Microsoft CEO emphasised how retailers can use their customer data to drive business
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivered the keynote at NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show which emphasised the importance of data and how it will shape the future of retail.
He explained that the industry is generating 40 terabytes of data per hour. “Retail will use [this data] to know its customers, empower its employees, create an intelligent supply chain and reinvent its business models,” he said.
He also described how enterprises should be looking to use technology to support their staff. “Giving data to employees is the single most return-on-investment intensive thing you can do,” he said. “It increases your conversion rate by 15% and your satisfaction rate by 10%.”
In his speech he referenced Ikea as a success story in this area. The firm created an app to simplify how staff rearrange schedules. In doing so, it has drastically reduced the administrative burden on its employees.
“You have, as retailers, the most valuable asset: commercial-intended consumer behaviour data,” said Nadella. “The question is, how can you, through your marketing efforts, convert that into effectively new online advertising channels that could benefit every brand, every supplier. This, to me, is perhaps what’s needed to reshape retail.”