Phil Rubin

RILA Survey: High Priority Placed on Protecting Consumer Data

March 2, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
A new report released by the Retail Industry Leaders Association in partnership with Retail Systems Research finds merchants viewing data protection as a means to build their brand and business across channels in the minds of consumers. Do you see a strategic advantage in protecting shopper data and utilizing customer-specific data?      [more...]

These two ideas--data privacy and data utilization - go hand in hand in terms of retailer responsibility.

As a general rule, most retailers do an acceptable job with protecting consumer data (though there have been a few notable exceptions such as the problems TJX had) but the majority of retailers completely fail to properly utilize customer data.

While the obvious opportunity for customer data is marketing, there are also a wide range of applications where data can be used for business and customer intelligence (especially when linked with merchandising and financial data) and operations (e.g., merchandise returns, loss prevention).

Retailers are not always customer-centric nor likewise embracing forward leaning-technology. Those that are (and do), such as Amazon, Nordstrom and Best Buy, will continue to outperform their competition.