Tag Archives: online consumer panels

Ups and Downs in 2014, el parte dos

I knitted this for you.
I knitted this for you.

Now, a brighter look at prices in 2014. While wine, BMWs and the McDonald’s Dollar Menu are all going up (grrr!), there is some good news on the horizon. Let’s take a look at some prices expected to fall this year, as reported by DealNews.com…(with bonus dumb commentary!)

  • 3D Printers: are you following this? You take a bucket of chuh, pour it into a printer and make things! Like, real things! The possibilities are limitless (and terrifying!)
  • 4K HDTVs: 4K is supposedly SUPER HD. I’m always behind. Just now bought an HDTV, and the next big thing has already happened!
  • Gold: Yeah, we’ll see about this. Gold only comes down when the economy is doing well.
  • Crude Oil: Probably the best news on this list.
  • Off-Contract Smartphones: This is the only way to go. Used, refurbished phone and no contract? No-brainer.
  • Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3: That is, the OLDER systems. They’re not as sexy, but the manufacturers are promising to support the old tech.
  • Touchscreen Laptops: Because nobody wants them!
  • 1080p Laptops: See above!
  • Smartwatches: Because that’s apparently a thing now!

There’s more at the original article, so check it out! So, what do you think? Any of these items sound good to you? Are you planning any big purchases this year? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Retail of the FUTURE!

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amazon droneYou may have seen the gizmo above in a viral video that went around the web last month. Apparently, when we’re finished blowing up al Qaeda, Amazon wants to employ flying drones to deliver your packages same day – maybe even same hour – depending on where you live. (And, really, shouldn’t we employ veterans?)

The video shows the folks at the Amazon warehouse packing your order in these special tubs. The drone comes by, clamps the tub and takes off. An hour later the tub is dropped at your doorstep. I wonder what we’re supposed to do with the tubs?

Anyway, that’s just one of the retail advancements being speculated in a Business Insider article entitled “10 Predictions For How Shopping Will Completely Change In The Future.”

Here are some highlights (with bonus dumb commentary)! See if any sound good to you…

  • Companies are researching you in unprecedented ways. (No! that’s the government’s job!) Looking at the ways we perceive value, and hoping to manipulate them, I guess.
  • Same-day (or hour) delivery will become common. Either by drone or by some dude in brown shorts.
  • Traditional stores will have the same analytic intelligence as online. “How do we arrive at our buying decisions?” That’s what they’re after.
  • Social feedback will factor into purchases. Retailers are paying attention to platforms like Pinterest, where shoppers post pics of the items they like or have purchased. The retailers then take those items and feature them more prominently.
  • Privacy will become a business. As we have seen recently, maybe Target should get into that business!

Per usual, just the highlights. Lots more at the original piece, so check it out! What do YOU think? Good changes? Do you think retailers are doing these things to make life easier or to make $$$$$? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

New Year’s (Financial) Resolutions

new-year-sNot everybody makes New Year’s resolutions. I decided years ago to quit while I was behind. But many folks still keep the faith, and resolve to Get Healthy, Reconnect with Friends and Save More Money. Those are the three, right?

Anyway, if you are in the mind to do better when it comes to personal finance, here are some handy links to light your path. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Dave Ramsey: What’s In and Out this year

Huffington Post: 5 Ways to Keep Your Financial Resolutions Beyond the New Year

Forbes: The Secret To Making Financial Resolutions You’ll Actually Keep

Fidelity Investments: 2014 New Year Financial Resolutions Stud

Investopedia: Financial New Year’s Resolutions You Can Keep

Schwab: 10 Resolutions for a Happy Financial New Year

Daily Finance: 7 Financial New Year’s Resolutions You Should Keep

American Institute of CPAs: New Year’s Financial Resolutions

How about YOU? Have any spending or saving resolutions you wish to share? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

A Nutty New Year’s Eve

3...2...1...PICKLE!
3…2…1…PICKLE!

Time to check in with New Year’s Eve traditions, some familiar, some downright NUTTY.

Auld Lang Syne: What’s the story behind this classic? Find out HERE.

Kissing at midnight: if you don’t, it’s “a year of loneliness” for you, according to tradition.

Black-eyed peas and collard greens: In the South, they represent pennies and dollars. In other words, prosperity!

Colorful undies: in Latin America, the color of your unmentionables at midnight will affect your fortunes in the coming year.

Ooh, MELTY! Those crazy Germans drop molten metal into a bucket of water, and whatever twisted shape it takes reveals your fortune for the coming year.

Fireworks: The Chinese invented them, and set them off at midnight to ward off evil spirits.

Polka dots: In the Philippines, the circle represents prosperity. So wear those dots!

The night for white: In Brazil, you wear white on New Year’s Eve. Otherwise, bad luck!

Renewal in Japan: New Year’s is super important in Japan. Lots of emphasis on flushing away the troubles of last year, and hoping for better in the new. Temples strike their gongs 108 times, to banish the 108 types of human weakness. Personally, I have 137 kinds of human weakness. So GET ON IT, Japan!

Burn that mother down! In the Netherlands, they build bonfires in the streets using their Christmas trees.

Chew carefully: When eating New Year’s cake in Greece. One lucky person will find a gold coin, bringing good fortune in the new year.

12 grapes: In Spain, you eat one grape for every stroke of the bell. Statistically, it’s the New Year’s tradition with the most Vitamin C.

You dropped something! In Mt. Olive NC (oddly, the home of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.) they drop a lighted pickle instead of a ball. Meanwhile, in Eastport Maine, it’s a lighted sardine! And Brasstown, NC lowers an opossum in a Plexiglas box (and PETA hates that!)

So, we’re all from somewhere else… do you have any different or oddball NYE traditions to share? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a happy, SAFE New Year!

Sources: Here, here, here and here!

Notes on 300

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sorry, this is NOT sparta!
sorry, this is NOT sparta!

Welcome to MindFieldLive’s 300th post! This blog came online on September 11, 2010. A Saturday, oddly. Just a quick hello and an invitation to tour the site – which thousands have done. The various permanent pages describing how the whole MindField thing works have always been the most visited pages.

 

But we have also talked about a bunch of other stuff, some serious topics and some goofy ones too. We have made note of just about every Facebook milestone. Note this headache-inducing graphic from October 15, 2010…

today: 40,657!
today: 40,657!

We’ve asked questions like “what makes this product FOR WOMEN when all they did was take the regular product and make it pink?”

Like so.
Like so.

We have discussed the return of old habits, like layaway. Who would have thought?

We talked a lot about technology changes, and how they affect our shopping habits. Online shopping immediately springs to mind. Other “advancements” include a boatload of smartphone apps that allow you to comparison shop on the showroom floor, make dinner reservations, help you remember where you parked, receive insta-coupons, etc. Where is this trend heading? Will our increasing paranoia about privacy blunt its growth? (I kind of doubt it!)

The sad journeys of some old favorites. JCPenney comes to mind, with the hiring of an old Apple retail exec. He made a bunch of changes (no more Saturday sales, everyday low prices, etc.) that everybody hated, forcing JCP to flip-flop. They continue to circle the drain, and it doesn’t look good for the 110-year-old retailer.

Mom & Pop video stores vs. Blockbuster vs. Netflix vs. Redbox. It has been a wild 20 years in this segment, but it really came to a head in the MindFieldLive blog era. Mom & Pop were already dead and Blockbuster was king – though stumbling. Netflix was killing them with home-delivered DVD’s – until Redbox came along and forced them to change course. Today, Blockbuster is dead (with zero tears shed,) there’s a Redbox at every corner gas station and Netflix owns home streaming

Overall, the major trend has simply been the economy. What decisions have you made in the last 3 years that weren’t colored by anxiety over how things are and where they are heading? Is it getting any better? I honestly can’t say. What do you think?

Anyway, it’s been fun. We’re glad to see you every Tuesday and Friday, and we hope you keep coming around. Thanks to the best bunch of consumer panelists in the business! Have a great weekend, and see you on New Year’s Eve!

TARGET-ed!

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target-credit-card-breach-stolenBeen keeping up with that credit card breach at Target? Here’s the skinny….

Target says 40 million credit and debit cards may have been compromised. If you shopped at a U.S. Target store between November 27 and December 15, you should assume you’re at risk and keep a close watch on your account statements. It’s not clear whether every Target store was affected, but at least one card issuer says it’s seeing signs of fraud all over the United States, according to Krebs on Security. You’re not in any danger if you shopped at Target’s website, or one of the company’s Canada stores. Time Magazine

At my house, we got our notices from Target via email. It answers a lot of questions, offers advice, as well as the opportunity to access free credit reporting from the big agencies.

Some, of course, are saying it’s too little too late. The public relations nightmare – and the lawsuits – have already begun. In my opinion – very much a “seems to me” without any hard evidence – Target was a little late in admitting there had been a breach. When they did, they talked about it happening on Black Friday weekend (let’s say 11/27 to 12/1.) By the time I got my email, that weekend period had stretched to December 15!

On the other hand, let’s not place ALL the blame on (seemingly) inadequate security. Let’s be sure to thank the jerks who stole the credit cards. They KNOW you and I won’t be held accountable for the fraudulent purchases, and they see it as a victimless crime. In my opinion, it’s ECONOMIC TERRORISM pure and simple.

Anyway, here are some (FRESH) links if you need to catch up:

Did you get your notice? Is this an outrage, or more of the same in today’s super-connected, ever-more-vulnerable world? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and Merry Christmas Eve!

The Smell of the Sell

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sens-MMCWhat does a Hugo Boss store smell like? I couldn’t tell you. But I know it smells like something. And the scent was scientifically chosen, and it’s the same in every store. Why? To sell stuff!

Such sensory branding is becoming a bigger part of stores’ consumer marketing. Retailers often rely on music and colors to create a mood, but now they’re targeting the other sense, smell, to get customers to make a more sophisticated connection to the brand through their shopping experience — they even have a name for it: olfactive branding. Time.com

What have the eggheads learned with these sorts of sensory branding?

Sight: displays consisting of warm colors (red/yellow/orange) are good at attracting impulse buyers, while cooler blues and greens attract the more analytical shopper.

Sound: you may be tired of the holiday music in stores now but, like it or not, it put you in a Christmas mindset, which fuels gift buying.

Taste: there’s a reason Starbucks (and everybody else) whips out the pumpkin spice in the fall and peppermint in the winter!

Smell: has really captured the retailers’ imaginations in the past few years. Baby powder smell in the kids. Section, coconut in the swimwear section, and so on. There are even professional smell consultants who design official scents for retailers. By the way, I said I didn’t know what a Hugo Boss smells like. Actually it’s “musk with a hint of citrus.” I don’t know what that MEANS, of course. So, technically, I wasn’t lying!

So, what do YOU think? Trickery or smart business? What smells have you noticed? Do you notice them at all? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Online Spending and Trending

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online-holiday-shoppingA survey by the Marist Poll, entitled “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Last Year” states it pretty bluntly: The hope that an improving economy would spur holiday shopping does not seem to be materializing.

But while spending isn’t up much, they point out the way we split opur shopping time and dollars. Across the board, online shopping keeps nibbling away at the total.

What are we spending compared to last year?

  • 52% expect to spend about the same
  • 10% plan to spend more this year
  • 38% think they will spend less.

…numbers almost identical to 2012

Where are we purchasing?

  • 19% strictly online, up from 14% in 2012
  • 41% buy some online, some brick & mortar, unchanged
  • 40% brick & mortar only, down from 44% last year

Regional differences in online buying?

  • Northeast: 28%, up from 19% last year
  • South: 17%, up from 12%
  • Midwest: 16%, up from 11%
  • West: 18%, up from 16%

Online buying age gap? Yep.

  • Under 45: 27% mostly online shopping, up from 20% last year
  • Over 45: 13% mostly online, up from 11%

More stats and analysis at the original piece, so, you know, check it out! So, do you see yourself in these numbers? Are your shopping habits changing? Online more? Brick& mortar less? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page.

Ditching the Name Brands?

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110924-ketchupHere’s a lightweight Friday piece on brand loyalty vs. pinching pennies. Times are tight y’all! We all have our favorite brands of food and health & beauty items. For some, our loyalty is so strong we will stick with them even when the budget gets tight. Others, not so much. Turns out, according to Forbes.com, there’s a pattern to which items we will sacrifice first.

Here’s a list of everyday items, with the percentage that the name brand has lost to the generics since the economy up and got dead in 2008 (with bonus dumb commentary!)

  • Paper Towels down 1%
  • Facial Tissue down 8%
  • Laundry Detergent down 9%. Not in our house. Sgt. Wife insists on Tide!
  • Pasta Sauce down 10%. Definitely. A couple of cans of Walmart Italian-style diced tomatoes (68 cents each!) is just as good.
  • Fruit Juice down 12%
  • Soup down 12%. I do think Campbell’s is better, but it’s been forever since I bought any.
  • Shampoo down 12%. Can’t say. I have always been a Suave girl. Guy. Whatever.
  • Toothpaste down 12%.
  • Mouthwash down 14%. It’s blue alcohol. Is NameBrand-sterine that much better than Walmart-sterine?
  • Over-the-counter medicine down 17%. When one is $7 and the other $4.59? Definitely!

There’s more to be had at the original article (not much, really) including the percentage of each of these segments that the generic brands have swiped from the name brands. So check it out!

How about you? Which of your fave name brands have you given up for the economic apocalypse? Did you switch, and then switch back? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Last Minute Tax Reduction Tips

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2010-year-end-tax-tips-landlords-250x250I know we’re all distracted by Holiday shopping madness, but it’s never too soon to start looking for ways to reduce your 2013 income tax obligation. You only have 3 weeks left to make adjustments!

Things like deferring income until the new year, making charitable donations, pre-paying next year’s college tuition, and maxing out your IRA and HSA contributions are all legitimate ways to cut your tax bill. For a more comprehensive list of tax ideas, I went on a little Google search. Here is a list of links that will get you started.

And, just in case you miss the boat, there’s always next year!

Of course, you should definitely consult with your tax professional before doing this. That’s if you can catch him – he’s probably out Christmas shopping!

How about you? Have you used any of these techniques? Did you save much? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!