UNDERSTANDING BRAND COMPETITION USING MICRO AND MACRO SCANNER DATA

Recent advances in data gathering through checkout scanners have produ ced vast amounts of data on the actual behavior of consumers in the ma rket-place, creating new opportunities for managers and researchers to understand competition and consumers' response to the marketing mix. Previous analyses of this data in the literature have focused either a t the household (micro) or store (macro) level. The authors propose a method of enriching the analysis of competitive behavior by combining the in-depth consumer information obtained from a micro-level househol d scanner panel with the comprehensive market data supplied by a macro -level retail-tracking panel. The approach offers the manager detailed information about consumers (e.g., identification of consumer segment s in terms of brand preferences and socioeconomic characteristics) alo ng with strategic diagnostics of the product-market (e.g., the sensiti vity of the market to price promotions, impact of a brand's strategy o n competitors, vulnerability of the brand to competitive actions).