The 5 R’s to using BIG data in the retail sector

Businesses have access to more information than ever before, a trend that shows no signs of slowing. This data has the potential to give businesses a competitive edge and to make a real difference to their overall performance. However, how many businesses know how to use this new wealth of data effectively, or truly understand its potential to drive their overall business performance?

There is a real demand for guidance when it comes to utilising data. KPMG’s Going beyond the data report highlights that 96% of businesses surveyed felt they weren’t making the most of the opportunities their data presented. They want to maximise the opportunities these increasing datasets present, but need support and advice on how.

The availability of a single customer view for a retail brand, where customers and their transactions across brands and via on-line and off-line channels are captured and collated into a central place in near real-time, provides a central platform for relevant customer engagement and targeted communications. The ability to create insight and analytics on your customers’ buying behaviours and to assimilate the volume, velocity and variety of big data is key.

It enables retailers to communicate with their customers (the right person) using the right product using the right media with the right message at the right moment. Using insight and analytics on big data allows retailers to optimise opportunities throughout the customer journey.

• Understand what their customers look like (i.e. social and demographic traits) and also high basket value customers and therefore aid retention and loyalty which is key in retail sectors
• Acquire new customers via lookalikes and know what products to offer
• Engage with customers via more personalised and relevant messages and via preferred channels therefore optimising your advertising budget
• Manage customers by understanding lapsing triggers and also upsell and cross sell to them
• Learn about future trends and support new product development

The knowledge gleaned from big data when analysed properly using insight and analytics ultimately provides strategy on product, price, promotions and place/convenience.

Key benefits TransUnion (formerly Callcredit) has achieved with one client:

• Identified high value shoppers and achieved 95%+ retention
• Better understanding of product mix and shopping basket composition
• Sales revenue increased as a result of better understanding of customer and product mix

The data available from TransUnion (formerly Callcredit) provides a window on the lives of consumers: who they are, their family, what they like, how wealthy they are, what motivates them, their attitude etc, allowing us to truly understand their circumstances. By employing this data both in combination with the transactional and behavioural data available from the client, customer insight can be employed to deliver effective multi-channel marketing strategies related to new customer acquisition, cross sell, up sell, retention, reactivation and segmentation.

We want to ensure that our clients make best use of their data and understand their customers or prospects better so that they can market to them more appropriately. Thus in addition to creating environments to manage data, we can enhance this data to better understand the customer or prospect and employ insight to drive better marketing decisions.