Michael Paulson's presentation at Seattle Interactive Conference 2011.

1. Information Transparency
Empowering the Consumer Coup
Michael Paulson
VP Product & Marketing, Decide

3. TRANSPARENCY

4. TRANSPARENCY

5. TRANSPARENCY:
SHOPPING

6. Some things don’t change
Shoppers want quality products at a great price,
great customer service, convenient locations

7. Some things do change
• An overwhelming number of shopping
decisions + less free time to make those
decisions.
• New consumer pain points.
• The way people shop.
• The balance of power between
manufacturers, retailers and shoppers.

8. MORE DECISIONS, LESS TIME

9. More decisions

10. …and that’s just offline. Online?

11. You’re gonna need a longer day

12. CHANGES: NEW PAIN POINTS

13. Pain point: Price volatility
Sony 3D LED HDTV KDL-55NX810
Source: Decide Data Vault

14. Pain point: Price Volatility
$23,698,655.93
Guess the price
of this book

15. Pain point: Product obsolescence
15

16. Pain point: Information Overload
“…the volume of data obscures more than it reveals;
financial reporting has become so transparent as to be
invisible.” - Daniel Roth, Wired Magazine

17. CHANGES: HOW WE SHOP

18. How people shop
The days of uninformed shopping are over
• 70% of Americans now say they look at
product reviews before making a purchase
• 79% of smartphone owners now say they
use their smartphone to help with shopping
• 83% of moms say they do online research
after seeing TV commercials for products that
interest them
Source: ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment Of Truth, by Jim Lecinski, Google

19. How people shop

20. How people shop
The average shopper used 10.4 sources of information to make
a decision in 2011, up from 5.3 sources in 2010.
Traditional 3-Step mental model
New mental model
Source: ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment Of Truth, by Jim Lecinski, Google

21. CHANGES: BALANCE OF POWER

22. Balance Of Power
Technology is empowering shoppers by making
information more transparent.

23. Balance Of Power: Retailers’ POV
• 55% of retailers say it’s getting too easy for
consumers to find competitive prices
• 55% of retailers say shoppers are better
connected to information than store
associates
• 87% of retailers believe that shoppers can
easily find a better deal using their mobile
devices
Sources: 1) Retail Systems Research, “Optimizing Price In A Transparent World” Benchmark Report, Nikki Baird and
Paula Rosenblum, April 2011. 2) Motorola Solutions Annual Holiday Study, January 2011

25. Information Transparency (my definition)
The information consumers need
simply delivered
when and where they need it

26. SHOPPING TRANSPARENCY:
PRODUCT REVIEWS

27. Product review pioneers
1936
1979

28. Product Information, then

29. Product Information, now
“this toaster is junk and dangerous … our daughter burned her
fingers on it. It's going in the garbage where it belongs.”
“We've had 3 fires in ours … stay away from this product unless
you don't mind burning down your house/apartment.
“One of the scariest things I have ever experienced.”

30. and speaking of burned fingers…

31. Product Information, now

32. Product Information, now
• “My 6 year old was hurt within 5 min.”
• “My 8 year old cousin broke his neck
walking (not even bouncing) on these
shoes ... the little boy's life has been
pretty dramatically changed.”
• “My 7 1/2 year old daughter tried
these on at a friend's house yesterday.
She had them on for about 2 minutes
before she fell and got hurt. After a
trip to the ER and the Orthopedic
Surgeon, she has a fracture in her
growth plate.“
• Don't be as stupid as me, and DO NOT
buy this item. I'M SERIOUS!!!!”

33. BUT WAIT … THAT’S NOT ALL

34. Here’s the good news
• Most reviews are good (Avg = 4.3 / 5.0)
• Bad reviews aren’t all bad
• Socially engaged customers spend 30%
more
• Besides …the conversation is already
going on

35. Most Reviews Are Good

36. SHOPPING TRANSPARENCY:
PRICE

37. Price Comparison, then

38. Price comparison pioneers

39. Price Comparison, now

40. Unfortunately…

41. Concealment

42. Concealment

43. A cautionary tale

44. Concealment
“Our results indicate … retailers
pursue strategies to lower the
quality of the data and thus the
utility of product search … it is
more than questionable whether
ShopBots will ever create market
transparency”
Source: “SHOPBOTS AND INFORMATION QUALITY – RETAILERS’ STRATEGIES FOR PRICE CONCEALMENT” , Oliver Hinz
and Tanja Frischmann, 2008,

45. For the first time, the advantage has
tipped in consumers’ favor

46. Consumers and a wave of startups are
innovating to push the boundaries of
information transparency

47. SHOPPING TRANSPARENCY:
THE FRONTIER

48. Consumers

49. Room 77

50. Travel: Oyster
http://www.oyster.com/hotels/photo-fakeouts/

51. Yelp Monocle

52. TRUEcar

53. PointInside

54. Decide

55. Decide

56. SO WHAT?

58. Conceivable
All shopping will soon be online

59. So What? Retailers
• Your best customer is the one currently in
your store – will you keep them?
• Empower your sales associates (don’t tie their
hands).
– Provide access to product info and pricing via
mobile devices
– Have a policy around price comparison

60. What’s Your Policy?
Source: RSR Research, Optimizing Price in a Transparent World

61. So What? Retailers
• Your best customer is the one currently in
your store – will you keep them?
• Empower your sales associates (don’t tie their
hands).
– Provide access to product info and pricing via
mobile devices
– Have a policy around price comparison
– Create a feedback loop
• Standardize pricing online and in-store
• Never refuse to tell your customers a price

62. So What? Manufacturers
• What resources have you deployed toward
ZMOT? Are you one of the 10.4 research
sources?
• Think of customer product reviewers as your
extended marketing team.
• Don’t force your retailers to conceal prices.

63. So What? All Brands
• What resources have you allocated toward
driving transparency vs. concealment?
• Consider partnerships to help drive
transparency in ways that will benefit your
brand
• Monitor your brand online, incl. mobile
• Don’t fight your customers or the trend of
transparency

64. Thank You
The data scientists at

65. ?s