Ken Hughes

Shopper Psychology & Consumer Behaviour

Categories: Branding, Business, Customer Experience, Marketing, Sales, Strategy

Ken Hughes is acknowledged as being one of the world’s leading authorities on consumer and cyber shopper behaviour. He is internationally renowned for helping his largely blue-chip client base to understand the physical, digital and future consumer.

With 20 years’ experience as CEO of a consumer insight agency, he blends his understanding of consumer & cyber psychology, digital anthropology, behavioural economics and retail futurology to explore the needs of the new consumer and predict the changes to come.

Ken advises some of the biggest brands in the world on customer experience, omnichannel strategy, artificial intelligence, shopper marketing, retail trends, the millennial / Gen Z shopper and the peer-to-peer economy. As an accomplished author, TED speaker, part-time university lecturer and actor, his performances are insightful and thought-provoking. His presentations are infamous for their sheer energy, entertainment and passion, not to mention his generous Irish wit.

Drawing on his history as an actor, while his live stage performances are infamous, he is also now considered one of the world’s top virtual speakers, as engaging on screen as he is live in person.

As a behaviouralist and life strategist, he is also passionate about change, leadership, disruption, success, innovation, personal development and motivation. He brings this to life in his work with high performance athletes and executives all over the world.

Every year, Ken shares his thought-disrupting insight with tens of thousands of delegates globally. He is one of the most popular keynote speakers booked on the international conference and webinar circuit relating to the future of consumerism.

Regularly voted ‘Best Speaker’ at the events where he is invited to perform, he believes in engaging and delighting event attendees at every opportunity, live or virtually.

Sensory Retailing:

Leveraging emotion and the 5 human senses to trigger incremental demand and engagement within CPG retail environments

Experiential Retailing:

Changing the focus in retail from ‘places that sell things’ to a shopper experience that builds shopper loyalty

Shopper Irrationality: We’re All A Bit Crazy

Applying behavioural economics to shopper motivation and using an understanding of human and consumer psychology to trigger sales

Shopper Biometrics:

The application of biometric measurement to shopper journey insight – literally inside the mind and body of the shopper

The Captive Economy – Understanding the COVID-19 Customers

The Captive Economy now brings us one of the biggest non-technical disruptions of our generation. Social and behavioural norms have been reshaped, meaning that consumer and indeed societal values are shifting.
It is a foolish business that does not prepare for change when values start to shift. We need to find new ways to communicate, new ways to pivot, new ways to stay relevant.

What does our post Covid-19 consumer now value? How can we deliver on these values during lock-down, controlled economic activity and further into business as usual? Will there ever be an ‘as usual’ again? What will the next 6 weeks, 6 months and 2 years look like and what do we need to do now to prepare, survive and thrive?

In this speech, we explore the new values of the Captive Economy consumer and how these values will change what they expect from brands and business as a whole. This is a revaluation of consumer values, and learning how to best leverage these new values for your business success.

Understanding the psychology of captivity can teach us about current consumer expectations, and how the new values of Health, Collaboration, Community, Freedom and Digital First need to be inherent aspects of what your business delivers now and over the next 12 months.

When hard times are over, businesses that invested in relationships always win. This isn’t about getting through a month or two – this is about digging the strongest foundation you will ever have for brand advocacy and loyalty into the future.

In every crisis and change there is significant opportunity. Don’t be the victim of change, be the victor.

3 Key Learnings:

(1) Be proactive in terms of empathy and learn to ‘sell’ without selling. This is not the time to lead with a commercial message. Connections must be genuine and needs based as opposed to marketing or commercially led.

(2) Learn to embed the new values within your product/service proposition and reflect them back to consumers within your communications. Values shift over time and unless you mirror them back to consumers and prospects, your relevance will start to slip.

(3) Community Collaboration has become central to surviving the crisis for many, and is a key building block for brands to build tribal followings and brand communities. Learn to speak the new language of ‘us’

“If you haven’t seen Ken Hughes present on the future of shopping and retailing, you’re in for a real treat. Ken’s presentation is a thoroughly enjoyable cocktail of clever insights into the mind of consumers and cool futuristic technology that will boost business for retailers and brands, all served with a generous dose of good Irish wit. I see literally hundreds of speakers in a year – conference junkie as I am – and Ken is certainly one of the best I’ve seen in 2012-13. I highly recommend you to catch him at a conference near you in the future” – Trendspotter, Futurologist & Author, Magnus Lindkvist

“We invited Mr Hughes back to address our 3rd annual Category Management conference due to the strong feedback we received from delegates regarding his presentations at past conferences. Once again, as keynote speaker, his presentation was as entertaining as it was insightful, and was the highlight of the day for most attendees. His skill at applying his expertise to our individual industry and market meant that the session was extremely relevant as well as uplifting”
– Joe Manning, Grocery Sales Director, Kraft Foods Ireland

“Having seen Mr. Hughes speak at other events, we invited him to address the delegates at our Category Management conference in Russia. His presentation was one of the most informative and upbeat we have had the pleasure of experiencing, with excellent feedback from the delegates. His knowledge of his subject matched with his easy presentation style means that he engages the room more than most. We would strongly recommend him as a conference and industry event speaker” – ECR Russia Executive Director, Maximilian Musselius

“I have seen many presentations over the years concerning consumer behaviour, but the presentation by Mr. Hughes is the one which has kept my attention. Ken describes consumer behaviour in a very real and simultaneously interesting way. He is a very good presenter with humour and passion for his subject, while bringing it to life using varied case studies. I invited him to address my retail organization and he has helped us to pay attention to details and observe our customers’ needs more. Thankfully in these challenging times, we have seen results – CEO Veropoulos Group, Greece – Nikos Veropoulos

Ken Hughes

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