Mapping the global adoption of electric two-wheelers, barriers, consumer preferences and expectations.

A million-dollar question today is how soon the world will shift to electrified transportation and how the competitive dynamics in the global automobile market will change as a result. Scientists, policymakers, and industry experts around the world have been advocating for the electrification of road transportation as a strategy to reduce dependency on oil, CO2 emissions, and urban air pollution. However, electric four-wheelers (E4Ws) has their own set of challenges, as a result, electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) such as e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-motorcycles may offer more immediate opportunities for electrification of road transport, particularly in urban areas.

Tracing shopping trends, popular shopping modes, consumers’ concerns, expectations & shift in buying behaviour, and the overall 2021 holiday shopping landscape.

2020 was an overused but true phrasing — unprecedented. 2021 brought in some hope of returning to “normal” but the newer waves of covid washed away all those hopes and kept many from seeing their loved ones in person or from shopping in physical stores for some more time. Nevertheless, things started to get under control and people moved towards ‘normalcy’, which brought a shift in the mindset of consumers and retailers as they looked ahead to the holiday season. Shoppers have formed new habits, events of the past several months transformed their spending behaviours, new concerns emerged and raised several questions, however, the Omicron wave seems to have further impacted the shopping behaviour.

• Did shoppers flock to stores or stay away?
• What do consumers expect from their shopping experience in-store and online?
• How has 2021 impacted lifestyles, priorities, altered purchasing preferences, and implications for holiday spending?
• The key behavioural insights that can help brands meet and exceed changing consumer expectations?

To decipher these, Borderless access surveyed over 3000 shoppers across 10 countries (US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, India, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, UAE) to help retailers and brands understand how consumers planned their shopping for the 2021 holiday shopping season.

Understanding the market landscape of electric vehicles, intenders’ perception, barriers to adoption & marketing opportunities.

"The only constant in life is change!" When it comes to the automotive industry, one of the most significant changes that we have seen in recent years is the introduction of EVs. We are in the midst of an automotive revolution since Tesla revolutionized the industry with its first mass-produced highway-legal electric vehicle (EV) powered by a lithium-ion battery. As a result, automakers of all sizes have been rushing to launch their electric vehicles in order to provide consumers with an alternative to dealing with environmental concerns, rising fuel prices, and shifting consumer preferences. 

Considering the alarming stage of environmental hazards and soaring fuel prices, EV sales are steadily infiltrating the transportation industry. Are these concerns, however, enough to bring in a complete EV adoption worldwide? 

Even though the EV adoption rate is on a rise, they still constitute a small proportion of all vehicles on the road. But that could change very soon. Many industry observers believe that marketers have already passed the tipping point where EV sales will quickly outnumber those of gasoline and diesel vehicles. With technological capabilities improving and societal demand for sustainable solutions, the EV's time has come. However, it begs the question of whether challenges faced due to various infrastructural issues, high cost and limited options can impact the pace of global EV adoption.

Borderless Access examined the current EV landscape, barriers to adoption, brands to watch, and opportunities to market to potential EV buyers. 

Let's unlock a few insights.

Remember the ‘Foodarackacycle’ machine from an episode of the 1962 animated series ‘The Jetsons’ that produced any food item at a click of a button? Back then, the home technology featured in the series was considered absurd. Around five decades later, even though we are yet to see floating buildings or flying cars, smart home technology has arrived and is thriving.

Emerging trends, rising desire for convenient lifestyles, tech-savvy consumers, as well as increased acceptance of cloud-based technologies have made the smart home market appear promising. On the flip side, there exist factors that might slow down the otherwise accelerated adoption rate for smart home devices.

We bring you some fascinating consumer insights regarding the adoption of smart home devices and the general trust people have for this technology that is slowly becoming a part of our daily life at home.

 

Consumer Healthcare Landscape

Borderless Access research shows that consumer healthcare products such as analgesics, oral healthcare, wound care, skincare, and others are increasing in popularity among customers, which contributes significantly to the growth of the market.

With increasing product awareness and marketing by key players in emerging economies, sales volume in the over-the-counter (OTC) consumer healthcare market will further increase steadily over the coming years.

Buyers are progressively responsible for their choices as they perceive the better results that accompany it. They pay more using cash on hand and have choices that are powered by industry-specific innovation.

The growing demand for branded products, along with accelerated use of online sources, OTC generics and private labels are anticipated to create new opportunities for the global consumer healthcare market.

Imagine people widely using smartphones and laptops in the 1980s, colour TVs in the 1950s, or motor cars in the early 1900s. These technologies were regarded as futuristic concepts at first, but eventually became the way of life.

Similarly, the idea of operating a vehicle using electricity was conceived in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the concept did not progress beyond just being an amusement or as they say a parlour trick—“Look! No horse or ox, yet it moves!’’. Yet, after several ups and downs, when electric vehicles (EVs) subsequently entered the automobile market as an alternative to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), they failed to penetrate the market due to multiple reasons.

With rising fuel prices and environmental concerns over the last few years, the automobile industry witnessed the return of EVs (electric vehicles) by new entrants such as Tesla painting a unique picture for the automobile sector with their high-performance EVs that use advanced technology.

This led to a disruption in the automobile sector causing dominant automobile brands to rethink their strategy and evolve. But the big question is, has the industry and brands been able to address the consumer concerns associated with EV adoption?

Hence, Borderless Access conducted a study across 13 markets to unlock the evolving behaviour, brand preferences, and factors influencing the attitudes and perceptions of EV owners. The insights here would also highlight the opportunities for brand marketers and how can they help drive EV adoption to gain a bigger market share for their brand.

[Bangalore, India, 23 September 2021]: At the ESOMAR Research Effectiveness Awards 2021 last week, Borderless Access and Unilever were honoured with the GOLD award for their collaborative case study based paper, ‘The evolution of brand humanization’ using digital bot-enabled research methodology.

Every year, this prestigious Research Effectiveness Award recognizes the market or social research studies that have contributed significantly to commercial success and society.

The evolution of brand humanization stems from Unilever's mission to make sustainable living a way of life across Africa. Using Borderless Access’ research expertise, enabled by our personalized bot-enabled research solution, Unilever evaluated and addressed the challenges that people in South Africa face due to poor hygiene conditions with purpose-driven activations and by introducing relevant product innovations. The study’s findings were later presented at the ESOMAR webinar and the Insights Festival.

Sharing her thoughts on this win, Stacey Grant, Africa CMI Director, Unilever said, “The insights generated by Borderless Access made me strongly reconsider what true purpose and sustainability means for our mainstream citizens in Africa. There is no shortage of opportunities to make a difference in Africa, but there is a shortage of resources to do so. Research like this helps us to identify genuine pain points for the people we serve and build empathy for what will make a real difference in their lives. This understanding is critical in helping us make investment choices.’’

Along with the Gold Award, Borderless Access and Unilever also won prize money of 3000 Euros which both companies have decided to donate it to LIV – An organization devoted to supporting orphans & vulnerable children in South Africa!

Dushyant Gupta, EVP – Borderless Access, extended his wishes saying, “We are proud of our association with Unilever and to effectuate change at such a large scale. The solutions, such as, bot-enabled research, under our research vertical ‘BA Insightz’ are purposed to assist brands with natural consumer interactions that help in insight-driven decision making. We hope to continue supporting brands globally with real human insights to enrich people’s lives”.

About Borderless Access:

Borderless Access is an award-winning digital market research product and solutions company. It provides access to experiences and life moments of engaged consumers and niche audiences to a global clientele of MR firms, Ad Agencies, consultancy firms, and End Enterprises in need of rich, intelligent, and actionable quant-qual insights through technology and consumer-analytics-driven new-age research solutions, BA Health, BA Insightz, HealthSight®, SmartSight®, Panel Solutions, and our proprietary 7 million+ hyper-niche digital panels across 39 growing and developed economies of the world. Know more: www.borderlessaccess.com

[Bengaluru, India, 16 August 2021] Borderless Access, the digital market research product and solutions company, announced a new appointment with Vittesh Kalambi as Vice President - Panel Solutions.

Vittesh Kalambi joins Borderless Access with over 18 years of experience in Research & Analytics and will now lead the Panel Solutions business across geographies with a strong focus on maintaining double-digit growth and momentum. He will also help enhance existing solutions and introduce new tech-enabled research products and capabilities.

In his previous roles, he has contributed greatly towards the development and execution of complex cross-functional projects in Global Category Management, Business Transformation and Team Management. At Genpact India, he co-led the MR Services for the Analytics CoE. He also led the Marketing Analytics practice at Absolutdata and was the Head of Analytics at GSK Consumer Healthcare, India.

“The appointment of Vittesh is an extension of our pursuit to constantly grow our capacity and capability in key industry verticals, expand our regional reach as well as further empower our research and analytics capabilities”, said Ruchika Gupta, CEO, Borderless Access. “We are thrilled to have him join Borderless Access. His business acumen and wealth of experience will be an asset to the company while expediting our journey towards our vision.’’

About Borderless Access:

Borderless Access is an award-winning digital market research product and solutions company. It provides access to experiences and life moments of engaged consumers and niche audiences to a global clientele of MR firms, Ad Agencies, Consultancy firms, and End Enterprises in need of rich, intelligent, and actionable quant-qual insights through technology and consumer-analytics-driven new-age research solutions, BA Health, BA Insightz, HealthSight, SmartSight, Panel Solutions, and our proprietary 7 million+ hyper-niche digital panels across 39 growing and developed economies of the world.

 

 

There are very few industries that have been adversely impacted by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns as severely as the restaurant sector. According to the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), 7 million direct employees of the restaurant industry have been hit by the pandemic and the industry body had approached the government of India for a bailout package to help sustain them through the worst phase of the pandemic. The situation is similar in other parts of the world, as people’s habits regarding eating out has changed since the pandemic.