GMI Newsletter - January 2009

Home > About us > News > Newsletters > January 2009

Welcome to the January 2009 edition of our newsletter.

Choose an article below:

	Panel spotlight: Germany		GMI sponsors CASRO Panel Conference breakfast, Feb. 3rd
	GMI powers MindWorld online retail study with consumer panel		GMI launches corporate website in four additional languages
	GMI co-sponsors 2008 Research Industry Trends study		Who's new at GMI

Panel spotlight: Germany

In 2007, Germany overtook France to rank as third-largest research market after the USA and the UK with revenues of $2,659 million and a global market share of 9.4% (source: ESOMAR Global Market Research Report 2008). With a population of over 82 million consumers, a 63.8% Internet penetration rate and 17 million Internet broadband connections (source: Internet World Stats), Germany is a market to be reckoned with.

GMI's German online panel, which is representative of the country's national Internet population of 52.5 million, provides reach to over 300,000 highly profiled German consumers, ensuring response rates of 20% and high-quality research results. GMI recruits its German panel from multiple sources, such as popular websites, publishers and secure email address databases.

Request a German panel quote »
About GMI's consumer panel »
Download the GMI Global Panel Book (PDF) »

Back to top

GMI sponsors CASRO Panel Conference breakfast, Feb. 3rd

Next week in New Orleans, CASRO will hold its second-annual Panel Conference. GMI will be present at the event, and would like to cordially invite you to attend its sponsored breakfast at 7:30 am on Tuesday, February 3rd at the InterContinental Hotel. Join us to learn how you can enhance your data quality and maximize your return on research investment in these uncertain economic times by implementing creative respondent engagement strategies.

In a world where the research industry is fighting for respondent mindshare, panelist cooperation and engagement will be a critical success factor in the coming months. The key will be to self-examine and improve the online survey instruments we know and use today to foster an outstanding end-to-end online panelist experience and boost respondent participation rates to ensure the delivery of high-quality research data.

Set up an appointment with GMI at the show »
About the CASRO Panel Conference »
Request a GMI panel quote »

Back to top

GMI powers MindWorld online retail study with consumer panel

Online shopping continues to grow in the Netherlands (35% in the first half of 2008) despite a decline in consumer trust (-31 last July). So what do Dutch consumers really think about online shopping in general, and how does that compare with specific, popular online outlet brands? This is what MindWorld, a qualitative brand research agency with global headquarters in Amsterdam, sought out to find out in collaboration with GMI and communications specialist Synergy.

MindWorld interviewed a representative sample of 300 Dutch Internet users aged 18 and older sourced from GMI's global online consumer panel, and looked at the current image and brand values of online shopping compared to the brand image of Bol.com, the Netherlands' largest online media retailer. Counting two million customers in the Netherlands alone, the giant grew revenue from €171 million in 2007 to €224 million in 2008, and has delivered over 17 million goods since March 1999.

"Instead of asking respondents regular targeted questions that typically influence their answers, we work with the top-of-mind associations and related feelings that they have about particular brands," explains Rudmer van der Meulen, Commercial Manager at MindWorld. "By spontaneously expressing all of the characteristics they associate with a brand, consumers generate an uncensored picture of their actual experience with that brand."

The study revealed that online shopping currently enjoys a very positive image in the Netherlands, based on such spontaneous associations as:

• Ease-of-use (spontaneously mentioned by 74% of all respondents)
• Speed (34%)
• Better price (18%)
• Price / product comparison (16%)
• Home shopping (15%)

• Reliability (spontaneously mentioned by 11% of the respondents)
• Intangibility of products (8%)
• High shipping cost (5%)

Overall, 78% of respondents' spontaneous associations about online shopping were positive vs. only 12% implying a negative experience.

A lot of Dutch consumers actually linked the associations they had with online shopping (also spontaneously) to the Bol.com brand. But in comparison, the study revealed that the Dutch online retailer enjoys a much stronger brand image, especially in the reliability and customer experience departments, supported by an overall awareness score of 97%. In contrast to online shopping, Bol.com has been able to create a stronger and more positive online customer experience.

"Working with GMI has been an enjoyable experience right from the start," concludes van der Meulen. "GMI's Dutch sales and service teams were very responsive to our needs, and their consumer panel delivered the high quality we were expecting. This is the start of a long-term partnership, and we look forward to many more projects in the future."

Published courtesy of Dutch monthly marketing publication Tijdschrift voor Marketing, October 2008 issue.

About MindWorld »
Request a Dutch panel quote »
Download the GMI Global Panel Book (PDF) »

Back to top

GMI launches corporate website in four additional languages

Following the launch of Japanese, French and Spanish versions in the fall of 2008, GMI's corporate website is now available in Dutch, German, Korean and Traditional Chinese to serve the needs of its global customers. The GMI Online Resource Center features the latest editions of the GMI consumer and specialty panel books, customer case studies, white papers, how-to-guides and published GMI bylines providing useful market research tips. A sample size calculator is also available to help you determine how large of a sample you need to get an accurate representation of the overall population of the segment you are targeting.

Visit the new sites:

 Back to top

GMI co-sponsors 2008 Research Industry Trends study

Last year, GMI co-sponsored the annual Research Industry Trends (RIT) study, along with other select industry partners. This study has been initiated since 2003 by market research firm Rockhopper Research. The 2008 full report is now available, shedding light on the challenges facing the research industry, the impact of economic uncertainty, the latest data collection trends, directions in outsourcing, advances in technology and inter-relationships among research providers and buyers. The study collected qualitative and quantitative data from a mix of 284 industry respondents in late fall 2008.

Download the full report »
Need to outsource a research project? Request a GMI quote »
About GMI technology-enabled services »

Back to top

Who's new at GMI

Brooke Balzarini, Client Operations Coordinator - Bellevue, USA
Chris Dunster, Senior Director, Sales & Research Operations - Boston, USA
Shelly White, Staff Accountant - Bellevue, USA

 Back to top