Explore how Tesco leverages data and AI in their loyalty program with Director of Analytics and Science, Venkat Raghavan. Learn about personalized services, enhancing customer experience, and improving retail pricing strategies through data science. Discover the importance of collaboration between data teams and the challenges of conducting data science at scale in a large organization like Tesco.
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Quick takeaways
Tesco's Clubcard loyalty program drives customer trust and cost-effective shopping experiences.
Data analytics at Tesco enhance operational efficiency, customer insights, and strategic decision-making.
Deep dives
The Evolution of AI and GenAI in Retail Intelligence
Incorporating AI and GenAI in retail to connect data for product, store, and supplier insights is crucial for enhancing business operations. These insights support operators in real-time decision-making, impacting various aspects like store management, supplier interactions, and contact center strategies.
Tesco's Rich Data Heritage and Innovations
Tesco's pioneering initiatives in data utilization, such as introducing the Club Card loyalty program in 1995 and venturing into online food retail early, showcase a legacy of innovative data-driven strategies. With a deep understanding of their 22 million Clubcard customers and active app users, Tesco leverages data for marketing, pricing, promotions, and strategic planning.
Strategic Data Utilization for Customer-Centric Goals
Tesco's strategic programs focus on customer-centric themes like enhancing Club Card loyalty, offering magnetic value propositions, ensuring convenience, and optimizing investments. Data plays a pivotal role in driving these programs, aligning with Tesco's purpose of improving customer, colleague, and planetary impact daily, with a strong emphasis on effective analytics and data-led decision-making.
Addressing Challenges and Leveraging Opportunities in Data Science at Scale
Handling the complexities of data fragmentation and context variance within a large-scale organization poses challenges and opportunities for data science teams. Despite the obstacles, leveraging data science to impact key metrics like sales, margin, colleague, customer, and supplier satisfaction requires a strategic approach, robust internal measurement systems, and a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.
Loyalty schemes are a hallmark of established retailers—not only do they build consumer trust, they are intelligent and constantly evolving, and Tesco’s Clubcard is the UK’s favorite retail loyalty program. The effects of these discounts are far-reaching, especially for families who rely on getting the best deals to make the most of their money. As Tesco’s tagline goes, every little helps. In turn, the identification and specific details of discounted products can have a profound impact on how consumers view the largest supermarket retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as the operational costs and profits that shareholders are concerned with. How do data and AI inform these offers, what goes into the enterprise-scale analytics that keeps Tesco’s Clubcard the UK’s favorite?
Venkat Raghavan is Director of Analytics and Science at Tesco. Venkat’s area of expertise is customer analytics, having been very heavily involved with the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program. Venkat also set up an analytics center of excellence to help break down data silos between teams. Previously, he was a Director of Analytics at Boston Consulting Group and Senior Director for Advanced Analytics & AI for Manthan and a Cross Industry Delivery Leader at Mu Sigma.
In the episode, Richie and Venkat explore Tesco’s use of data, the introduction of the clubcard scheme, Tesco’s data-driven innovations in online food retail, understanding customer behavior through loyalty programs and in-app interactions, improving customer experience at Tesco, operating a cohesive data intelligence platform that leverages multiple data sources, communication between data and business teams, pricing and cost management, the challenges of data science at scale, the future of data and much more.