Blog
May 2, 2024
How can data generated throughout a sales organization and with every customer interaction be collected and processed correctly? It is clear that personalization, both online and offline, plays a central role in the shopping experience of a company’s own customers. Companies need to understand their own customers very well in order for personalized services and marketing approaches to work. What makes master data orchestration successful, and which data is particularly valuable in this context?
At Fressnapf, Europe’s leading retail chain for pet food and accessories, master data orchestration is a central part of the digitization and data strategy. In addition to around 1,900 Fressnapf and Maxi Zoo stores in thirteen countries, Fressnapf Holding SE operates online shops and provides customers with apps, loyalty programs, and other services. For example, Fressnapf offers a service that attaches a GPS tracker to pets, which then maps the animals’ movement profiles and, in consultation with veterinarians and other specialists, can provide information about the animals’ health. This service can be used, for example, to check whether the pet food needs to be adjusted.
All these different services and touchpoints along the user journey are mapped at Fressnapf in an omnichannel ecosystem, which also shows where data should ideally flow in order to obtain the most comprehensive data picture possible and at the same time ensure that no data silos are formed that could hinder the evaluation of data.
Combining product view with customer view
However, this comprehensive data picture is not created simply by collecting data. At Fressnapf, a wide variety of data types flow into a data lake, but the interpretation and evaluation of the data must be thought through and anticipated in advance. In other words, just because a person has purchased dog food for their pet in a store and this data is available in the data lake does not mean that anything can be done with this information or that conclusions can be drawn from it.
The big question of interpretation and the art of interpreting large amounts of data generated from the product perspective from the customer’s perspective therefore begins with the collection of data and the question of whether the desired data may be collected in this way. In addition to data protection considerations, there are other challenges: Which data must be collected anonymously? Which data can be assigned, for example, by means of app registrations? However, it is not only the collection of data that raises important questions, but above all the aim and purpose of the various data collections.
Master Data Orchestration aims to present valuable, data-centric solution proposals for a wide range of business endeavors. Data-driven insights are essential, especially for marketing campaigns and customer-oriented business measures. This means that not only can short-term measures such as campaigns or the introduction of new services be sent to the target audience with the right message, but longer-term efforts such as the expansion of online business or customer loyalty programs can also be significantly supported with data.
Master Data Orchestration: Challenges and Opportunities
Anyone who works with data knows that the challenges are not only technical in nature, but also require a great deal of effort at the organizational level. In this context, companies often refer to data silos. Not everyone knows where data that may be central to achieving corporate goals is located within the company, or they may only have partial access to work with this data. This organizational component requires data orchestration to check data flows and deliver them to the right people in the right format.
Because one thing is probably the most important aspect of data orchestration: recognizing the importance of data and putting it in the right context. We would like to thank Iwan Uswak, Senior Expert Data Orchestration at Fressnapf for sharing his experience and demonstrating that there is great data potential everywhere in companies. The next Expert Talk will be coming soon, and we look forward to seeing you there again.