Understanding Consumer Behaviour in 2019

This year we will have more data about the behaviour of consumers than ever before. Our ability to capture data will get better as more and more people get on the internet and buy more smartphones.  

With the smartphone, more consumers will spend more time doing newer things like buying, learning on the internet creating a deluge of data points. IOT sensors will also capture data about people's behaviour which was not available earlier. What temperature is your room air conditioner, how fast you drive etc. And top it, more and more processing power and sophisticated algorithms to make better sense of the deluge of data. So does that mean that consumer behaviour become totally predictable definitive? 

Unlikely. 

For one, consumers will also get subjected to a lot of new varied stimulus. More ideas more powerfully propagated will impact consumer behavior in newer ways. While the underlying human motivation take time to change, the manifestations of these in behaviour can change pretty fast, and often in unpredictable ways. People find newer ways of expressing themselves.

So what should marketers do? In my opinion spend more time and effort gathering qualitative insights. Spend time in the market. Talk to customers and the shop sales people. It is boring but we do not quite have an alternative. Have more open conversations with customers. Listen to the underlying emotions, beyond the "how do rate us on a scale of 1 to 5" kind. 

Not to say that you ignore the data. But do not ignore intuition. Have your own eureka moments.

Check out the link below for an example how taking face to face with customers can give transforming business insights.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46546014

So when looking at the data take a break once in a while and let your intuition work.