Where did all the consumer research go? Part 2

In my last post I wrote about my concern that the marketing cutbacks will eliminate much needed consumer research.  Since writing that I’ve heard from friends at two different research companies.  Both report “restructuring” at their companies.  

Seeing those cuts so early in 2009 signals to me that the situation is even worse than I had expected.  

It also signals that there are opportunities for companies who are continuing to understand their customers may gain a disproportionate competitive advantage.

Why disproportionate?  Well, when everyone is doing similar consumer research, they are generally discovering similar things. So nobody has a substantial advantage.  But when only some companies are doing the research and some are not, the playing field is no longer level.

Interesting times we are living through…