3Clic and Walk, when consumers collect marketing data for companies
Clic and Walk is a digital platform that you can access from a Smartphone, which commercial data
for companies collects on the ground through the consumers themselves. “Clicwalkers” sign up to
the platform and are asked to pass on information in real time. They can be asked at any time to
respond to a request from a brand, label or institution. They accept a specific assignment that they
can easily carry out with their mobile and then they are paid for their work. The assignment must be
carried out within a certain timeframe and payment depends on the level of difficulty and the duration
of the assignment. For the commissioning company, it is, firstly, about getting consumers' views in
real time on a precise subject: collecting their habits, opinions, reactions in an extremely realistic
way. And, secondly, from photo data, reflections of the realities on the ground, geolocalised and
dated: in-store product placement, but also window displays, POS advertising, one-off events
collected in the form of photo reporting. The procedure is simple and easy to implement: a company
formulates a question, an assignment and Clic and Walk identifies the best way to answer it: photos,
questionnaire, product summaries and asks ClicWalkers to look for info. Has my POS material been
properly set up at the retail locations? Is the positioning of products on shelves satisfactory? Do the
display windows for my label look the same throughout the whole country? The collected data is
immediately checked and validated for its consistency with the question asked by the Clic and Walk
teams and are quickly returned to the company as an analytical report and databases. What Clic and
Walk's corporate customers seem to appreciate, apart from the device's quick response time in
terms of collecting on the ground data that remains difficult and costly to obtain, is the fact that the
results are made available within 3 to 4 days. Clic-Walkers are paid for this work: primarily photos +
possibly a small comment. Depending on the assignment, payment varies from 0.50 euro cents to 10
euros. As soon as the micro jobber earns 3 euros, they can request a bank transfer or PayPal
payment.
Some questions and the potential
A project like Clic and Walk offers a new form of outsourced sub-contracting and designs a new
"light-touch" company model that is likely to make it very cost-effective for its customers. Within the
market of on the ground "studies" and reporting, Clic and Walk offers a very powerful service with an
army of Internet users mobilised at all times to go and check, in situ, whether something is where it
should be, well made, and fully compliant. In a world that is becoming paper-free, evidence (just like
identification) has become essential. You have to make sure that the reality is properly compliant with
what has been requested, often transmitted virtually. Clic and Walk "outsources" this reality
verification brigade, which would be impossible to set up internally by a company. Image is the new
language of the internet. Verifying the sales strategies set by company headquarters is a very visual
thing. By using Smartphones , most of the data collected will be in the form of photos taken and is
sent instantly to Clic and Walk. This new form of reporting is completely in tune with the new internet
language: the image. Image trumps words and writing. It's a new language that is used to
All rights reserved -­‐ Reproduction prohibited NETEXPLO Observatory communicate, including in professional processes and practices. Databases compiled by Clic and
Walk are primarily image banks.
Clic and Walk: a question of modernity? You can see this start-up from a marketing innovation
perspective. Clic and Walk is redesigning the market research landscape. More and more sales
departments, yet to be convinced by this research, but needing reasons to justify their decisions, are
very interested in bypassing professional market research institutes and their methods that are
deemed too quantitative, too expensive, too slow and too rigorous... The first goal: financial savings.
The Clic and Walk initiative is a clever alternative to exploit this economic trend using digital
technologies. Clic and Walk: a question of professionalism? You can see this innovation in terms of
the collaborative involvement of active consumers , interested, participating in commercial
optimisation, and becoming true collaborators. The company uses the customer for its own
purposes. The supplier-consumer tandem changes. The company does not only address consumers
in order to convince them to buy products or products or services, but communicates with them via
Clic and Walk to convince them to work for the company. Against this perfect vision of participatory
consumerism (which should therefore be free) stands the web-business trend. Clic and Walk is
similar to a Netexplo Trend already analysed at the Netexplo 2010 Forum, that of "e.Microjobs"
working for e.Outsourcing in a more liquid, staff-free company, with the absolute flexibility of staff
who are ready to perform micro-tasks for micro-pay in completely unsecured jobs. The point once
again is to spend less. Clic and Walk: is this an economic model and ethical issue? Beyond the
fascinating promise of lower costs, it is worth thinking about the scope of these new digital work
organisations, completely at odds with the Social Progress philosophy (at least the European design
for developed countries) and which is being offered as a new model for the global economy. A
double question: ethical, but also pragmatic, regarding the relevance of its response to the
economic-financial structural crises currently underway across the liberalised world, and more widely
concerning the gap between the "North and South", developed and underdeveloped and 'emerging'
countries. Today new digital uses are changing micro jobs and are paving the way for a
transformation towards an "atomised economy", whose leaders would be virtual companies" and
"Ghost Workers".
Status of the initiative
Clic and Walk emerged in 2012 under the leadership of Mrs Frédérique Grigolato, who spent 20 years
working in retail. The start-up is located in Roubaix, France and has 12 employees. The company is
developing a study solution on Android and iOS and has now attracted 50,000 French Click Walkers,
soon to be joined by German, British, and Swiss ones. The application is available in the App Store
and on Google Play. In France, Clic and Walk has a portfolio of prestigious clients including IKEA,
Franprix, Logitech and Castorama. The company has raised 750,000 euros in funds from Breega
Capital to grow internationally and expand outside France (especially in Europe).
Reference website
http://fr.clicandwalk.com/
Review websites
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/436688/The-iPhone-app-that-makes-youmoney-Get-paid-for-taking-pictures-on-your-smartphone
http://bonasavoir.centerblog.net/428-click-and-walk
http://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/2013/08/29/01007-20130829ARTFIG00511-clic-and-walkreinvente-l-enquete-de-satisfaction-client.php
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