Exhibit 7.1 Panellist with handheld scanner. (Photo courtesy of NielsenIQ).
Exhibit 7.3 Recording of purchases with hand held scanners.
Though diary panels are
still in existence in a number of developing countries, most panels today are
scan panels. Scan technology essentially relies on bar code, scanner, and the
telephone network. Panellists record their daily purchases through a menu-driven
interface on handheld scanners (see Exhibits 7.1 and 7.3). The scanner is
normally perched on a cradle that connects to the telephone line. The data is
polled once a week; typically, the cradle is programmed to call the service
operator’s computer and download the data.
In the future, data collection methodology will
shift from telephony to wireless and internet. Should ePCs (electronic product
codes) replace bar codes, which is unlikely in the near future, ePC readers
will replace scanners and the task of recording purchases will become less
cumbersome.
The preferred mode of data collection of credit
card statements and telecom account statements, in soft copy format, is via email/internet.
For motorist panels, even SMS messaging using mobile phones should work well.
In future, with the advent of NFC (near-field
communication), it would become much easier to track out of home purchases with
smart phones and other mobile devices.
Consumer panels offer a very wide repertoire of analysis;
some of the most useful ones are covered in this chapter. The TRB Share Prediction
model, a technique that predicts the market share for newly launched products,
is covered in Chapter Product Validation.
