The regular LCSS working seminar on comparative studies conducted by GfK Group
The regular LCSS working seminar took place on May 26, 2011. Alexander Demidov, the chief executive officer of “GfK Rus” company, made a report about the comparative studies conducted by GfK Group.
The main topics of comparative studies of GfK are globalization (world integration and national-specific features), consumer homogeneity (the analysis of consumer preferences and tastes as well as brand usage) and communication (cultural, political, touristic, etc.).
To begin with, the speaker told about several groups of problems that the researchers faced working on comparative projects. Firstly, it is pre-project communication and request for investigation. It includes problems with the forming the national sample and difficulties with agreement on collaboration with colleagues from other countries. The second problem is high cost of communication and time lag (the most striking example is communication between Russia and USA as these two countries have almost 12 hours lag). Thirdly, the design and method of research should vary from country to country as they almost never show the same level of efficiency in different countries. Fourthly, the tools must be adapted (e.g. questionnaires, socio-demographic characteristics, etc.). In addition, other problems arise during the field work, data processing and analysis, and preparation of reports. Certain solutions have been found, but a lot of problems still remain unsolved.
What comparative projects are conducted by GfK? First of all, it is “Retail&Technology”. GfK collects information about sales of more then hundred categories of electrical appliances in about a hundred countries around the world. For example, in Russia purchases of electrical appliances have increased by 42%, while their average price has risen by 2,4% from January to March, 2011.
Household panel is measured by “Custom Research of FMCG” in the majority of European countries. An interesting result is that in 2009, when the world was in deep economic crisis, sales of FMCG market in Russia went 25% up comparing with the previous year.
Another global study of GfK is “Roper Reports Worldwide (RRW)”. It aims to analyze consumer behavior, attitudes and lifestyles in more than 30 countries. For example, according to the results of RRW, there is the highest confidence to advertising in Asian countries, and about 17% of Russians would like to change their teeth for better ones. “Challenges of Europe”is the study of the main problems in 11 European countries (including Russia). The main problem, according to respondents, is unemployment.
The project about socio-styles aims to study value orientations and life attitudes. Five socio-styles were defined by means of cluster analysis: «winners» are active individualists without social illusions and hopes; «re-rootings» are the most regrettable group, these are passive people without illusions and hopes; «traditionalists» are passive, but socially rooted: they care much about their families and believe in bright future and to the government; «new-comers» are active and educated people, who also have no doubt about their bright future; and «establishment»: it is the most stable group that has achieved high social position and who believes in society. In Russia the majority of respondents belong to the cluster of «re-rootings».
In conclusion, Alexander noted that GfK conducts the international qualitative research, which also has its own features: it is necessary to take into account, for example, the characteristics of the country's culture, its traditions and mentality of the population. In particular, men and women should not participate in group discussions simultaneously in Asian countries, as men tend to dominate over women, and they are afraid to express their opinion.
Another question was risen in the end of the seminar: why Russians report so optimistically about the future? They tend to believe that in a year they will live happier, they will look better etc. At the same time the level of inflation is growing and the financial situation is unstable. Why do Russians report that they feel happy then?