The Knowledge to Decide

Consumers today are spoilt for choice. To win them over, brands need to deliver real-time customized experiences. New technologies and techniques are allowing them to do just that. Consumers today are extremely brand savvy. With access to various media platforms to conduct research, compare prices and ultimately purchase products, consumers favour brands that deliver experiences that suit their needs in the present moment. Consumers have begun to recalibrate what is expected from their media, stores and brands – demanding real-time personalized information every step of the way. What is real-time marketing? Real time marketing is defined as using apt communication tools to provide a more profound yet personalized consumer experience and information – at the right time and place – so as to address a consumer’s needs with accuracy. This is a component of Present Tense Marketing, which concentrates on ways of understanding consumers’ current situation for a personalized experie

The Dubai-based, ABV Group – a chain of luxury hospitals – has set its sights to establish luxury hospitals in India. These hospitals would offer personalized care and transportation in Rolls Royce for its patients – catering to the rich. . With just 50 suites and no option of shared rooms within a hospital, the promise of a crowd-free environment is quite alluring. Away from the glorified government hospitals norm, there will be no mixing between patients or long queues. Such initiatives aim to attract more medical tourists to the country as well as generate finances to drive charity initiatives. With approximately USD80 million in investments to execute this vision, the first luxury hospital will be operational in Mumbai by early 2017, followed by another in New Delhi. How will the rise of luxury hospitals change healthcare industry in India? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/india-to-witness-hospital-treatment-in-style/

Personal Cloud in China is expected to generate USD2.65 billion in revenues by 2017, growing 30.7%, on average, in the coming five years. With many players vying for a share of this huge market, what strategies will succeed? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. With improved internet connectivity and increased usage of mobile phones, the personal Cloud is making headway in China’s consumer market. The factors driving this growth include the ever-rising demand for storage, seamless synchronization between multiple devices as well as demand for full-length HD videos, High-resolution images and collaborative projects. Most of the major global personal Cloud platforms are not accessible in Mainland China. However, three players have emerged as leaders in this Chinese space – Alibaba Group, Tencent and Baidu. Tencent is most popular with over 300 million users; where Baidu has about 200 million users follow

Identifying VIPs with strong purchasing power is crucial to retail success. More often than not, retail staff fail to do this in time. Facial recognition technology can help prevent this. But does it put our privacy at risk? With high-spending customers making out-sized contributions to retail profitability, it is increasingly crucial for retailers to provide personalized customer service the minute a VIP customer sets foot in the store. For instance, Katie Holmes reportedly spent USD100,000 on a fashion makeover and USD14,200 on lingerie alone in 2012! This is where identification technology can play a role. NEC, a Japan-based ICT vendor, has developed an identification application based on a facial recognition system – comparing the individual’s facial features against its database, and sending prompts when a match is identified. The initial purpose of the application was to help identify terrorists and criminals , but it was subsequently adapted to the retail setting.