I must have struck a chord last week with all of that analysis on switching behavior and consumer confidence. Thanks for the great feedback and dialog that ensued – you gave me some great ideas on follow-up research.

You probably missed it a couple weeks ago – because I don’t think I mentioned it here – but we made an exciting announcement about a new partnership with Univision to study the exploding U.S. Hispanic market. Expect to see some content from me on that subject from here on out.

Here are a few of the more interesting things we are seeing right now:

One of the first things we’re watching closely in the Hispanic market is the emergence of the Millennial Hispanic Mom. Not only is their purchasing power increasing, but it spans categories (i.e. not just grocery and household products but financial services, insurance, and major purchases). More importantly, they are highly brand-loyal and vocal about it – as power users of social media, they tell (and influence) everyone about the brands and products they use. Pay attention to that.

YouTube TV might seriously shake-up the television industry. One of the oft-cited reasons consumers (and I) give for their resistance to cutting the cord is their lust for live sports. With its new $35/month live TV streaming service, YouTube is attempting to own that very space. According to our data, a relatively small percentage of consumers appear likely to use the service initially – but they significantly over-index as sports fans. If the service can grow beyond an early adopter base, it could be the last shoe to drop for widespread cord-cutting.

Virtual home assistant gadgets, like Alexa and Google Home, have a big hill to climb before they reach the mainstream. While it seems like these toys are all the rage, our data would suggest that the majority of home assistant buyers to date – young, affluent, and tech-savvy – value them primarily as a glorified speaker system. The next generation of likely buyers look to be a bit older (35+), with a penchant for “Smart Home” applications. The problem is that only about 11% of US households are “smart” today, with a slow pace of adoption forecasted. It makes me wonder if these home assistants are a bit before their time.

Because I’m afraid you’d go into withdrawal if I didn’t mention the word “Trump” at least once, we continue to dissect the President’s impact on consumer brands. Two of our scientific advisors published their analysis on our Nordstrom data following the Ivanka Trump dust-up. They reach a fascinating conclusion that, while the spate won’t hurt Nordstrom among its shoppers, it created an opportunity for the Ivanka Trump brand to move aggressively down-market. I fully expect this kind of jockeying to happen more and more as consumer segments become increasingly fragmented.

Have a great weekend. And thanks again for all your feedback.

JD