March 31, 2016/IMF

Against a backdrop of mediocre medium-term growth prospects, identifying policies that could lift productivity growth by promoting innovation is critical. Fiscal policy can play an important role in stimulating innovation through its effects on research and development (R&D), entrepreneurship, and technology transfer.

New analysis in this chapter identifies areas in which fiscal policy should do more and others where it should do better or less. The key messages are the following:

Click here to view full report “Fiscal Monitor Analytical Chapter: Fiscal Policy, Innovation, and Productivity Growth”-IMF

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January 19, 2016/MasterCard

This year, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting will focus on “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution” – driven by the speed, the breadth and the complete ‘systems innovation’ of technological change underway. MasterCard will be at this year’s gathering to discuss how advancements in technology and the flow of data are transforming industries and creating a more empowered, inclusive planet where people – regardless of where they are or their current economic status – are able to better build more self-determined lives.

Over the week in Davos, the MasterCard delegation will be actively engaged in a number of ways:

• On Friday morning, Ajay Banga will be on a public WEF panel “Fostering Financial Inclusion” along with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, the Finance Ministers of Mexico and Colombia and more. Together, they will discuss calls to action for leaders to champion financial inclusion across industries and governments.

• MasterCard is co-sponsoring “A Day in the Life of a Refugee” – a powerful experience designed to help participants understand the struggles and choices that refugees face to survive each day. The experience is developed by the Crossroads Foundation and designed with refugees, internally displaced persons and NGOs. Part of the official WEF program and conveniently located within the secure zone, participants will have an opportunity to try a working demo of MasterCard Aid Network.

• Shamina Singh will join a televised panel “Being Out There – Beyond Borders” talking about LGBT empowerment on Friday hosted by Richard Quest on CNN at 5pm.

• On Thursday morning, Ajay Bhalla will host a breakfast panel featuring Sir Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and executives from Microsoft and Salesforce.  The breakfast will explore the importance of addressing security and privacy early in the innovation cycle as the world evolves towards the internet of things.

• Ann Cairns will join the CEO of Western Union and the Founder/CEO of TransferWise for a TechCrunch Davos Live panel at 7pm on Wednesday to discuss the future of capital and payments in a digital world.

• On Friday night, The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth and Purpose are hosting “Tomorrow’s Leaders Tonight” – a dinner designed to convene and engage with the rising generation of socially minded leaders at Davos.

Keep stopping by as we will keep this page updated with images, stories and announcements during the week.

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By Ryan Erenhouse

This holiday season there was a new breed of consumer driving sales—omnishoppers, a group that aggressively uses technology to interact with brands across multiple channels. The Retail CMO’s Guide to the Omnishopper, culled from aggregated and anonymized transaction data and a robust global MasterCard survey of consumers, illustrates a salient point about these empowered consumers: They just plain love to shop. Online or in-store. Mobile or laptop. Night or day. Holiday or not.

And they feel they’re getting better at retail shopping, thanks to mobile and other technology advancements that put product research, competitive options, discounts and purchase functions literally at their fingertips.

The holiday season’s winning retailers were those best able to cater to omnishoppers, and those brands who continue to meet their needs are the most likely to build on that performance throughout 2016.

On the eve of the NRF’s Annual Convention & EXPO, retail CMOs and their teams are aware of their own successes and failures from the just-completed holiday season. While the Big Show will reveal new insights and options for fine-tuning their marketing and operational machines, they would also be well-served to take to heart a few lessons learned from Holiday 2015 that are reinforced by the Omnishopper report.

• Technology is Queen. Eight out of 10 consumers shop using a computer, smartphone, laptop or in-store technology. Invest smartly in technology that informs and delights these consumers, and you’ll add more interaction points for customers that will pave new paths to purchase.
• Commit to … Commitment Marketing. Consumers want to be loyal to your brand. So help them … by forming commitments that increase the intensity of your relationship. When customers make an investment that pays tangible benefits, they are forging a bond that is difficult to break. Think Amazon Prime subscription, Costco membership or Dick’s Sporting Goods purchases that fund sports programs as noteworthy examples.
• Create Desirable Content, Often. Consumers shop all the time. But the number of merchants they visit regularly is falling (from 28 to 25, on average, in the U.S.). To keep them engaged and interested, content across all marketing channels must be robust and updated constantly. If you bore them, you’ll lose them.
• Dig into Data. Retailers have more access than ever before on how and why shoppers shop. Put it to good use by leveraging transactional and social media data to uncover insights that will add further value – and specificity — to your offerings.
• Stock Up. About ¾ of shoppers are most frustrated by unavailable inventory, even more so than shipping. What’s the point of teasing a purchase only to leave them disappointed? Keep the supply chain pristine, and you’ll get, keep and grow your customer base.

What have you learned about better catering to your omnishoppers?

Click here to download a free copy of The Retail CMO’s Guide to the Omnishopper.

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