Global Industry Outlook 2011 - Retail

By M. Isi Eromosele

The year 2011 will pave the way to innovation, opportunities and new ways of delivering products and services to the empowered retail consumer. To maintain sustained profitability, retail companies will need to rely on innovative ways to attract new customers, even as they strive to retain the ones they have already acquired. Slow recovery from the recent recession, consumer doubts about the direction of the economy and tightening credit have combined to curtail consumer spending, presenting a mildly uncertain climate for the Retail industry.

This year will produce smarter retailers who will strive to establish consistency in sales and strengthen loyalty among their varied and segmented customers. The sustained provision of impeccable customer experience is imperative for retailers who want to succeed in a marketplace that has become highly competitive.

A major conduit to growth would be to find ways to be more competitive. This would require concerted efforts at differentiation from competitors and full utilization of multi-channel marketing approaches, including heavy use of social media marketing. Expect empowered consumers to be much more selective in their shopping this year, as they seek detailed product information as well as consider other factors before making purchase decisions. These factors include whether the product is environmentally correct and whether a private label version of it is available with comparable quality at a reduced price.

The ability of consumers to instantly obtain information about any product through the Internet has upbraided the relationship between brands and their customers. Control has shifted to the newly empowered customers and this new paradigm has created a highly competitive retail marketplace. Retailers must adapt by proactively providing product information in wholesomely transparent ways. An excellent method to accomplish this is through social media conversations with consumers themselves. Engaging their customers this way will reassure them about the retailers’ product integrity, brand personality and company reputation.

The following are other actions retailers would need to implement in order to have a most profitable year in 2011:

• Build stronger connections with their customers and realign their marketing with customer preferences in order to enhance delivery of customized services


• Establish a social marketing platform that would facilitate customer interaction with particular brands.


• Improve online presence with social communities that capture customer profiles, gaining insight into customer buying patterns


• Deliver impeccable shopping experience for customers


• Optimize product information management with multi-tiered data storage strategy


• Accelerate speed to market of new products and services


• Monitor sales and gross profits for all divisions and channels of customer delivery


• Enable predictive analysis methodology to predict products that customers are most likely to buy


• Assure inventory accuracy with high-value product tracking systems


• Implement an integrated view of all sales channels, enabling better maintenance of inventories


• Streamline order fulfillment processes to eliminate inefficiencies that result in excess inventories


• Provide a seamless and pleasing experience to the customer in the store, Web and on the phone

There are considerable opportunities available for revenue growth for those retail organizations that utilize transparency, analytics, multi channels and social media marketing to create and maintain excellent customer experience.

Contact Us For Full Report

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

http://twitter.com/osemegroup | http://twitter.com/oseme22

Copyright Control © 2011 Oseme Group

Global Industry Outlook 2011 - Media + Entertainment

By M. Isi Eromosele

In 2011, media and entertainment companies will face many complex operational challenges, including the increasing impact of technology, digital rights management, new and developing revenue models and recently empowered consumers. Nevertheless, it is expected that there will exciting developments within the industry. A digital revolution is driving a customer-driven change in how media technology is used.

Consumers are replacing mobile phones with smartphones, printed text with e-readers and regular televisions with Internet-linked TVs. Media consumption is now fully digitized, with consumers a mere click away from a boundless selection of music, videos, games, news and more. Media and Entertainment companies will be exploring numerous options that could grow their revenues and markets as sources of content continue to grow, consumer electronics develop and new platforms come out.

During this period of tremendous change, Media and Entertainment companies ought to concentrate on reducing costs, increasing profits and maintaining market liquidity, even as they transform themselves to serve the changing needs of their global customers.

Digital media consumptions, especially among the younger generation will come at the sacrifice of its traditional equivalents. In a survey, 60 percent the younger generation audience (18 - 21 years old) said they watch much less regularly scheduled television as a direct consequence of their viewing online television. This type of change to digital media could be problematic for some M & E companies, since their major means of online revenues have been ad-supported models, which yield considerably lower returns than broadcast television.

It is apparent that media companies would require innovative approaches to grow their digital advertising revenues in 2011. At Oseme Group, we see three areas for potential innovation:

• Adoption of new sophisticated revenue models that extend beyond mass advertising to deliver personalized and related promotions.


• Use of sectional and adjustable pricing plans. It should be noted that while ad-supported model may be preferable to many companies within the industry, a large part of the digital audience is eager to pay for digital content


• M & E companies should offer flawless experience to their audience. This would involve portability across multi-channel devices as well as multiple experiences within single devices.

Implementation of the above innovations would require much deeper understanding of target audiences. Our surveys have indicated that many consumers are willing to share personal information in exchange for experiences they value. Additionally, hybrid forms of business models could help companies please a much wider ranger of their target audiences.

To help Media & Entertainment companies better adapt to the sweeping changes taking place in the industry, Oseme Group recommends the following:

• Acquire inventive business models that exploit opportunities presented by new interactive platforms


• Utilizing creative Business Design methods, reorganize internal processes and support technologies to underpin the new business models


• Using integrated Social CRM algorithms, obtain consumer data to enable deep analysis for more efficient targeting and delivery of services

In order to remain relevant and profitable, media and entertainment companies must adapt to the sweeping changes that are evolving within the industry and develop new business models that will help them implement the necessary realignment that need to take place.

Contact Us For Full Report

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

http://twitter.com/osemegroup | http://twitter.com/oseme22

Copyright Control © 2011 Oseme Group

Global Industry Outlook 2011 - Consumer Packaged Goods

By M. Isi Eromosele

The biggest issue facing consumer packaged goods companies is 2011 is how to compete more efficiently in a highly competitive market. With the advent in Internet technology and consumers’ desire to gain more information before making purchases, the consumer products industry will be required to put more information on their products. By means of the increasingly prevalent social media networks, consumers can verify, validate and learn products - their origins, ingredients and how they compare with other products in terms of quality and pricing.

For many decades, CPG companies utilized advertising and marketing to shape their brands before presenting them to consumers. In 2011, this will no longer work, as consumers are now empowered with a strong voice and tools that enable information and opinions to be dispersed in an instant. Manufacturer messaging no longer carries the day as consumers are in the drivers’ seat. Consumers can access a variety of online resources to ascertain if a product’s claims are true. This puts the manufacturers on the defensive as it forces them to prove the authenticity of their products.

Information has fast become the main currency of the sales process. This carries major repercussions for CPG companies. It is imperative for them to proactively acquire and present product information to consumers in a timely manner or risk consumers shaping their products’ reputations. With the increased prevalence of private label products, consumer product companies will be under pressure to adjust their pricing, making sure that price disparity is at a minimum.

Other issues consumer packaged goods companies need to address in 2011 include:

Maintaining Growth

The ability of consumer goods manufacturers to achieve and sustain profitability will be challenging in 2011. The costs of energy, raw materials and other necessary resources continue to rise. Compliance to complex industry regulations and dynamic risk management rules are adding to onerous expenses. To achieve profitable growth in today’s competitive marketplace, CPG companies must productively steer through more dynamic, competitive, regulatory and global environments. They would need to reevaluate their product portfolios as they refocus some of their core brands. Distribution channels, which are becoming more complex, would need to be streamlined and made more efficient.

In order to maintain product success, consumer product companies would need to engage and build relationships with their customers, with social media as the main conduit of implementation. Additionally, they will have to do extremely well at fostering collaboration with their customers as well as endeavor to optimize their operations to engender responsiveness, sustainability adaptability and efficient performance.

Operations Excellence

In order to flourish in a competitive marketplace, CPG companies will need to be agile, flexible and effective in the use of their physical as well human assets. Competencies must be enhanced through tremendous in-house programs to sustain the intellectual capital that drives their operations and performance. Plants would need to be optimized to flawlessly operate in order to meet target goals and capture opportunities profitably within strict safety and quality guidelines.

Shipment and quality errors, which can damage brands, must be eliminated. Repeated delayed response to market demands and requirements should not be tolerated as this can result in loss of market share. Product quality must be enforced and electronically documented throughout the production processes, which would enable fast problem resolutions.

Contact Us For Full Report

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

http://twitter.com/osemegroup | http://twitter.com/oseme22

Copyright Control © 2011 Oseme Group

Global Industry Outlook 2011 - Global Finance

By M. Isi Eromosele

As we start the year of 2011, the ripple effect from the sub-prime mortgage lending practices that resulted in a global financial crisis is still being felt within the financial industry, albeit at a minimal level. The global economy is showing tentative signs of economic and financial recovery. Many economies have returned to positive growth, especially in emerging market nations. The stock markets in a few developed nations have returned to their pre-financial crisis levels. The outlook for the global finance industry is cautiously hopeful.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty about how long it will take for the industry to fully recover. Many huge global sized financial institutions are still taking significant write-offs to cover their losses from the recent financial crisis. As 2011 progresses, many global financial institutions could experience continued detrimental effect on their earnings as well as negative asset qualities. Several of these institutions may have to carry particular bad debts and securities on their balance sheets.

The issue of financial liquidity has been and still is of foremost concern for global financial services institutions. China recently raised the liquidity ratios for its banks. In the European Union, the Central Banks of many nations, including those of the United Kingdom, Spain and Ireland have had to inject funds into major banks within their financial systems in order to keep them solvent. The U.S. Federal Reserve had taken the same action in the United States. Several nations within the European Union, including Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain have required or may require financial bailout assistance to cover their nations’ huge budget deficits.

On a positive note, banks have started lending to one another again, making them less dependent on funding from their respective nation’s Central Banks. After several months of intense negotiations and collective actions by the European Union, there is a universal feeling that the budget crisi in Europe has been stabilized. New banking (Basel III) regulatory rules have been established, specifically designed to avoid a repeat of the recent global financial crisis. New tougher controls dealing with capital liquidity and leverage are being gradually phrased in by banks around the world.

The global financial institutions need to address other significant issues in 2011, including:

Globalization

The globalization of financial markets and systems during the past decade has presented challenges as well as opportunities within the banking and securities sectors. As a result of new global security regulations, the capability of banks to produce fee income by re-packaging credit books has been eliminated. New consumer protection laws prevent the sale of complex derivatives to many customers. Proprietary trading by banks had been outlawed in many areas. To what extent will the above affect private global investments by banking institutions in developed economies? Time will tell.

Regulatory Complexity

Expect the banking and securities sectors to experience rising regulatory difficulty in various areas. As such, it is crucial that financial organizations stay abreast of developing rules. Additionally, they would have to update and refine their risk management systems. Additional consumer protection laws may be promulgated to guard against predatory lending practices. At the supervisory level, new rules and regulations will be established to guide examiners and supervisors for when they conduct their onsite evaluation of financial institutions.

Contact Us For Full Report

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

http://twitter.com/osemegroup | http://twitter.com/oseme22

Copyright Control © 2011 Oseme Group

Global Industry Outlook 2011 - Automotive

By M. Isi Eromosele

2011 will be a demanding, yet thrilling year for the global automotive industry. With restructuring plans in place or well under way among global auto companies, many auto makers are ready to become more competitive. In the United States, the auto market remains very competitive for all automakers. As part of the after effect of the recent global recession, the U.S. auto market will experience slow recovery growth for the next three to five years. As such, it is imperative that auto makers turn their sight to the growing global emerging markets for new market growth as well as increased revenue. The industry has experienced terrific growth in emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The tremendous potential in these emerging markets will mitigate what is expected to be flat-to-slow growth in the developed economies of the U.S. and the European Union.

Within 2011, the auto industry will see continued restructuring as both manufacturers and their suppliers reassess their respective market positions and look to shed non-core products and peripheral assets. It is expected that industry leaders will look to make strategic acquisitions to enhance their competitive global and regional market positions as well as bolster their product lines. Private equity ownership may continue to play a major role in the industry’s alteration. Look for carefully selected U.S. investment by both major and niche market car producers, looking to increase their manufacturing capabilities.

Other trends that could shape the global auto industry in 2011 include:

Global car manufacturers will look to make strategic alliances, which would primarily be centered on technology and innovation. There will be an increase in alliances and partnerships, rather than outright acquisitions. For example, Spyker, the Dutch niche auto manufacturer that bought the Saab auto brand in 2010 is looking to strike a deal with the much larger BMW that will see it benefit from BMW’s vaunted engine technology. Spyker is looking to more than double Saab car production to 140,000 units a year. Collaboration between manufacturers as well as with suppliers will become more common as the dynamism in the industry increases.

In a highly competitive auto industry, it is very challenging to maintain consumer loyalty. Today, consumers have more choices of automobiles in various classes and price ranges. Automakers cannot afford customer dissatisfaction at any level, given the negative publicity that would generate in an age of rapid information dissemination through the Internet and social media. As automakers keenly compete for market share in 2011, it is imperative that they reexamine their marketing methods, with particular emphasis on how they would maintain customer loyalty.

Tight credit market, resulting from the recent global financial crisis, will continue to have a negative effect on the overall sales of autos around the world. Unless the current atmosphere improves, there will be slightly lower consumer demand for new vehicles.

Fisker Automotive still hasn’t delivered a car to a customer, but someone out there thinks a lot of the nascent plug-in hybrid maker’s future. The Irvine, CA., company has just completed a $150 million private fundraising round - bringing to $489 million the total amount of private investment capital it has raised since its inception. Tesla continues the increasing production of its Tesla electric car. Niche car manufacturers will continue to serve the needs of highly segmented markets.

Contact Us For Full Report

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

http://twitter.com/osemegroup | http://twitter.com/oseme22

Copyright Control © 2011 Oseme Group