The attached article is courtesy of McKinsey and resonates very strongly with us.  Mobilizing your C-suite for big-data analytics Leadership-capacity constraints are undermining many companies’ efforts. New management structures, roles, and divisions of labor can all be part of the solution. November 2013   | by Brad Brown, David Court, and Paul Willmott Over the past 30 years,   most companies have added new C-level roles in response to changing business environments. The chief financial officer (CFO) role, which didn’t exist at a majority of companies in the mid-1980s, rose to prominence as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction. 1   Adding a chief marketing officer (CMO) became crucial as new channels and media raised the complexity of brand building and customer engagement. Chief strategy officers (CSOs) joined top teams to help companies address increasingly complex and fast-changing global markets. Today, the power of data

How TfL uses big data to personalise its marketing campaigns Transport for London has the gargantuan task of carrying more than 1bn passengers each year, which means that the marketing team has an equally difficult job of keeping them all informed about upgrades and delays. To find out more about TfL's marketing strategy and exactly what it does with all that Oyster Card data, e-consultancy (www.econsultancy.com) recently spoke to Head of Marketing Services Julie Dixon. What are the main marketing aims for TfL, as presumably it’s not about brand awareness? The role of TfL is to keep London working, growing and to make life in London better – which is a pretty big task! Put more simply we want to get people from A to B as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible, providing them the information they need to make their journey in the way they want to get it. Virtually every resident, worker or visitor to London is one of our customers. This includes people using the pu

dunnhumby USA are suing emnos USA for patent infringement of their "Shop" analytical tool. dunnhumby have filed a lawsuit (  Civil Action No.   1:13-cv-00399 ;)  in the   U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois   although the case is yet to be heard.   There's a lot of interest in the outcome not least as it pits two of the world's leading retailers (Tesco and Kroger - co-owners of dunnhumby USA) against American Express (owners of emnos). dunnhumby's "Shop" enables subscribers to analyze a retailer's customer data - ie their epos sales data linked to a unique customer ID - via a web based portal. The patent was granted in 2004 following the launch of The Shop to Kroger and their suppliers around the same time. "The Shop" was developed by dunnhumby UK ltd in 2001 as a way of automating the delivery of analysis to Tesco's suppliers following the launch of dunnhumby Retail in the same year. dunnhumby Retail w

We've met a variety of senior figures from a number of the UK's leading e-commerce businesses in the last few weeks. We wanted to talk about "big data" analytics and how we might create richer insight and hence more personalised customer experiences. We expected that most site owners would have the tools to be able to translate this insight into personalised content and that they would be sat on a mountain of "small data", ie data attributable to an individual prospect or customer - either by name or behaviour - piled high into a "big data" stack for us to crunch. What a shock to find this was not the case. Most e-businesses seem stuck with anonymised data that reveals little about their visitors or customers other than at an aggregated level. A bit like a shopping mall operator who sees people come and go, visit shops and buy stuff but without knowing who they are, where they live, why they visit, where else they shop and what they think. So we w

New Research Debunks 'Showrooming' Myths: Shows Brick-and-Mortar Retailers How To Keep Smartphone-Wielding Shoppers Spending ... With brick-and-mortar-retail stores continuing to struggle with the rise of showrooming" consumers – those visiting a store to see a product but then purchasing it later online – groundbreaking research from  Columbia Business School  and global loyalty experts Aimia shows retailers concrete steps they can take to entice consumers armed with mobile devices to make purchases  inside  their store walls. The report,  Showrooming and the Rise of the Mobile-Assisted Shopper  identifies five distinct segments of mobile-assisted shoppers and uncovers clear opportunities for retailers to engage and retain these tech-savvy customers. Some of the key takeaways of the report include: Showrooming isn't just for the Millennial Generation:  Contrary to popular belief, 74% of M-shoppers are older than 29 years old. Mobile devices can actua

The "Omnichannel" opportunity for Retailers It’s a digital jungle for retailers today—and all too tempting simply to jump on the next new thing (and the next and the next), just in hopes of keeping pace.  Every omnichannel strategy is unique to the business it drives, and we see a series of factors that all retailers need to consider.  A thorough diagnosis of the challenges faced will take into account existing assets and capabilities and marry them to a plan for capitalizing on e-commerce and e-influence opportunities https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/retail_digital_economy_omnichannel_opportunity_retailers/

The Age of "Digital Eco-Systems"  By 2020, most ordinary devices in the home will have gone digital. They will no longer be islands unto themselves.    Consumers will increasingly use digital devices to access, monitor, and control their connected digital products and services remotely over the Internet. Massive streams of complex, fast-moving “big data” from these digital devices will be stored as personal profiles in the cloud, along with related customer data. At the center of these interconnected devices and services are digital-ecosystem platform owners. We believe that digital ecosystems will profoundly disrupt businesses in nearly every consumer-centric industry To see the full article , click the following link :  https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/information_technology_strategy_digital_economy_age_digital_ecosystems_thriving_world_big_data/

Some interesting new research on how shoppers are using smartphones instore... http://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/mobile-in-store_research-studies.pdf

Some interesting insights from a USA Mobile Audience Insights Report into usage and attitudes concerning instore wi-fi carried out by JiWire. Data comes from a survey of more than 1,400 randomly selected customers across 315,000 USA public wi-fi networks. The report is based on data collected from Nov ‘12 through Dec ‘12. . Key highlights include: The top 4 activities shoppers use their mobile devices for while in a store are  : 1. price comparison 2. find and read product reviews 3. find coupons and offers 4. access the stores website Women are using mobile in stores significantly more than men  Consumers are most likely to use their mobile device for shopping while in an electronic store (44%) - almost twice as many as the next category which is surprisingly clothing (26%), which is significantly ahead of big box retailers and restaurants - both 14% 80% of mobile consumers are influenced by the availability of in-store wi-fi when deciding where to shop - this is part

A number of retailers already offer their customers free instore wi-fi. Tesco, Debenhams, HMV and John Lewis are among the early pioneers. Others seem certain to follow. Why are retailers doing this ? It enables them to provide mobile based services in-store to better serve customers (eg ipads for queue busting or extended product ranging) but the key reason is that its something that customers want and increasingly expect. Not to provide wi-fi risks being competitively disadvantaged and used well can grow customer engagement, sales and profits. An in-store wi-fi platform generates "big data" and a rich source of customer insight. The platform operator can see every session on every connected phone or tablet. It enables retailers to know who is in the store, when and where; how frequently they are visiting and how long they are spending there. Linking to the retailer's loyalty or CRM programme enables understanding of browsing and conversion. Retailers can observe &quo