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 ...