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Can you guess who makes up the largest consumer group in the world? That's right, women. After years of being the main household shopper, the female market is a force to be reckoned with as they make over 80% of domestic and health product purchases. Now look at your marketing department. Is it overwhelmingly made up of and run by...men? The following infographic discusses the consumer power women hold, and makes you re-think your strategy to reaching this group. Happy International Women's Day!

We are living in an era of dramatic change on a global level in terms of how we buy and sell. Today consumers have new online tools that helps make the selection process for products or services more efficient; we are immersed in the era of the consumer 2.0.

Businesses face the challenge of understanding new digital mediums in order to engage this consumer, and through these networks will discover different methods, potentially replacing traditional marketing operations, and even sales processes in order to adapt to this new reality.

What is the consumer 2.0 like?

This new consumer isn’t afraid of technology because they were born in generation X, Y, or later, and the internet is a part of everyday life.

In an internal investigation we did at Mente Digital between 2010 and 2011, we evaluated the forms of interaction that consumers have with the brands they follow on social networks, and we discovered three principal factors that describe this new consumer and what they are looking for from online brands.

Five years ago we might have thought that although certain items are bought on the web, online buying will never completely permeate the retail sector because there are some things that just can't be bought online: shoes, clothing, apparrel; the things that we should try on first, or that we can't necessarily distinguish the quality without seeing the item in person. However, that all changed.  Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos, believed the same until he was convinced otherwise. Although Zappos is best known for its shoes, it is now selling all sorts of apparrel, and is a perfect example of how the internet is permeating every sector of retail.

Discover in the following infographic how the internet is transforming retail and the new power of the online consumer.

How can your company collaborate with suppliers, customers, and even local businesses in a way that involves clients as well as improves your product? In this exclusive column written by Martin Lindstrom for WOBI, the top brand consultant gives examples as well as practical advice for how you can start making your customer work for you, and strengthen brand identity and profits as a result!

Philip Kotler’s presentation in ExpoManagement Madrid 2012 focused on Marketing 3.0. With the ability to innovate and generate new points of view through marketing, Kotler presented a concept where the consumer’s needs and thoughts are the most important factors, allowing for marketing departments to offer more value.

We also must understand the implications new technologies have on our customers. In the digital world, technology has changed how people thing, communicate, and…buy. A clear example of this is the one Kotler gave about his wife: “She doesn’t go to stores anymore, she buys everything online! Who can resist free delivery and returns that some businesses offer, such as with the online shoes and clothing store Zappos.”

Following this logic, Kotler invited the audience to focus on the consumer and increase their digital activity with the following 6 pieces of concrete advice:

Have you ever imagined a technology so powerful that it doesn’t matter the age, education, or even if the user has access to electricity? The device we are referring to is closer than you may imagine… maybe it is in your pocket, purse, or even sprawled on your desk, ensuring you won’t miss a second of what’s going on in the wonderful world of mobile.

A truly scandalous situation: one of today’s most respected experts in marketing, who has a unique gift to understanding the behavior of consumers, revealing the best-kept secrets of some of the largest marketing and advertising departments.

Martin Lindstrom, who founded his first advertising agency when he was just 12 years old, and has worked for top brands such as Coca-Cola and Disney, has reformed to show us the other side of marketing. How do brands reach our minds and hearts? What strategies do they use to appeal to our senses? Are the tricks they use ethical?

Hot management topic: Neuromarketing

To be able to enter the mind of the consumer would be a dream come true for a marketing team. Imagine if you could discover how clients think, feel, as well as what they desire and do not desire. This is the type of information that businesses all over the world would be willing to pay for…and not just small change. Neuroscientists, marketers, and recent product innovation show the importance of this growing trend.

Just when we think we’ve seen it all in marketing strategy, a luminary appears to revolutionize our vision.

Traditional advertising, e-mailing, social networks… the tools available for your strategy are endless, however you’d never guess which is the one that could make all the difference: a purple cow (yes, you’ve read that correctly, a purple cow.)

Video of the day

Marketing, marketing, marketing…by repeating those three words you aren’t going to magically grab the attention of consumers. The usual ads no longer working for you? Online marketing isn’t achieving the desired effects?

A lot of the solutions to problems might just be right in front of us, even if we don’t realize it yet. Could it be that we are in fact facing a paradigmatic shift in marketing? Power seems to no longer lie in us, the marketers, nor in the products, but in the actual consumer!