as the OPE product. The survey, which tracks purchasing and consumer behavior for upkeep of outdoor power equipment products, also revealed which brands are more likely to inspire consumer loyalty than others. For example, more than half of consumers who are purchasing replacement parts for a Stihl or WORX branded OPE will choose that brand for the replacement or maintenance product as well.
“We’ve seen some brands that have inspired consumer loyalty,” says David Garcia, a Director of National Accounts for TraQline™, “However, while third party brands are doing well with most products, the majority of OEMs have ample opportunity to increase loyalty to their respective brands.”
Other takeaways from this outdoor power equipment survey include:
- Replacement and maintenance parts are most frequently bought for mowers (both walk-behind and zero turn/riding), and least frequently bought for hedge trimmers and snow throwers
- The most commonly purchased repair and maintenance parts are oil and spark plugs for lawn mowers, trimmer lines for line/string trimmers, and chains for chain saws.
- About 17% of consumers don’t know the brand name of the replacement parts they purchased.
- About 15% of all replacement parts were purchased online.
About TraQline | Market Research and Consumer Insights
TraQline™ delivers improved market intelligence for US retailers and manufacturers. TraQline™ launched its Maintenance and Repair Parts (MRP) survey in January 2018 to capture consumer purchases of OPE maintenance and replacement parts in retail stores. Its syndicated survey solutions provide consumer market research and insights that can be customized based on the individual needs of the retailers and manufacturers. For more information, please visit http://www.traqline.com, or follow us on Twitter (@TraQline) for updates on our products and consumer trends.
Amazon vs Google: The Battle For Smart Speaker Share
This article was originally published on October 18, 2018. It has been updated to reflect current data. To read the original, click here.
It used to be that having a conversation with artificial intelligence was reserved for science fiction. These days, with the rise of voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant, it’s becoming increasingly commonplace. Where voice assistants were once limited to cell phones (Apple first introduced Siri on iPhones in 2011), they’re frequently found in stand-alone speakers across households. A study from Adobe estimates that 32% of US households own at least one smart speaker. That’s not surprising given the efforts made by the voice activated companies listed above – sometimes selling smart speakers below cost in an effort to bring consumers onto their platform (thereby collecting valuable consumer data which can be used to generate ad revenue). As consumers continue to adopt smart speakers, the voice assistants they rely on can shape future purchases.
Alexa Looms Large
The three dominant voice assistants today belong to Amazon, Google, and Apple, but there are other options, such as Microsoft’s Cortana or Samsung’s Bixby. According to TraQline’s most recent data (ending December 2019), Amazon is dominating the mix of smart speaker sales, making up approximately 56% of all units sold. Its next closest competitor is Google, whose smart speakers make up almost 25% of the market. Apple, who had one of the first smart assistants with Siri on the iPhone, entered the smart speaker game a bit later than its competitors, and currently makes up only about 2% of the market. But in an attempt to have consumers utilize their own platforms (and collect their data), Amazon, Google, and Apple have begun to license their smart assistants to other speaker brands for inclusion on their hardware. For example, Sonos (1% of the smart speaker market) and Bose (2% of the smart speaker market) come with Alexa baked in, while JBL and Lenovo branded speakers rely on Google Assistant. Additionally, Samsung, which is better known for its abundance of smart appliances (22% of their major appliances were “smart” appliances in 4Q end of 2019), has announced its own smart speaker using its voice assistant, Bixby. Samsung plans to launch the Galaxy Home Mini in early 2020, but there is no official release date for the larger Galaxy Home model.
Commanding the Kitchens (among other things)
The benefits for the consumer go beyond conveniently streaming music or serving as a timer. Dedicated smart speakers can act as central hubs as consumers piece together their own smart homes. Major Appliance manufacturers have already begun working with smart assistant creators to develop spoken controls to their smart appliances. In the 4 quarters ending December 2019, 15% of major appliances sold were “smart” appliances. While some manufacturers work with both Amazon & Google, it’s not uncommon for specific appliances to only work with one assistant or the other. In fact, that seems to be Amazon’s plan going forward, especially as it introduces its own “Amazon Basics” branded versions of products like plug adapters and microwaves. If a homeowner is already investing in a specific smart assistant system, it stands to reason that this could lock them into specific manufacturers as they continue to build out their smart home.
As voice assistants battle for dominance and manufacturers embrace the automation that smart assistants make available, TraQline will continue to build out a holistic coverage of the smart home market. The number of appliances, security features, lights, and other products that are able to be controlled by smart phones and voice assistants is growing every day, and consumers’ choices are influencing what will be available in the future, much as their choices determined the “winners” for phone operating systems. Have you seen increased interest in smart products in your industry? Get in touch with the @TraQline team to discuss what you’ve seen, we’d love to hear from you!
5 Things to Consider When Evaluating Market Share
You know what’s great about working with a team of really smart people? You can leverage their years of specialized knowledge. My coworkers are a valuable part of the toolkit I use to do my job. Similarly, I often remind my clients that we are a part of their data toolbox: the members of the TraQline team bring many different approaches and ideas to analyzing or solving data problems our clients may have.
One question we get asked all the time - what’s the best approach to evaluating & calculating Market Share? I decided to take this question to my teammates and their combined years of experience- as they say, ‘Eight brains are better than one.’ As a researcher, I know there are multiple routes I can take when evaluating a client’s market share that will influence my final evaluation. I want to share some of those solutions and ideas with you so you can leverage these best practices from the leaders driving our business.
1. Unit Share & Dollar Share Determine your Starting Point
It isn’t uncommon for clients to call us and say, “My share isn’t what I expected, can you help me understand why?” The most common approach from the TraQline team for calculating and evaluating market share is to start with unit and dollar share. Even if you already know this, it’s important to start here to work through the problems and solutions. When we understand a little more about how these two numbers work together, it helps shine a light on how shares are reflected in the market. For example, some clients favor a higher unit share because they have an Every Day Low Price (EDLP) strategy to support a goal to sell more overall—and if your Average Price Paid (APP) is lower, then it is reasonable to expect that you may have a lower dollar share (Unit Market Share x APP = Dollar Share).
What’s in a product? Your specifics matter
Dollar share and unit share are also impacted by the specific product itself – for example, compare two retailers: one selling refrigerators and one selling cleaning supplies. The retailer selling refrigerators has a high-ticket price product, which will drive up the dollar share of that retailer. However, data shows that refrigerators are purchased far less frequently than cleaning supplies. The retailer selling cleaning supplies, on the other hand, has products that are purchased frequently, but at a lower price. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the unit share for the cleaning supplies retailer will be higher than the retailer selling refrigerators. We caution our clients as they compare unit and dollar shares to those of their competitors because of this very issue.
Check your Definition
When evaluating market share overall, it is important to ensure the product definition from TraQline matches the category definition you expect. For example, let’s say a Gas Grill manufacturer runs a total BBQ Grill report, expecting a share number higher than what the report shows. However, the total BBQ Grills report contains all types of grills (e.g. Gas, Charcoal, Pellet and even smokers vs traditional grills). To more accurately reflect the specific market our gas grill manufacturer operates in, they would need to apply a filter to eliminate non-Gas Grill products. They don’t need to compare their performance against Charcoal Grills since that is something they do not manufacture. While this example is a simple one, it is an important way to illustrate how your definition of the category can impact your share.
2. Draw, Close, & Walk rates are your next Stop
Once you have reviewed unit and dollar share, the next step is to investigate the draw and close rates. Draw rate is derived from the number of people who shopped a brand or outlet divided by the total number of people who bought a product in general. Close rate is the percentage of people who ultimately purchased that brand or outlet. Combined together, these two metrics help to define market share (draw x close = market share).
Draw Rate
When researching why a client’s shares have declined, I typically want to understand if there was a drop in the number of customers shopping an outlet or brand (a decline in draw rate). If draw rate is down – fewer shoppers are shopping your brand or outlet, therefore having negative consequences on your overall market share (draw x close = share). Bolstering your draw rate isn’t always easy – the easiest way is to add stores or increase your distribution. This allows for broader access to a larger population (more stores or products in stores means you’re closer to more people). Other ways to increase your draw rate include increasing advertising, improving the shopping experience (which creates word-of-mouth buzz), better shelf position, or promotional activity – anything that puts your product front and center in the buyers’ mind.
Close Rate
As stated above, a decline in close rate can also negatively impact your market share. Your close rate is the number of people purchasing a product from your store divided by the number of shoppers who shopped in your store for that product total. Let’s say fewer people are shopping your store but more are actually purchasing. Understanding where you are losing is important – why are shoppers not shopping you? Why are they shopping somewhere else? We all know the hardest part is getting the customer in your store so we cannot let them leave without buying something! What impacted your draw or close rate this quarter?
Walk Rate
If the close rate is down then I want to know why: I dig further into understanding the walk rate (those customers who walked away from you to buy somewhere else). For example, TraQline allows you to run a report detailing the “whys behind the buys” of consumers who shopped at one retailer but purchased at another. (Note: Remember to look at your sample sizes as you add multiple filters). Here are a few things to consider as you look at Draw & Close Rate:
- If Draw is down, look to see if a retailer is losing share and causing the brand share to go with it (brand penetration report).
- If Close is down, look to see if a retailer is also trending down or if there is a brand that is trending up (brand penetration Report).
- If Close is down, you can also look to see if there is a price point driving the loss (Average Price Paid Report).
- If Close is down, look at the walk rate and see which competitors might be capitalizing on your customers who walk out to purchase elsewhere (Bought Elsewhere Report).
Not sure where or how to start? Call your account rep today, they would love to help!
3. Average Price Paid can take you a little Further
We know from above that APP can impact overall share; a higher priced item would yield a higher dollar share versus unit share. However, let’s say you review APP and you don’t feel quite content with the results – we would encourage you to dig deeper. Try applying a filter on the ‘price bucket’ variable to see how you perform among other brands with a higher price point. For example, if your lowest price point on a product is $250.00, exclude all the brands priced under the $250.00 mark.
Low/medium/high pricing tiers help determine which brands or retailers are executing on different pricing strategies and may show where there are opportunities to create new products. For example, let’s say a retailer has a product category that falls into the ‘best’ or high level for price and quality. They may be missing the ‘good’ or low-price tier. This creates an opportunity to meet an additional demographic’s needs by developing a proprietary branded product to gain more sales (and ultimately more share) for the category overall.
4. Brand Mix can influence Outlet Market Share Changes
Whether there was an increase or decrease in your unit or dollar share, looking at the brand mix can provide insight. Has a retailer added a brand to a specific category? Or have they dropped a brand? If so, the addition or removal of a brand at a retailer can play a role in how products’ shares move because ultimately it affects the brand sales.
One way to see how changes in your brand mix have affected shares is to examine what brands are currently being sold compared to what was available during a previous time period. The 2019 addition of the Crafstman brand at Lowe’s provides a perfect example. Since adding Craftsman to their brand mix, share has increased. It is reasonable to hypothesize that adding Craftsman to their Brand Mix (and the closing of Sears stores) increased Lowe’s share overall. The same principle could be true in reverse- dropping a brand could cause a corresponding drop in share.
5. Look at the Map: Geography can impact your Share
One key variable that often gets overlooked is Geography. The ability to drill down into CMAs, DMAs or even custom-defined regions gives us a whole new perspective to what might be happening in that region or market to change the share overall. For example, if a retailer only operates in one region, comparing its market share to that of national players wouldn’t give an accurate look at its performance (for more info on this specific report, you can read up on door-to-door analyses here). Or perhaps an advertising campaign has been more successful in one geographical region than in another. Other examples might include new players in only one or two regions versus the entire country or perhaps the bankruptcy and closing of others.
As you can see, there are a number of things you can look at to determine where and why you are losing or gaining share. Hopefully these five examples can help you build your roadmap and tell your story. If you have questions or want to explore additional reasons you’re seeing changes in your shares, contact your TraQline rep today.
How to Maximize Market Share With Your New Product
Maximize Market Share With Actionable Insights from The Stevenson Market Simulator
New products and services are the lifeblood of any company. As they are being developed, you’ll find that many questions can arise during the development process. The answers you choose will help guide decisions regarding the final makeup of the new product or service, as well as its associated pricing. Some questions that frequently come up for our clients have been:
- What is the appeal of each product/service feature I’m considering?
- Which products/service features are most important?
- What value do consumers ascribe to each product/service feature?
- What is the optimal set of features to offer?
- How does varying the set of features impact consumer interest in the product or service?
- How is this impacted by competitors’ offerings?
To help answer these questions in an actionable, data-driven manner, we have developed the Stevenson Market Simulator. This is a proprietary tool designed to enhance conjoint studies we run on behalf of the client. It answers these questions by allowing clients to perform their own custom modeling with any combination of features to assess the impact on consumer preference.
Let's take a step back. How does the Stevenson Market Simulator work?
The building blocks of the Stevenson Market Simulator come from having first performed conjoint research for our clients.
We specifically use a choice-based conjoint approach, where respondents will see multiple sets of a differently featured and priced product or service. They choose which they prefer, if any. This choice is used to determine relative price-value ranges for different features and feature levels. In other words, how many consumers will pay the prices associated with the different product features being tested? Conjoint exercises typically consist of 5-8 features, with 2-4 levels per feature. For example:
- For a walk-behind lawnmower, features might be: Brand, Fuel Type, Deck Width, Bag Location, Mulching Capability, Engine Brand.
- For a refrigerator, features might be: Brand, Freezer Location, Capacity, Type of Ice Maker, Number of Doors.
- For a checking account, features might be: Financial Institution, Charge per Teller Transaction, Check Stop Payment Fees, Credit Monitoring/ID Theft Protection Fees, Paper Statements vs Electronic Statements.
The approach provides simulations in which different feature bundles and prices of the product or service can be tested. Ultimately, this addresses consumer preferences for various configurations, as well as providing an understanding of the potential market size, values associated with each feature/feature level, and direction for overall pricing. Feature values will identify the relative importance of different features and of their levels. Higher feature values indicate higher importance, and a greater willingness from consumers to pay for those features. These features values are the inputs for the Stevenson Market Simulator.
The Stevenson Market Simulator Tool
The resulting customized Stevenson Market Simulator, developed from the research and delivered to the client, allows the client to simulate the market dynamics that make up consumer preference. The deliverable is an Excel file that models product preferences. It provides maximum flexibility to instantly assess the impact on share of preference when:
- Adding/removing any product completely from the model
- Adjusting your product's features (adding/removing/adjusting levels) and/or competitive product features
- Adjusting the price point for any features
By analyzing the results of “adjusting the levers”, clients get actionable insights that enable them to assess the optimal configuration and pricing for their product or service, ensuring they are not pricing themselves out of the market, but also not leaving money on the table (pricing too low).
Maximize Market Share: How to Get it Right the First Time
If you are planning on a new product or service introduction, you will likely only have one chance to “get it right” by making certain it is featured and priced properly. Using The Stevenson Market Simulator to model the market, will help you do just that. Contact our experts or sign up here online to get started today!
6 Ways You're Not Using TraQline That You Should Be
You haven't used TraQline this way before
We’ve polled our greatest account managers of all time (i.e. all of them) about the secret ways that they’ve worked with their customers to use TraQline. They highlighted methods beyond just looking at brand share, outlet share, and average price paid. Below is a collection of our favorite ways to use TraQline that you’re probably not doing!
Table of Contents:
1) Notes 1 & 2
2) Brand vs Brand - who wins in head to head? | David Garcia
3) Using Single Variables | Eric Voyer
4) Door-to-Door Analysis | Scott Adelman
5) Determining Impact of Price Perception | Brennan Callahan
6) Have Purchase Motivations Changed? | Cher Nelson
7) Create a Template | Eric Voyer
Note 1: Sample Size
As we dig into each of these examples, it’s important to remember the importance of sample size in any analysis you conduct—whether with TraQline or any other data source. While TraQline’s massive 600,000 completed consumer surveys provides a great base for analysis, slicing and dicing can lead to diminished sample sizes. Keep your eyes on the sample size, and (typically) make sure you’re working with a sample of at least 300. For help in understanding whether a sample size or proportion is significant, contact us!
Note 2: Creating an Index
In some cases and in some reports, you’ll hear us refer to creating an Index. Indexing is the process of comparing a measure to the mean and highlighting the magnitude of differences.
How to do it: Indexing is fairly simple. To calculate, divide the metric by the industry average. Here’s the formula: Index = Metric Average/Industry Average.
Example:
Industry average: female purchaser 50%
Metric Average: your brand 75%
Index = (75-50)/50
We love indexing because gives you some perspective not just about the absolute value of your data, but how different that value is from your competition’s data. For example, you may see that on average 25% of power drill purchases are made by women – a remarkably low number (because you instinctively indexed it to the 50/50 population mix in your head!). With that in mind, when you see that a power drill brand has 50% of its purchases made by women, you begin to see a unique strength of that brand.
In the words of the great Christopher Walken of Balls of Fury, “Enough talky talky, more data analysis!” Here we’ll present our reps’ favorite tools in no particular order:
Brand vs Brand – who wins in head to head? – David
Consumers have many choices when it comes to the brands they consider. But ultimately, they usually only purchase one brand. Using TraQline’s consideration rates and purchase behavior, you can compare brand vs brand shopping and purchase behaviors over time to see who wins. This is particularly useful if you’re comparing your brand to one of your competitors to see which of the two consumers prefer.
Using Single Variables - Eric
We are frequently interested in comparing two stores or brands head-to-head, for example whether someone shopped at either Lowe’s or Home Depot. But when we want to know If someone shopped at one AND the other, our standard “Outlet_Shopped_Multi” variable won’t work.
The secret to this analysis is the “Purchase Process Single” variables at the bottom of the interactive row or column variable lists. On the surface, it may appear that these are the same variable as the ‘_Multi-‘ variables in the purchase process section above. However, these variables serve a different purpose. The difference between “Outlet Shopped Multi” and “Shopped Best Buy” is the Boolean expression “AND”.
When you select multiple outlets in the “_Multi” variables (such as “BrandConsidered_Multi”), it means “OR”. As an example, selecting “Best Buy”, “Walmart”, and “Bed Bath & Beyond” in OutletConsidered_Multi means that the shopper must have indicated that they shopped at any of these three stores. Using the “Purchase Process Single” variables allows you to use “AND” expressions, thus allowing you to narrow your results.
Door-to-door Analysis- Scott
Comparing a regional player’s market share to national players’ shares can be misleading. After all, some retailers have no interest in playing in larger markets, so why should the larger market impact their overall share? For example, Menards, is a regional player located in the Midwestern states. Comparing their share nationally vs. a player like Lowe’s will show Menards severely lacking in total share. In cases like this, you may wish to complete a door-to-door analysis. This can be completed by using a filter on a particular geography, ensuring that only stores that have “doors” in a particular geography line up with others in the same area. Sometimes you may wish to use the DMA_Market variable, while other times State or even Census Region will encompass all of the geographies you wish to evaluate.
Determining Impact of Price Perception - Brennan
Retail POS systems will never get to the “why” behind the consumers’ buy. Fortunately, TraQline’s consumer data collects information not only about why they buy at that retailer, but why they buy that product and why they buy that brand. In some cases, a retailer may suspect that pricing is impacting close rate...and ultimately share. By comparing walk rates and retailer pricing, this analysis can provide directional information about the importance of pricing to the consumer.
Have purchase motivations changed? - Cher
Focusing on the why behind the buy can be powerful, but TraQline can help you identify emerging trends in why consumers buy the products they buy. For example, during the great recession, Price was a much more significant reason for purchase then in 2018, while the economy is booming. Using the variable “Why Bought Brand Multi” can help you not only identify consumers buying habits in the current time period, but also look to see how those may have changed in the last 10 years. This can help you catch emerging or declining trends and adjust your messaging and merchandising accordingly.
Create a template - Eric
Not all of our tips and tricks are specific analyses. One of our favorite tricks is using saved reports as a template. Many times, we’re working with many different options in the row or column and would like to create an aggregate, or we’re filtering on a specific region that is difficult to reproduce each time you log in. This is where we like to use a saved report to create a template.
Conclusion
TraQline is like an iceberg: most of what people see is Brand, Outlet, Average Price paid, and draw close. Under the surface is so much more that can help you understand why people buy and answer the deeper questions about what drives market share up or down. We hope you’ve enjoyed these tips and we hope the wheels are turning about some of the other types of analyses you can create with TraQline. If you want to brainstorm, we’re only an email, phone call, or quick chat away!
What's Best Buy Do Best? | A Deep Dive
What's Driving Best Buy Market Share?
Best Buy represents a triumph for brick-and-mortar retailers. Once assumed to be falling by the wayside like its peers HH Gregg and Circuit City, Best Buy has been able to stand out from the crowd and engage with consumers in a meaningful way. While the retailer may be best known for consumer electronics and computers, it has also built a reputation on its major appliance sales. In the past five years, the retailer’s mix has been a combination of those three categories vying for top billing, with computers slowly declining year-over-year and major appliances slowly increasing. To get a more complete look at Best Buy's market share and how it is faring, we are examining their performance in a few key categories over the past few years in greater detail.
Best Buy Market Share | Major Appliances
According to TraQline’s Q4'19 dollar share stats, Best Buy ranks third among retailers. With a “tech-centric” lineup, the average prices of its top major appliance brands such as Samsung, LG, and Whirlpool is higher than that of its peers. Additionally, shoppers at Best Buy are willing to spend more on average for their major appliances as well. Across all retailers, the average price of Samsung appliances is $981, whereas shoppers at Best Buy spend an average of $1,035 for the brand. Those higher average prices paid are consistent for LG and Whirlpool as well. Best Buy shoppers pay an average of $1,053 for LG major appliances (compared to $1,003 across all retailers), and $747 for Whirlpool ($718 across all retailers).
For consumers, price is almost always the primary consideration for where they purchase. However, Best Buy’s customers base their purchasing decisions more on average due to Best Buy’s advertising efforts and the offer of in-store credit. However, Best Buy’s repair service and their salespeople are their key differentiators when comparing the retailer to Lowe’s and Home Depot. Shoppers also skew more towards Gen-X and Millennials at Best Buy, compared to the predominantly Baby Boomer crowd at Home Depot and Lowe’s. That said, all three retailers tend to attract consumers with an income of around $50,000-$74,999 annually.
As Best Buy continues to “Build the New Blue: Chapter Two” there is a great deal of opportunity and growth potential for them to work toward share gains within the major appliance category. This potential is boosted by their focus around omni-channel and supply-chain initiatives, as well as their service programs like Total Tech Support.
Best Buy Market Share | Consumer Electronics
While the Major Appliance category is an category in which Best Buy market share can continue to grow its dominance, it is recognized most often as a key player in Consumer Electronics. The top products for Best Buy within the category are TVs, Stereo headphones, digital cameras, speakers (portable mini, bookshelf, and soundbar), and Blu-ray/DVD players. Let’s take a deeper look into which of these key categories are driving Best Buy’s overall growth for the category.
Televisions
Best Buy beats rival Walmart to stay on top in dollar share. Best Buy accomplishes this by selling higher featured models that come at a premium, much as they do in major appliances. For example, Samsung is the top brand sold at both Best Buy and Walmart. However, consumers pay an average of $709 at Best Buy, versus an average of $499 at Walmart.
Digital Cameras
These days, most people are perfectly content with the cameras on their phones. But for hobbyist photographers who aren’t quite ready to shell out thousands on professional-grade DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, retailers like Best Buy are there to help. Brands like Canon, Nikon, and Sony can market to people who may one day be tempted by their even more expensive models. 1 out of every 4 consumers buys their cameras at Best Buy and the only outlet currently giving Best Buy a run for its money in this category is Amazon, who wins 22 percent of the dollar share compared to Best Buy’s 26 percent.
Speakers
We live in a golden age of audio, from podcasts to streaming services and beyond. Approximately 11 percent of Best Buy’s current product mix is made up of portable mini speakers, bookshelf speakers, and soundbars. Again, due to selling products in a higher price range, the retailer tends to dominate in terms of dollar share, where they win 31 percent of the market.
Blu-ray/DVD Players
Despite the popularity of streaming media, people still want to be able to own and watch Blu-ray discs and DVDs. Best Buy and its rival Walmart are well situated to provide Blu-ray/DVD players for those consumers. Best Buy, with it’s 32 percent share of the total market (in dollar shares), again leads all retailers - both online and brick and mortar. Best Buy most frequently sells Sony, Samsung, and LG Blu-ray/DVD players, and these three brands respectively take first, second, and third place at the retailer.
The Best Buy Advantage
As Best Buy continues to compete with big-box Home Improvement retailers for consumers’ attention and money on major appliances, they also continue to hold their advantages in the Consumer Electronics race. While they have been known for a variety of key products (most notably electronics), what they seem to be best at is meeting the needs of the customer as they redefine the retail space. Best Buy has made adjustments to both their product mix and services offered in order to meet customers’ needs—a challenge in today’s shopping environment.
TraQline offers market research and data services that can help you get ahead in the major appliance industry. Top businesses across industries rely on the TraQline quarterly report on Market Share and Consumer Behavior. For a deeper dive into the major appliance industry, TraQline’s SKU Metrix provides synthesized data from leading major appliance brands and retailers. For our highest level of insight, you can also turn to TraQline’s HPOS™, which provides comprehensive, detailed, and easy-to-understand model-level insights by retailer in the major appliance industry. We invite you to contact our market research professionals to learn more today.
When is Agile Research Appropriate to Use vs Traditional Research?
In the past few years, we have found there is not a “one-size-fits-all” style when it comes to research. Choosing agile research versus traditional research can be difficult when you consider all the factors involved in the decision. However, there is a role for both types. The tussle between which one to use comes down to the advantages and disadvantages of each. To start, here is a quick overview of agile research vs traditional research.
Agile Research - Quick, Cheap, Iterative
Agile research has the benefit of speed and being an iterative process, which allows researchers to conduct multiple micro-surveys in a shorter time period. Clients who need to explore options or act quickly upon feedback from previous responses can benefit from agile research. In a qualitative setting such as an online bulletin board, it can provide ongoing interaction between respondents and test stimuli. In quantitative studies that use agile processes, the survey can be automated by inserting new concepts or questions on the fly.
Traditional Research - Thorough, Robust, Costly
On the other hand, traditional research is known for having greater rigor and more robust sample sizes. It can also be costly and time-consuming. It provides clients with more respondents and data points, which in turn allows for more analysis and projectability. The overall time commitment for traditional research varies depending on which methodology is being used to gather findings. Traditional research can encompass many different methodologies, both qualitative and quantitative.
Should I use Agile Research or Traditional Research?
Both agile and traditional styles can use similar research methods. In that case, the question becomes, “which style is best used at this time for this client?” Whether agile or traditional, the outcome and objectives a client needs to reach will determine which style to pursue.
Let’s take a look at a few examples where each style is more appropriate:
1) Concepts or Reward/Benefit Statements
When developing concepts or reward/benefit statements, agile research is useful in narrowing down a large list of options developed in ideation sessions or other types of brainstorming. Once top options are identified, they can then be taken to more traditional and detailed concept testing to determine the “winner” with which to move forward.
2) Ad Testing/Tracking
Similarly, the iterative process employed by agile research can be used to test what resonates with consumers to quickly update advertising messaging and brand communication. Traditional research can then further test the efficacy of new advertising by tracking awareness and recall of new advertisements or branding initiatives. Both methodologies work hand in hand to provide the necessary data for clients.
3) Focus Groups
In agile research, a focus group can be an interactive online chat room or bulletin board to get immediate feedback and collaboration on designs and innovation. In a traditional setting, focus groups are ideal for hands-on experience during product testing and development in order to get a deeper understanding of consumers’ usage of the product.
4) Piloting Survey Questions
Agile research is the best approach to test and check the appropriateness of questions being asked to a target population before launching a full-scale survey. It may also help refine a set of questions to help identify efficiencies on survey length and consumer engagement. Another key element of using agile research is to test the instructions being asked of the respondent to see if they are clear and concise. Having vetted these issues will help ensure the success of the project.
5) Segmentation Study
While there are many types of studies that require the larger sample size of traditional research, segmentation is a key example. Identifying and sizing the different consumer segments for your brand or category needs to be founded on a robust methodology. Since this type of research is often used for targeting key consumers, the projectability of traditional research is necessary.
Both Agile and Traditional Research are key to your research process
Overall, both agile and traditional research are important tools in your toolkit. The main consideration should be which style is most appropriate for the type of information your client needs. As some examples show, using traditional and agile research styles in conjunction with one another provides even deeper insights than using just one style. What is most important is to provide your client with both options, and thoroughly explain their pros and cons. Helping your client choose the appropriate style will strengthen your relationship and help build a more solid partnership.
CLT Study: Central Location Tests with Consumer Durables
The Stevenson Company is very familiar with conducting Central Location Tests (CLT). We made our name conducting this type of study. A CLT study should follow the tried and true best practices of other research methodologies. Below we will provide areas of focus and pitfalls to avoid when conducting this type of study, specifically with consumer durable products.
What is a CLT Study?
Before we get into specifics, let’s back up and define a typical CLT study. CLT is a type of Consumer Usage Test (CUT) that is conducted in a predetermined location (typically a focus group room, hotel ballroom, hall, or similar venue). A main reason for conducting a CLT study is to put the test product(s) in front of consumers, as opposed to a product text description, rendering, or image that could easily be examined via an online survey. The in-person interaction of a CLT is particularly useful when a study’s objectives include feedback on functionality, usability, design, aesthetics, or product dimensions. In a CLT study with consumer durables, consumers are recruited upfront based on appropriate specifications. Typically, this means respondents match a target consumer profile, are current product owners, and/or are interested in purchasing the product soon. These recruits are then asked to arrive at the space at a specified time. The interview format can be a simple one-on-one interview, have several respondents at once like a focus group or mini group, or even dozens of participants at a time. The main factor is that respondents in a CLT are arriving at a predetermined location to examine study stimulus in-person.
Where should I conduct a CLT study?
The big picture: Geographic Location
One of the differences in a CLT as opposed to a more common online type study is where the sample will come from. By and large an online study will have participants from a wide area (regionally, nationally, or possibly internationally). With a CLT, respondents are coming to a predetermined location; which means participant travel is involved. You will be hard-pressed to find someone that agrees to drive 40 miles to the location. That means finding qualified respondents can be challenging, especially when recruiting for a consumer durable product where purchase incidence is less frequent than other product types (consumer packaged goods, for example). To account for that, you usually need to consider metro areas with a high population density. Chances are you want a sample size large enough to support cutting the data by consumer characteristics, product configurations, or other considerations. Recruiting from a high population metro area will provide a better chance of finding an adequate number of target recruits.
Let's talk about venue
Another consideration is venue size: depending on what is displayed, a product layout that represents a typical retail setting is likely preferred. For instance, if the study goal is feedback on home appliances (let’s say refrigerators), a room layout that mirrors a high traffic retail store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot is a good choice. In the refrigerator example, that means a large room will be needed to effectively display products so that there is enough room for product interaction. This is especially true if the interview flow includes multiple participants at a time. You don’t want participants tripping over each other when trying to examine study stimulus.
More Room Specifics
Room type is also something to consider. If space needs allow for it, using a traditional focus group room works best. This gives the benefit of a one-way mirror for clients and facilitators to observe interviews in real time without impacting respondents or interview flow and allows for covert interview recording due to discreet camera placement. The downside is that focus group rooms are usually smaller than ballrooms. Due to their size, ballrooms or meeting halls give greater flexibility for room layout. However, a ballroom setup could have clients that want to observe sitting far away from the interview space and not close enough to appreciate subtle interactions or responses. Unlike focus group rooms, ballrooms also make interview recording a challenge, due to the obviousness of a recording device in the room. It’s a trade-off that should be considered.
Logistics
Logistics, particularly product shipping, is something that needs to be considered. At first glance this may seem like a trivial concern. However, what happens if you spent all this time and money setting up a consumer durable CLT study and on start day your products don’t show on-time and in perfect condition? You're in trouble. The whole point of a CLT is to get in-person respondent feedback. From the refrigerator consumer durable example mentioned earlier, you don’t want your refrigerators to arrive with dents or broken pieces. Participants in general will react to what they see. While some product blemishes can be dismissed as “overlook the shipping damage you see here,” you should consider hiring a professional moving team. It’s not the most cost-effective option, but it could spare you headaches down the road. After all, test products need to get from point A to point B on time and in good shape. Think of it as an insurance policy on the time and money spent to ensure study success.
Interview Flow, Set-up, and Schedule
Interview Flow
As mentioned earlier, the interview flow of a CLT study could be one-on-one, focus groups of 8-12 participants at a time, smaller sessions with 4-5 participants (usually quantitative in nature), etc. For a CLT study on general product development, improvement, or design/aesthetic topics, The Stevenson Company usually recommends a two-pronged attack:
- Quantitative, self-administered interviews with 4-5 respondents (depending on number of products) interacting with study stimulus.
- A handful of follow-up qualitative sessions with respondents (and the product) recruited from the previous quantitative interviews
The goal of these follow-up sessions is to add more color to previous responses and better define the "why" of their responses. Since follow-up recruiting is based on respondent's previous responses, The Stevenson Company implements an electronic survey administered on iPads for the quantitative interviews. This allows real-time results and the ability to flag qualifying participants for a follow-up session immediately after the quantitative interview.
Interview Set-up and Scheduling
Interview scheduling should be carefully planned. If the study goal is to get a sample size adequate enough to allow data being cut on specific respondent/product characteristics, the CLT study won’t be completed in a day. How long is the survey? How many interview sessions can be completed in a day? How many follow-up focus groups are planned? These questions need to be answered to plan how many days the field will last. The Stevenson Company typically conducts a consumer durable CLT with 150-200 quantitative completes and 3-4 focus groups in 4-5 days. This timing includes interview briefing and product setup. As a note, product setup with consumer durables can take anywhere from an hour to most of the day: plan accordingly.
Another scheduling factor to plan is product rotation. Not only should the respondent survey include rotating product examination order, the room itself should show products in a different order (to minimize order bias). Depending on the product type (we’ll go back to the refrigerator example), changing product order is not a trivial matter. It takes time to physically move refrigerators around a room. Be sure to allow time for one or two product order rotations per day.
Staffing needs
Study personnel is another detail to plan. Depending on survey flow, you may need just a few people, or several people may be needed. In the example above, with the “two-prong” study design, you will need at least three types of people:
- Check-in staff. Someone to organize respondents as they arrive.
- This person is usually provided by the recruiting company. They will need to help with respondent check-in, delivering reminder calls if needed, administering payment, and any pre or post interview activities.
- Proctor(s) for the self-administered quantitative survey to guide the interview.
- Doesn’t necessarily need to be a professional interviewer, e.g. a one-on-one interviewer or similar, but some experience with leading an interview is mandatory. Telephone interviewers usually work fine in this role, if they are comfortable speaking to small groups of people.
- A typical CLT day can last 12 hours or more. It’s a long day, but the goal is to get efficient use of rental space costs. Therefore, it is smart to plan 2 or more shifts of proctors to avoid fatigue. That means multiple proctors will be needed.
- Focus group moderator. This person can be provided/recommended by the recruiting company. However, The Stevenson Company prefers to work with tried-and-true moderators that are very familiar with the product category.
Overall, there are a number of important aspects to consider when planning and executing a consumer durables CLT. Even if you have run similar studies in the past, partnering with research providers who have a proven track record for CLT studies will help smooth over any challenges you may have with the project. If you’ve run a study like this before, what are other tips you’d pass on to first timers? If you’ve never performed a CLT study, but are hoping to, contact our team! We’ll be glad to get you pointed in the right direction.
Competitive Analysis: Computer Market
Do you remember your first computer? It was probably a very different machine than the computers available today. Long gone are the days when a computer took up the whole room—or even just had a dedicated “computer room”—now they are compact, portable, and extremely powerful despite their more diminutive size. These evolutionary shifts have occurred due to new products, new features, and new price points hitting the computer market over the past several years. Computing has splintered into three primary branches in the last decade or so, with three main formats rising to the top: Desktops, Laptops, and Tablets (Smartphones will be excluded from our summary, though in many ways they are consumers’ primary computer these days).
Computer Market: Desktops Still Have A Role to Play
Looking at form-factor alone, you can see how much the computer industry has shifted. Where once Desktop computers were what consumers thought of when you said “computer”, they now make up just under 16 percent of the total computer market. Their percentage of the sales mix has remained relatively flat over the past few years, with only a slight increase in the last year or so.
Pricing Still Depends on Your Computer’s Job
Desktops are sold across a wide variety of price points, which largely depend on what components go inside the computer, which is in turn usually selected based on what the computer will be used for. So, while the average price paid for desktops in the current computer market is $708, there can be options that cost significantly more. For example, for an Apple brand desktop computer, which is usually aimed at creative professionals who require lots of memory to run intensive programs, buyers pay an average of $1202. Alienware, which makes computers targeted towards gamers (who also need high grade parts in order to run the latest and greatest video games) has an average price of $1370. Other desktop manufacturers, like Samsung or Acer, can both be purchased for an average price of less than $500, though they will not have the same capabilities of more expensive desktops with higher specs.
Windows Is Still King
By and large, much like their smaller laptop siblings, these desktops run Windows. In fact, more than one in four desktops run Windows 10. A smaller subset of desktops run Windows 7 or 8, but support for those operating systems are waning. MacOS desktops make up about 11% of the computer market mix.
Computer Market: Laptops Reign Supreme
Laptop or Notebook computers account for nearly 49 percent of computer purchases, as reported by TraQline in 2019. New technology has opened the door for the laptop industry making them better equipped with more powerful processors, memories, and hard drives, as well as things like discrete graphics cards that they may not have had before. These upgrades allow laptops to handle more intensive programs such as Photoshop or Overwatch. In many cases, laptops are often able to fill in for purposes previously relegated to desktops. Consumers can use laptops as their primary computer instead of needing to have two separate computers- one desktop that’s been beefed up to run those massive programs and games and a second computer, a lighter, portable version - fit mainly for browsing the web, doing basic word processing, or streaming a video online.
A Price Point for Every Buyer
Much like desktops though, when it comes to cost for laptops, there’s a wide variety of prices for different brands of laptops across the entire computer market. For the laptop market overall, the average price is $572. Again, like desktops, the average price consumers pay in the laptop market will largely depend on what sort of specifications they are interested in, what they intend to use the computer for, and what OS is installed on the laptop. Given the difference in minimum hardware requirements to run certain Operating Systems, it is not surprising to see a price disparity between workhorse laptops running MacOS ($1030 on average) and “Lite” operating systems like Chrome OS ($283). But a Chromebook’s low price is only compelling to a small percentage of consumers. Systems fitted with ChromeOS, make up 12% of laptops sold (Source: TraQline, 4QE September 2019). While 12 percent of all units sold might seem low, the data shows its share steadily and significantly increasing over the last three years. In fact, ChromeOS has nearly doubled its share of the laptop market since 2017. When reviewing the total computer market – from desktops to laptops (the OS isn’t used on tablets), ChromeOS only accounts for 6 percent of computers. But even at 6 percent, they are still able to gain share, especially as the features they incorporate are becoming more sophisticated, while still maintaining a low overall cost. As consumers and the industry become more comfortable with cloud-based storage, as well as more features like long battery life and quick booting make their way to Chromebooks, they will have further opportunity to grow their overall share in the computer industry.
A David vs Goliath Situation
As ChromeOS continues to fight for share and move the needle, Windows 10 still dominates the OS world as the top choice on most laptops (63%). MacOS sits in second place, being used on 15 percent of laptops. One advantage Windows has over Mac is the wide variety of brands and models of laptops available that run Windows OS. While many manufacturers license Windows in order to have it pre-installed on their computers, MacOS is found almost exclusively on computers manufactured by Apple. Someone who would like to invest in the MacOS system would have to be prepared to spend a significant amount of money on their new laptop, whereas Windows can be found on laptops across a variety of price points.
Computer Market: Tablets- Somewhere in the Middle
Tablets or e-readers still make up 31 percent of the market, but Tablets have lost significant share of the computing category overall in the last four years. Apple dominates tablets with 35 percent of the market and continues to defend their title against Amazon’s Fire Tablet & Kindle e-readers which hold 29 percent share combined. Interestingly, the Kindle brand itself is losing ground and has fallen significantly among the tablet/e-readers. Samsung holds a distant third with 17 percent of the Tablet share. Tablets have not taken off quite like they were once predicted to do. Or rather, there has been a shift in how tablets are advertised. Companies like Apple are positioning their tablets as replacements for laptops, rather than ancillary screens used for playing games, reading, or streaming media. Despite this, in the last year most consumers report purchasing a tablet for entertainment (62% - TraQline), rather than work or education.
Conclusion
The computer scene is still capable of surprises. A decade ago, you would be hard-pressed to have predicted the growing trend of tablets repositioning themselves as computer replacements, or two-in-one designs that hybridize both laptops and tablets (e.g. Microsoft’s Surface Pro line). While typical clamshell-type laptops remain consumers’ top choices for now, it’s easy to see a future in which the lines between laptops, desktops, and tablets are further blurred.