April 30, 2007

Marketers Focus on Details of Customers' Daily Lives

More than ever, companies are pouring their resources into watching their customers. Twenty years ago, Microsoft had two researchers who specialized in observing consumers at home or at work. Today, the company has 300. At General Mills, about half the consumer research now involves observing people individually, compared with 10 years ago when about 80% of its research was done in focus groups. Procter & Gamble has increased spending on such personal research fivefold since 2000. It spent $200 million in consumer-focused research last year.

Marketers zooming in on your daily routines, USA Today, April 30, 2007.