Personal data migration: revolutionizing customer data
They say the first cut is the deepest. While that might very well be true, according to millions of online grocery shoppers around the world, it is certain that the first shop is the hardest. Learning your way around the site, finding which section the product you are looking for is hidden in, trying to identify the correct size bottle, or read the ingredients of a new product — all these things take time. This is what chases away many potential shoppers. But regular online grocery users know that once you have invested the time on that first shop, the next shop goes much faster. Most websites save your grocery list, so all you have to do is choose from the list all the things you bought last time, spend a few minutes adding other products, and check out.
This is great when a person regularly shops online at the same retailer. Over time, all the products they buy weekly or monthly appear on their favorites list and the weekly grocery shop takes up to 15 minutes online instead of an hour in store. But what happens when a different online supermarket starts to deliver to your area? Their prices are better, their website is easy to navigate, but you just can’t face doing that first shop again.
Consolid, a young startup based in Israel, has set out to change that. Consolid enables any user to move their favorites between retailer online sites. That means you, as a shopper, can go to the new online grocery store, click “Import Favorites” and get all your purchase history and your lists to the new site in a matter of seconds. No need to spend all that time and effort on doing a “new shop”.
Import Favorites, introduced in the UK by mySupermarket, has already become market standard in the UK (the country with the highest share of online grocery shopping — 7.2% share according to The Grocer) after it has been adopted by all major retailers, providing key value to both the retailer and the end user. The advantages to the customer is that it saves time (meaning they can check out faster), the selection is relevant and personalized, and they can try new supermarkets without the fear of having to commit to a new online grocery site that they may not like and without redoing the dreaded “new shop”.
What is more, Consolid is a ground-breaking platform in that it provides customers with means to control their personal data, something that has been singled out as a key goal in the progress of the World Wide Web by no other than its inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee in his new Solid initiative.
The advantages for the retailers can be broken down to 3 key areas:
>> Higher conversion through faster route to checkout and personalized experience
Except for the obvious advantage of providing customers with a fast route to checkout, Consolid allows for a personal experience, even when trying a new store. eCommerce sites display recommendations, special offers and codes based on data about each customer’s previous purchases. Using Consolid enables the software to send notifications about products that are relevant to the customer — a person who has diapers and formula on their list will receive a pop up about baby shampoo, a person who buys dry dog food each week will receive a code for “buy 3 get 1 free” on cans of dog food. This means that retailers can target new customers effectively from the very first time they shop at your site. The amount of data available about each customer through Consolid allows the retailer to build an enriched profile that gives them information about the preferred time of day that this customer shops, brands they like, if they respond well to offers, eating preferences such as organic, and many other variables. All this data allows the store to build a personalized shopping experience from the very first shop. And of course, if a customer has a good first experience, they are likely to return.
>> Insights into competitor data, allowing for better market positioning
Consolid gives grocery companies a unique insight into their competition. By allowing customers to import their personal data from a competing retailer, grocers can gain valuable insights into shopper habits and shopping patterns of users in competing retailers, allowing them to better analyze the competitive landscape and form better strategies leading to smarter business decisions.
>> The ability to promote private label products
As part of the matching process between different retailer’s products, Consolid provides retailers with the unique opportunity to promote their private label products when a branded replacement is not available or less suitable.
Consolid enables users to fill the mental gap between brick-and-mortar and online stores and to hold accounts at multiple stores. Research shows that most people tend to shop in different brick-and-mortar supermarkets depending on what they are buying — maybe there is a more expensive place closer to home where they shop in an emergency, and a cheaper place where they go for bulk products. Online shopping is no different. If one site has fast delivery service, but another has cheaper products, there is no reason for a customer not to shop in both places — except that it is a pain in the neck! But with the ability to import lists between retailers, customers have the flexibility to choose where to shop and are more likely to do more of their grocery shopping online.
Consolid can work with all categories of online retail, however we have chosen to begin with grocery since these shops take the longest and shoppers tend to buy the same items regularly — meaning that Consolid can have an instant impact on customer satisfaction which will show in an increase of completed baskets.
Visit www.consolid.io for more information.
Gad Zehavi is the founder and CEO of Consolid.
