Data is extremely valuable for consumer product goods (CPG) companies, and while they have plenty of sources of data, more often than not, the relationship and associated consumer purchase data is owned by the retailer, including loyalty programmes.
Pooling, analysing and interpreting the required level of granular data about the consumer on a mass, representative scale across every retail channel is extremely difficult to do. Brands try to create demand through advertising, but a lot of their success is outside their control, so they have to incentivise purchase through discounts and offers to entice the consumer in-store.
On this week's Inside Marketing podcast, Lauren O'Reilly and Bidemi Afolabi from brand data experts Promotion Intelligence join us to discuss how their platform helps brands gain a deeper understanding of their customer purchase data. Listen now:
In a world where data is as valuable a currency as budget, having the right consumer insights to hand would make that budget all the more valuable, allowing brands to spend more effectively.
We first became curious about consumer insight while completing our studies to become pharmacists
CPG brands, by their nature and the way they are most often distributed, do not generate the same digital traffic to their sites as other categories, and any engagement is rarely transactional. Of course, there are focus groups, research, and surveys about purchase intent, but the way it stands today, brands don’t have full visibility of consumer shopping behaviour in real-time data. If you’re a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, data is disjointed, and undemocratic.
My co-founder Bidemi Afolabi and I first became curious about consumer insight while completing our studies to become pharmacists in Trinity College Dublin, and while on placement in retail pharmacy.
Having scientific and research-based backgrounds, we could clearly see how valuable consumer intelligence was to the leading pharmacy chains, and how data was being gathered via loyalty programmes. Meanwhile, when working in pharmacies, we were interacting directly with consumers who felt valued when their loyalty earned them rewards, or a “freebie” of some sort.
We researched how little of this information was available to the actual FMCG companies, across all retail channels from supermarkets, to pharmacies, to convenience stores, and came to the conclusion that the market research industry was disjointed.
We found that the solutions for consumer insight being provided to CPG companies were substandard in the data-driven environment we live in today, and this conclusion was further backed up when we carried out market research with these companies.
With our scientific, consumer-centric glasses on, Promotion Intelligence was born
Consumer insight needed to be centralised and easily accessible to CPG companies. An industry filled with consultancy and project work needed to be disrupted. Decisions based on assumptions don’t carry across the market, and true, actionable consumer insights are required to have an edge in consumer-facing industries. This led us to studying the value of the humble receipt, and we decided to turn these transactional insights into a comprehensive, real-time, consumer intelligence platform, used to answer pertinent brand questions.
With our scientific, consumer-centric glasses on, Promotion Intelligence was born.
Promotion Intelligence gathers deep consumer insight using a highly engaging consumer platform that moves away from a data dictatorship, and instead towards a data democracy, where there is an equitable exchange of value, between businesses and consumers.
A new solution
With stricter standards in place to protect consumer privacy, such as the phasing out of the third-party cookie, and consumers rightly demanding transparency when it comes to how their data is being collected and used, a new solution that allows for fair, equitable and transparent exchange of value is needed.
With ProMotion Rewards, the consumer-facing side of Promotion Intelligence, consumers are rewarded for uploading any physical receipt, including ereceipts, to the mobile app. Consumers receive bonuses for purchasing with any of the partner brands on the app, to reward their brand loyalty, and they also earn points for reaching their step goal.
The platform gives them back control of their data, rewards their regular shopping habits, and acts as extra motivation to be physically active. At the foundation of our company is research and data ethics, as well as a keen determination to nudge people towards positive, healthy behaviours, something we as pharmacists are passionate about. We wanted to create purpose-driven consumer intelligence.
With 95 per cent of grocery spend still in-store, capturing physical receipts provides immense value to CPG companies. The advantage of this over point-of-sale, or card data, is that product-level insights can be matched directly to real people and their behaviours.
Clients can survey consumers who already show they are spending in that category, or buying similar products
ProMotion Rewards also has an email integration where, with a single click, users can choose to submit ereceipts from the last 14 days and receive points. All this data is processed, categorised and presented as a simple Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for clients. The solution is modular, so that clients can choose from a suite of insights tools to suit their needs.
Versatile dataset
The versatile dataset collected by Promotion Intelligence can also be used to target specific behaviours, and perform qualitative research on behalf of clients. For example, instead of generically surveying women aged 18-40 about a new product innovation, clients can survey consumers who already show they are spending in that category, or buying similar products, for insights and feedback.
Similarly, ad testing can be carried out on target audiences, based on verified purchase behaviours, as opposed to on a trained ad review panel, which has typically been the cause of homogenous, indistinct advertising campaigns.
This changes how ad testing is approached, with much more organic, true-to-life feedback being gathered from consumers, compared with legacy panels.
With traditional promotional marketing, a “one size fits all” approach has commonly been used. Promotion Intelligence allows brands to action their deep consumer insights, to present offers to people who have a high propensity to buy. This helps to drive product trial, and in turn, brand loyalty. It also gives consumers the opportunity to earn more rewards, and quickly accumulate points to either have deposited in their PayPal account, or donated to charity.
As we grow and scale the business in 2022, we will be hiring a diverse team of passionate, data-centric individuals to join our team. We are both committed to hiring diverse individuals who bring unique perspectives, insights and experience to a fast-paced start-up environment.
We will see a major shift in consumer behaviours over the coming years, as we come out of what has been a traumatic, and potentially evolutionary, two years
Bidemi, having come to Ireland from Nigeria as a child, is determined to ensure people from minority backgrounds with diverse skills and abilities are well represented, and carries this into the company ethos.
Our consumer application, ProMotion Rewards, will be launching in February and we are delighted to already have some leading CPG brands as partners for when we launch. I think we will see a major shift in consumer behaviours over the coming years, as we come out of what has been a traumatic, and potentially evolutionary, two years.
The only way to keep up with the ever-evolving consumer landscape is to have access to real-time data, shared by the consumers themselves, from across all retail channels. The needs of consumers have to be heard and understood, and oftentimes actions speak louder than words.
Having access to those actions – aggregated and interpreted for you – is the best way to truly serve your target market, and also to learn about whether your target market is really who you thought it was.
Lauren O’Reilly is co-founder and chief operating officer of Promotion Intelligence
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