Catalog Circulation – A New Frontier

Twenty years ago, we discovered the power of transactional data. Lo and behold, it turned out that certain aspects of human behavior were very predictable. Once a consumer’s wallet was opened and purchases were made, certain details of those transactions, known as RFM, turned out to be very trustworthy indicators of future purchases. Fast forward […]

The Battle of Prepositions: A look at integrating data ‘from’ new marketing initiatives and ‘with’ new marketing initiatives

As I began writing this column, I was immediately struck by one of the words in the deck. Using “from” suggests fitting new marketing data into an existing process integration after new initiatives are introduced, while the word “with” requires a different approach altogether, indicating a process that considers the data before the initiative is […]

Behind the Curtain: A look at the people and departments responsible for marketing data

Over the past season, we have been looking at many data-driven elements, including the data itself and the processes that are involved in analysis and reporting. However, a simple, often-overlooked, but key part of the whole process is the people who work with the data. Different people are involved across so many parts of the […]

Beyond the Data: New thinking about data’s role in creating marketing success

“Data” has become the darling of the marketing world recently as information technology and database marketing really hit their strides in business (Check out the Target Marketing July 2012 cover story, “Are You Ready for Big Data?” to brush up on your consumer data know-how if this topic hasn’t been on your radar screen). Marketers […]

Playing by the Rules: Establish key analytic processes in order to boost your return on marketing investments

“Big Data” is a buzzword these days. More importantly, under the hood there have been new data emerging from so many sources, we are all scrambling to keep up. As new media channels have been born during the past decade, so have new databases that serve as repositories for all the new data. In some […]

Six Items to Consider When Analyzing Prior Season

We all know that consumer behavior is changing rapidly. Yet, when reviewing their prior season, many merchants continue to look at the same metrics year after year. In addition, merchants look at these metrics the exact same way every year. Merchants may be missing opportunities as customers have definitely changed their way of interacting with […]