A 360° look at brands
The MetaSpotter® gives new insights into retail branding
A recent survey has shown that Britons would rather borrow money from supermarket giant TESCO than from the Bank of England. That’s surprising proof of a deep level of trust that strategists would sooner have expected to find toward a corner shop – that classic institution where the owners are also the sales assistants and pack the customers’ bags themselves.
Most German retail brands are still light years away from this type of relationship to their customers – they seem to prefer to attract buyers with shrill advertisements that scream “low prices.” But what effect does it have on a brand’s image when communication focuses solely on price? And what influence does a brand’s image have on its customers’ loyalty and willingness to buy? Is a brand’s image of itself in line with the view from the outside? How does the average customer see himself, and how does this fit into brand image? Where are the “disconnects” in a brand’s set of values – and where is the potential? How distinctive is the brand in the competitive arena?
A panorama view thanks to the MetaSpotter®
Up to now, no research model containing all the necessary norms and parameters had been available to answer such complex questions. That’s why the MetaSpotter® was developed: it is the first instrument that can measure and depict 360° view of how a brand is perceived by a wide range of target groups. This can be done either by surveying a cross-section of the general population or by focusing on one specific group – experts, for example. In this way, the MetaSpotter® can be used both as a strategic management decision model and as a classic market and consumer research tool.
Retail brands in the spotlight
For the study “Retail Branding,” MetaDesign examined the brand images of German supermarkets, discount grocery chains, drugstores, consumer electronic stores and DIY home-improvement markets – five in each category from an expert’s point of view. First the brands were evaluated using a polarity profile with 15 pairs of opposing values. MetaDesign then transferred the results to a tri-polar values model showing the dimensions “challenge,” “experience” and “preserve.”
Contrary brand images? – supermarket vs. discounter
Take grocery stores, for example. An all-out price war has led to a division of the market into two clear categories: supermarkets on the one hand and discount chains on the other. The results of the MetaSpotter® show that EDEKA and LIDL are classic examples of these two categories.
EDEKA’s values profile has a strong orientation toward protection and home – a “preserving” character which comes closest to that of a corner shop. LIDL’s values are clustered around the “challenge” pole. This contains such attributes as assertion, performance and objectivity, all indicators of a clear performance orientation.
PLUS, a discount chain, has chosen an interesting path down the middle. Using playful communication (“little prices”) and store brands such as BioBio and VivaVital, PLUS has positioned itself in the eyes of its customers as a discount store with such classical supermarket attributes as high quality and innovation. This is a clear attempt at differentiation in the discounter segment by combining the best of both worlds.
“By emphasizing community values, supermarkets offer their customers a significantly stronger potential for identification than do ordinary discount chains” says Arne Brekenfeld, Chief Client Officer of MetaDesign AG, in summarizing the analysis of German grocery chains. “This potential for identification is what distinguishes a retail brand from just another chain and turns regular customers into loyal customers.”
The MetaSpotter® has established itself as a reliable instrument for analyzing companies and brands. Based on values, it captures and illustrates the current perception or the desired image of a brand in the eyes of various target groups and in comparison to its competitors. But unlike the British, Germans still prefer to borrow money from their local bank*.
* Find out more in MetaDesign’s survey of the banking and insurance sectors, which will be published later this year.