Chapter 2
Data Insights: Growing your Digital Business
In today’s digital age, data is more than a buzzword; it is the key to the F&B industry’s future. However, to unlock this potential access this key, brands must overcome common pitfalls and hurdles.
Asked about the biggest challenges they face when leveraging data for digital shelf strategy, 62% said data privacy and security and 51% answered keeping up with technology. These concerns highlight the delicate balance brands must strike between using data to drive growth and innovation while ensuring consumer trust.
Data is critical for constructing the most efficient, customised and relevant personalised shopper journey. When asked about their plans, respondents highlighted leveraging data to offer tailored discounts. They are also looking to leverage data to recommend products through social media, identify customers' preferred payment methods to streamline the checkout process, and provide time-specific suggestions, such as offering breakfast items in the morning.
When evaluating their digital store strategies are, most businesses focus on sales (67%) and repeat customers (66%). This reveals an ongoing dilemma in the industry, as businesses weigh the immediate impact of sales against the long-term value of customer loyalty and retention.
Besides making things more personal, brands are also trying other ways to improve the online experience. Our survey showed most businesses are focusing on using data to give better customer support (67%) and making their websites and apps easier to navigate (63%). Data is not only being used to tailor offerings but also to enhance overall usability and customer service, ensuring a smoother and more satisfying experience for users.
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Question 1: What are the biggest challenges you face in leveraging data for your digital shelf strategy?
Question 2: What are your plans for using data to create more personalised shopper journeys?
Question 3: How do you measure the success of your digital store strategy?
Question 4: Besides personalisation, how else are you using data to improve the customer experience on your digital platforms?
What are the biggest challenges you face in leveraging data for your digital shelf strategy? (Respondents were asked to select all that apply)
Data Privacy & Security
Keeping Up With Technology
Rapidly Changing Consumer Trends
Insufficient Benchmarking Capabilities
Poor Data Quality & Accuracy
Limited Demand Forecasting
Real-Time Data Access
Lack of Actionable Insights from Data
Challenges in Gathering Data Across the Competitive Landscape
Budget Constraints
Lack of Personalisation Tools
"Data privacy and security are crucial for any brand and while strengthening this is a positive thing, it does place some limits on what can be done. On the digital shelf, trends on social media are more often than not what sells and is a reflection on the need to keep up with technology.
However, there is also an internal challenge in aligning search and transaction data with product and content development. The key is figuring out how to develop products that people are actively searching for and ensuring that this insight is effectively incorporated into our digital content strategy."
Erik Liebe, Head of Marketing & Digital Commerce, Unilever
How do you measure the success of your digital store strategy?
(Check all that apply)
Sales
Repeat Customers
Customer Satisfaction (Reviews, Surveys, etc)
Website/App Traffic
Time Spent on Website/App
Bounce rate
"Sales will always be a key metric for measuring the success of digital stores, but I also think that repeat customers are just as important. Businesses should also focus more on evaluating the success of demand generation campaigns, as repeat customers typically require less advertising spend. That said, it is still crucial to track new customer behaviour as well so you can assess the full effectiveness of campaigns."
Erik Liebe, Head of Marketing & Digital Commerce, Unilever
Besides personalisation, how else are you using data to improve the customer experience on your digital platforms? (Respondents were asked to select all that apply)
Providing Better Customer Support
Improving Website/App Navigation
Optimising Product Search
Creating More Engaging Content
"I am not surprised that search and navigation score highly here with respondents but I would argue that there are many improvements to be made to the online shopping journey. When we sit down with retailers in any market, we have to talk to them about the value we can add we always start off with the shopper journey.
In almost all bricks and clicks retailers around the world, especially those working with the local GS1 standard of online content, the current opportunities for content are very limited."
Guy Keeling, Vice President, Global Digital Commerce, Barilla
