DigitalTransformationTalk: Driving retail innovation through digital transformation

On 30 April 2024, Digital Transformation host Kevin Crane was joined by Patrick Strauss, Chief Intelligent Environments Solutions Officer (CIESO), GlobalLogic UK&I; and Katrin Langley, Vice President, Customer Experience Solutions, Aucera.

Views on news

Recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission, including the banning of InMarket Media from selling precise location data and prohibiting Rite Aid from utilizing facial recognition technology, signal a growing concern for consumer privacy within the U.S. Despite the absence of a federally mandated data protection act, these measures indicate a shift toward greater privacy awareness. The collection of PII is a double-edged sword. While it can provide invaluable insights into consumer behaviour, it also requires strict adherence to privacy laws which are multiplying regularly in the U.S. Currently, 13 states have signed consumer privacy legislation into law and many others have them in various phases of the legislative process.

Consumer privacy versus personalisation

What retailers must do is first find digital technology with data privacy capabilities and find partners that have made investment in privacy protection. In order to get personalised service, however, customers need to give up some of their data such as search and buyer history and demographic. The protection of this data means ensuring that it can’t leak out to third parties or criminals. Many customers don’t have too much headache over their private data until they fall victim to a cyber incident.

The most useful technology is the one that allows marketers to differentiate and utilise the right data for customers. Each buying customer will expect a different customer experience and you must decide what technology to apply or not apply to them accordingly. What customers are really concerned about is the safety and security of their data and data breaches have been on the rise. According to a survey, one third of the 90% of customers who care about data privacy have already switched retailers because they thought their data sharing and data privacy measures weren’t sufficient, which is a trend expected to increase.

Education – both of employees and customers – is also part of the strategy to keep customers safe, which is especially important considering insider threat. Many retailers, however, still rely – at least partially – on legacy systems. People are also reluctant to part with technology that works for them and which they are already familiar with. Dominoes Pizza is a perfect example for how a business can gradually move from legacy to advanced digital systems by efficiently integrating the two.

Retailers will lose whole cohorts of customers if they switch to state-of-the art technologies such as voice and phase out traditional channels. Typically, retailers are rather protective of the data they have and reluctant to bring in external expertise. The achievement of hyper-personalization technology are fairly impressive. You can tell an agent your age, style preferences and it will recommend you clothes that meet them –  both in person and online. Chatbots have recently improved so much that now you may be unsure whether you are talking to one or a human. 

The panel’s advice 

• Encryption, access control and considering what data you want to capture and how long you should keep it will help you become a good custodian of customer data.  
• Low code technologies are great ways for smaller organisations to innovate but they require upskilling of staff.
• Companies today must change every 15 years to stay in the game.
• Amazon has developed an algorithm that can tell what you’re gonna buy before you know it and smart mirrors from Nike are another example of state-of-the art personalisation.