Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

A recent post I wrote at anothe blog talks about the marketing research business and some of its problems. With the steady growth of online reasearch, it has created tremendous price pressure that is affecting the entire industry. It is being shaken, and that is with only around 17% of marketing research currently being done online.

This is the type of thing that we all must watch out for in any industry that the Internet or technology can create low-cost alternatives that anybody can embrace. In other words we must watch out for and respond to what we do being turned into a commodity.

If the marketing research community is unable to respond, they will find margins and profits dropping exponentially - it's already happening!

What can they do in response? They must be willing to not only adapt, but possibly explode their old business model. It can't survive as it has been for years. The Internet has changed it completely. There's no going back.

The area that is surviving for now is the focus groups and in-depth interview areas, but that will probably gradually erode as broadband is further embraced among the general population (it's really not able to be done with those that have dial-up access to the Internet).

Companies need to understand this is a transition that will end up with the Internet being the major means of conducting research. This is the time to look for ways to create added value in the Internet space or they will end up where the entertainment companies are going by having to accept the fact that they will not be making the money that they are used to.

All of us need to look at whether the Internet or technology will commoditize our businesses, no, rather we must look at how much they will, not if they will.

This will be one of the great challenges in the years ahead. I take that back: it's upon us now!

Other commodity articles of interest:

Every Business is a Commodity Business

Normal is a Commodity

You know it's a CES commodity when...

Are you a commodity business? Don't be a cheeseburger!

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker