Compliant Data Sharing Enables Swift Decision Making for Retail
Introducing a new way to supplement first-party data, feed your AI algorithms, and connect to your customers like never before
For the retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries, the past two years have seen massive evolutions in consumer demand and shopping behaviors, including a spike in online ordering, customers switching brands, and the rise in omni-channel, social media-driven buying. We’re just now beginning to experience the long-term effects of those events in the form of inflation, recessionary pressures, and consumer saving.
These factors have increased pressure on training capabilities, staffing, and operations management across the supply chain and beyond. It has prompted companies to better understand their own data in order to derive consumer behaviors and trends, enabling them to make decisions quickly. In doing so, many are challenged by an overwhelming amount of data to sift through, much of which is either siloed or inaccessible.
Where compliant data sharing comes into play
For years, brands have lacked direct access to consumer data, as sales largely reside with the retailers and grocers selling products directly to customers on the brand’s behalf. As the industry shifts toward direct, first-party relationships and data sets, retail and CPG brands are looking for ways to boost their consumer data sets in privacy-compliant ways in order to drive efficiencies and maximize revenue.
Industry leaders have begun to do this using cloud-based data sharing platforms. These platforms enable deep data learning and sometimes even employ artificial intelligence (AI) to help retail and CPG companies anticipate spikes in demand, predict and prevent supply chain disruptions, optimize pricing decisions, and deliver highly personalized experiences to customers.
Compliant data sharing is possible, and it’s here
With the deprecation of third-party cookies in media environments and the constant evolution of state-level privacy laws throughout the US, a need for hyper-transparency is unfolding. Retailers must consider privacy and protection regulations when processing data, prioritizing first-party data sources and focusing on customer retention in order to sustain the business.
Data silos are breaking down and — because of the pressure the entire retail and CPG industry is under — data sharing is becoming more of a necessity. Luckily, there’s a groundbreaking way to supplement data from other sources and better reach your audiences while staying compliant: using a data clean room or compliant sharing platform.
Data clean rooms and platforms like Snowflake’s Retail Data Cloud create a privacy-compliant, highly secured data store where retailers can buy and sell data, making a collective agreement to help each other understand customers better while still protecting consumer privacy. The Snowflake Retail Data Cloud enables retailers and manufacturers to access, govern, and share data seamlessly, allowing them to deliver more personalized customer experiences, optimize supply chains, and make data-driven merchandising decisions.
When the water rises, all boats float
Data sharing doesn’t mean giving up your competitive edge — it means sharpening it. If you acquire data about customers, supply, or logistics in your industry and adjacent industries, your AI algorithms will gradually become stronger and more accurate. Better algorithms give you a better return on your first-party data assets.
This shift is happening now, so embracing data-sharing and AI sooner rather than later will give you a competitive advantage. Feeding your algorithms with shared data can help you:
- Know who your end consumer is
- Interact with your customers one-on-one
- Understand the whole customer journey and supply chain process
- Enable better end-to-end premium customer experiences
- Be more efficient with product distribution
- Discover patterns and trends
- Inform marketing messages
- Prevent customer service issues
- Reduce returns by predicting shopping habits
- Understand the links between online behavior and in-store shopping
- Capture customers during the crucial window for retention
While the opportunities are practically endless, taking advantage of them requires a mindset shift around competition. Retail is a complex ecosystem, and the companies who collaborate are the companies who will win.
Become a collaborative, AI-driven retailer
Slalom can help you understand the resources needed to participate in data-sharing and build an AI capability within your organization. We have a sense of the data partnerships that exist in the retail industry and can help you align your objectives to the data that’s available.
We help our customers design integrated technology infrastructures, making sure that you get the most out of your investment in the technology and helping you reach your business goals.
Our consultants:
- Help you think strategically about how the Retail Data Cloud will be used
- Help you customize the cloud integration
- Set up teams, processes, and operating models to support the Retail Data Cloud
- Design and build AI algorithms that run on first-party and shared data
- Create data visualizations that bring insights to the surface
We can function as the data analytics arm of your organization until roles and processes are established, ensuring that you get the most out of the Retail Data Cloud and maximize your investment in Snowflake with machine learning solutions and cloud-native asset migrations.
Slalom is a global consulting firm that helps people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. Learn more and reach out today.
