Sonae

: a new approach to listening to customers

Abstract

Since the launch of the first big supermarket, by an international group, the retail industry in Portugal showed a dynamic and remarkable progress, not only by the evolution in the number of stores, but also by the novelties introduced by domestic companies. Sonae, market leader in the food retail with Continente, was one of them, being a reference in innovation since the launch of the first hypermarket in Portugal. In 2012 Sonae was the second largest investor in R&D in Portugal, with a strong culture and structure aimed at innovation, being this one of the values of the company. A factor definitely contributing to the leadership position of Continente was its vast investment in communication, making this the largest investor in communication in Portugal. As such, in 2012, and given the intense rivalry in the industry, the company felt the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of communication in Continente stores. Performing research for more than twenty years, the Marketing Research division was then in charge for evaluating the current performance of in-store communication. This was an opportunity for the division to take a step forward in the way customers’ insights were gathered, and so Maria Santos (Senior Manager of the Marketing Research division at Sonae) had to take a decision with strategic implications for the company: using an innovative technology to track consumers shopping – Eye Tracking –, or relying to a traditional method with familiar results – Shop Along.

Date of Award	17 Jul 2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Alexandre Gonçalves Marcos (Supervisor) & João Borges Assunção (Supervisor)