Customer Data

Retail personalization has long been the domain of the e-commerce retailers that redefined the concept of local retailing by bringing it to a geographically unrestricted audience at scale, leaving traditional retailers scrambling to combat their new, impersonal identity. And as retail stalwarts shuttered their doors and malls became modern American ghost towns, the narrative that…

Customer information yields incredible power for today’s data-driven retailers. Yet with growing volumes of individual consumer data flowing across the network, cybercriminals are eager to exploit both online and offline vulnerabilities. Customer relationship management (CRM) analytics platforms fuel highly personalized, targeted marketing campaigns and programs, driving top-line and bottom-line results. But whether it’s being transported…

Customer-obsessed marketing is here, and retailers and brands are evaluating an increasingly complex advertising world filled with new questions around metrics, search performance and audience quality. In a recent study from RetailMeNot and Kelton Research on connecting retailers, brands and agencies with priority customers, retail marketers weigh in on the essential nature of identifying and…

The customer journey as marketers have known it is dead. In the age of omnichannel retail, customers getting from point A to point B is a more fractured experience than ever. The pace of customer expectations means that the window of time to engage, send the right offer or respond to an action is shrinking.…

Data has become one of retailers’ most valuable assets, yet many still struggle to use it in a way that drives true value for their businesses. According to a recent survey of senior-level marketers, 47 percent of respondents think artificial intelligence is overhyped, and another 31 percent say the same about big data. Consumers, however,…

Until now, brands have employed rather traditional methods of engaging and developing connections with consumers. Whether through flashy advertisements, brand ambassadors or just tried-and-true messaging, many retailers have taken the "if it’s not broke, don’t fix it" mentality to heart. For more established brands, however, this can mean messaging becomes stale or unoriginal after a…

The 2017 holiday season was the strongest in nearly a decade for America’s retailers. From Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, nearly three-fourths of the selling days showed positive year-over-year growth, with specialty apparel, jewelry and furniture racking up solid performances. This strong performance offers an opportunity for retailers to stay connected to their customers and continue the…

A few weeks ago, Target CEO Brian Cornell described innovation pilots as "nice little experiments that distract the organization." His focus at Target is finding ideas that stick; technology that can sustain scaling across their stores, employees and customers over time. Although Cornell's comment rubbed some retailers the wrong way, he made an accurate point:…

With a unified view of its data, IWA has been able to segment and target customers with personalized marketing campaigns

Amazon.com on Monday will open Amazon Go, its automated grocery store in Seattle, to the public. The store replaces cashiers with a checkout-free shopping experience made with with what Amazon calls "Just Walk Out" technology that uses computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion — many of the same advances being used to develop autonomous…