Decoded, the podcast of the marketing research firm IntoTheMinds Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/decoded-intotheminds Each episode decodes a corporate strategy or a market in 10 minutes: IKEA, Decathlon, card tipping, Chinese cars, the cruise market… One thesis, 3 acts, one transferable lesson. Traceable figures turned into images, no jargon: what an executive from any other industry can take away the next morning. Written and presented by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, PhD in marketing and founder of IntoTheMinds, a market research firm that has supported B2B and B2C companies for 24 years. The full analysis behind each episode: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/en/ Contact: info@intotheminds.com · https://www.intotheminds.com/en © IntoTheMinds 543c0461-1658-52a4-ac81-ba68621de67c yes en Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:00:18 +0200 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:03:30 +0200 https://www.intotheminds.com/en https://img.transistorcdn.com/nwBN1oFIt7XFa9ydasMsEaaBx6F7ldGgFmhtvLqK9CU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81M2M2/ZmVkM2UzNjE2MDE1/MzYwZjNkZDBhZDQ0/M2NlYy5qcGc.jpg Decoded, the podcast of the marketing research firm IntoTheMinds https://www.intotheminds.com/en episodic Pierre-Nicolas Schwab Each episode decodes a corporate strategy or a market in 10 minutes: IKEA, Decathlon, card tipping, Chinese cars, the cruise market… One thesis, 3 acts, one transferable lesson. Traceable figures turned into images, no jargon: what an executive from any other industry can take away the next morning. Written and presented by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, PhD in marketing and founder of IntoTheMinds, a market research firm that has supported B2B and B2C companies for 24 years. The full analysis behind each episode: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/en/ Contact: info@intotheminds.com · https://www.intotheminds.com/en Each episode decodes a corporate strategy or a market in 10 minutes: IKEA, Decathlon, card tipping, Chinese cars, the cruise market… One thesis, 3 acts, one transferable lesson. market research, marketing, business Pierre-Nicolas Schwab pn@intotheminds.com No No BMW: the same strategy wins in the US, loses in China 2 2 BMW: the same strategy wins in the US, loses in China full c32b730a-416b-46e2-a5ee-4de628f7043c https://share.transistor.fm/s/6d841668 Munich, June 16, 2026: a BMW press release lands in the middle of a trading session. On every hundred euros of cars sold, the group will keep less than three this year, against almost ten two years earlier. And yet BMW is still the world's biggest premium carmaker by volume.

BMW made a rare choice: never decide between petrol, hybrid and electric, and never break prices. In the United States, that doctrine produces a third record year, because building in Spartanburg shelters the group from import duties while Audi imports everything. In China, the same doctrine costs it one sale in four in four years, facing a market that had already switched to new energy vehicles.

Chapters
00:00 Munich, June 2026
01:11 Refusing to choose
03:16 The Spartanburg plant
05:12 The market that had already decided
07:30 So what's the lesson?

Sources: BMW Group annual results from 2021 to 2025, profit warning of June 16, 2026, accounts of the BMW Brilliance joint venture, 2025 deliveries from Audi and Mercedes-Benz, American, European and Chinese registrations, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#BMW #Automotive #China #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> Munich, June 16, 2026: a BMW press release lands in the middle of a trading session. On every hundred euros of cars sold, the group will keep less than three this year, against almost ten two years earlier. And yet BMW is still the world's biggest premium carmaker by volume.

BMW made a rare choice: never decide between petrol, hybrid and electric, and never break prices. In the United States, that doctrine produces a third record year, because building in Spartanburg shelters the group from import duties while Audi imports everything. In China, the same doctrine costs it one sale in four in four years, facing a market that had already switched to new energy vehicles.

Chapters
00:00 Munich, June 2026
01:11 Refusing to choose
03:16 The Spartanburg plant
05:12 The market that had already decided
07:30 So what's the lesson?

Sources: BMW Group annual results from 2021 to 2025, profit warning of June 16, 2026, accounts of the BMW Brilliance joint venture, 2025 deliveries from Audi and Mercedes-Benz, American, European and Chinese registrations, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#BMW #Automotive #China #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0200 Pierre-Nicolas Schwab Pierre-Nicolas Schwab 525 Munich, June 16, 2026: a BMW press release lands in the middle of a trading session. On every hundred euros of cars sold, the group will keep less than three this year, against almost ten two years earlier. And yet BMW is still the world's biggest premium carmaker by volume.

BMW made a rare choice: never decide between petrol, hybrid and electric, and never break prices. In the United States, that doctrine produces a third record year, because building in Spartanburg shelters the group from import duties while Audi imports everything. In China, the same doctrine costs it one sale in four in four years, facing a market that had already switched to new energy vehicles.

Chapters
00:00 Munich, June 2026
01:11 Refusing to choose
03:16 The Spartanburg plant
05:12 The market that had already decided
07:30 So what's the lesson?

Sources: BMW Group annual results from 2021 to 2025, profit warning of June 16, 2026, accounts of the BMW Brilliance joint venture, 2025 deliveries from Audi and Mercedes-Benz, American, European and Chinese registrations, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#BMW #Automotive #China #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> market research, marketing, business No Decathlon: analysis of a strategy shift 1 1 Decathlon: analysis of a strategy shift full 353491a7-639e-454b-8836-6bb8ce304ab7 https://share.transistor.fm/s/53483515 The team sports aisle, March 2026: the Kipsta football drops below 3 euros, and sales nearly double in 15 days. 2 years earlier, Decathlon announced it wanted to become a sports brand that could take on Nike.

In March 2024, the group set out to stop being a retailer and become a brand, and its global profit lost 1 euro in every 7 the following year. Its industrial machine, which designs 6 out of 10 products and brings customers back more often than any competitor, is built for unit cost, not for desire. The 2025 return to affordability puts it back on the one battlefield its competitors can copy in a single season.

Chapters
00:00 A football under 3 euros
01:06 Becoming Nike
03:24 What the factory dictates
05:52 Price can be copied
08:14 The key takeaway

Sources: Decathlon group financial results 2023 to 2025, group communications on the March 2024 strategic overhaul and the 2025 return to affordability, Intersport's August 2025 price commitments, market shares of multisport retailers in France, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#Decathlon #Sport #Retail #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> The team sports aisle, March 2026: the Kipsta football drops below 3 euros, and sales nearly double in 15 days. 2 years earlier, Decathlon announced it wanted to become a sports brand that could take on Nike.

In March 2024, the group set out to stop being a retailer and become a brand, and its global profit lost 1 euro in every 7 the following year. Its industrial machine, which designs 6 out of 10 products and brings customers back more often than any competitor, is built for unit cost, not for desire. The 2025 return to affordability puts it back on the one battlefield its competitors can copy in a single season.

Chapters
00:00 A football under 3 euros
01:06 Becoming Nike
03:24 What the factory dictates
05:52 Price can be copied
08:14 The key takeaway

Sources: Decathlon group financial results 2023 to 2025, group communications on the March 2024 strategic overhaul and the 2025 return to affordability, Intersport's August 2025 price commitments, market shares of multisport retailers in France, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#Decathlon #Sport #Retail #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> Thu, 17 Sep 2026 20:19:12 +0200 Pierre-Nicolas Schwab Pierre-Nicolas Schwab 566 The team sports aisle, March 2026: the Kipsta football drops below 3 euros, and sales nearly double in 15 days. 2 years earlier, Decathlon announced it wanted to become a sports brand that could take on Nike.

In March 2024, the group set out to stop being a retailer and become a brand, and its global profit lost 1 euro in every 7 the following year. Its industrial machine, which designs 6 out of 10 products and brings customers back more often than any competitor, is built for unit cost, not for desire. The 2025 return to affordability puts it back on the one battlefield its competitors can copy in a single season.

Chapters
00:00 A football under 3 euros
01:06 Becoming Nike
03:24 What the factory dictates
05:52 Price can be copied
08:14 The key takeaway

Sources: Decathlon group financial results 2023 to 2025, group communications on the March 2024 strategic overhaul and the 2025 return to affordability, Intersport's August 2025 price commitments, market shares of multisport retailers in France, IntoTheMinds analyses.

The full analysis, with all the charts: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/

This episode was written by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, founder of the market research firm IntoTheMinds.

Get our market analyses every week: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/newsletter/inscription

#Decathlon #Sport #Retail #MarketResearch #Strategy

]]> market research, marketing, business No