Imagining a future where we know each other again
A senior executive just said to me, “We’re getting close to where everyone thought we’d be ten years ago.” He was talking about data integration – being able to “see” customers in their data. Open finance, APIs, fintechs, neobanks, consumer demand dovetailing with regulatory action – it’s all creating a new world in retail and consumer finance.
If this happens like it should, our “new world” will come full circle to the “old world” of the small-town grocery store. They knew you. They knew your family. If you were lucky, your parents had a tab there. Based on nothing more than the fact that they knew you, you could walk in and buy groceries (and candy bars, and . . . well, it depended, because the lady behind the counter knew your mom). I grew up with one of those – the Blue Goose. It was a dying breed.
What is Driving the Conversation?
We’re in an era of strategic merger and acquisition activity. Some of it explicitly targets the integration of data sets for the purpose of creating better consumer experiences – e.g. Augeo’s recent acquisition of Brand Networks. Some acquisitions are probably about data integration without saying it in the press release.
Questions DCA Members are Asking
- If we knew our best consumers like we owned the corner store, how could we serve them better?
- What would get our best customers to want us to know them that well?
- What data would allow us to make behavior-changing offers? Who’s got that data?
- How could we engage with employees and customers through social media in a way that enriches how well we know them?
Related DCA Resources
- Check out our February Strategy Sprint! Open Banking’s Business Opportunities: Creating New Use Cases & Evaluating Value Propositions
- Commerce Code Episode 138: How Will Emerging Technologies Change Digital Commerce?
- Commerce Code Episode 131: Engaging (67 Million) Customers With Social Media and AI