How Consumer Behavior is Changing Google
A Consultant for Pieology asked Checkbox to analyze the current state of Google for them.
It was simple. Create the right concept. Choose the right location. Hire the best staff. Deliver a quality product in a warm, friendly environment. These have been the hallmarks for success in the restaurant industry. Nail these and all you need to do is unlock the doors and customers will line up.
The challenges are that consumer preferences are fluid; locations are expensive; staff are transient; product quality is hugely influenced by perception. Thus, the simple, easy formula is not so simple…or easy. Out of two restaurants with similarly good locations, staff, concept, and quality only one will reign supreme. To win this battle, a significant effort must be focused on what the digital industry calls the: Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT). ZMOT is the exact moment when a consumer decides to make a specific purchase, of a specific product, from a specific company. While it is a significant and frequent point of discussion in the e-commerce world, it is rarely discussed in the non-digital world. Interestingly, while mobile has created the immediate opportunity to satisfy almost any need and radically changed the digital industry has yet to be leveraged by the non-virtual business community.
In a digital world, discussions are frequent and passionate around questions like: What is our
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Zero Moment of Truth looks at how consumers use media at the exact moment they decide to make a purchase...does that matter? We think so.
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In 2005 Renée Mauborgne co-edited a seminal book called Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. The basic premise was that break-through companies were able to find markets and strategies that were relatively uncontested. Think about the difference between Circuit City, Best Buy, and Amazon. Worried about cannibalizing their own revenue, Best Buy and Circuit City were late into the e-commerce game. Amazon jumped into what then was a relatively uncontested market and destroyed Circuit City and nearly all of Best Buy’s profit. Our philosophical objective is how to position a restaurant brand so that it is able to access and leverage their own blue ocean to create breakthrough, highly-profitable results.
We see several key opportunities that can accelerate the success of Pieology that move beyond the original model for success in this market.