Retail collaboration ‘drives value for customers’

Written by Chris Lemmon

12/10/2017

A new study from Criteo and Forbes Insights has found that brands and retailers see collaboration and pooled assets as a way to better meet customers’ needs, drive value and increase competition in the sector.

Brands expressed concern that physical-digital giants, such as Amazon, will limit access to their products, whereas retailers worry this trend will cause consumers to turn away from smaller retailers.

Nearly four out of five brands and retailers included customer data as a key part of their business strategy. But while retailers have access to more data than brands, especially online, they are less confident than brands in their ability to turn data into actionable insights.

Brands and retailers see value in collaboration and pooling data assets to meet customer needs and drive value for their business. Some 71 per cent of brands and retailers are willing to contribute data to a pool. And, three-fifths of those surveyed are already part of a data cooperative, with seven out of 10 of those companies already happy with their collaborations as well as the data they receive. Additionally, 72 per cent of marketers cited “increased revenue” as a key benefit they experience from pooled data.

When it comes to data, 66 percent of marketers report that the biggest challenge they have with customer data is “ensuring quality data” and 65 percent cite “confidentiality of data” as being a top challenge in the context of pooled customer data assets.

Eric Eichmann, CEO of Criteo, said: “Global marketing executives are fully aware of the disruption the industry faces. Leading CMOs are taking bold steps to capitalize on the opportunity created by this disruption. Understanding the value of data collaboration and pooling data is a massive step forward.

“Doing this within the Criteo Commerce Marketing Ecosystem, which holds a massive pool of granular shopper data and provides access to one of the best media inventory in the industry, will uniquely enable retailers and brands to connect more shoppers to the things they need and love, maximizing thus their sales and profits.”