How can data, which is generated everywhere in 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 your own customers. Companies need to understand their own customers very well for personalized services and marketing approaches to work. What constitutes successful master data orchestration 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 digitalization and data strategy. In addition to around 1900 Fressnapf and Maxi Zoo stores in thirteen countries, Fressnapf Holding SE operates online stores and provides customers with apps, customer loyalty programs and other services. For example, Fressnapf offers the service of attaching a GPS tracker to pets, which then maps their movement profiles and, in consultation with vets and other specialists, can provide information on the health of the animals. 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 which data should flow optimally 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.
However, this comprehensive data picture is not created by simply collecting data. At Fressnapf, a wide variety of data types flow together in a data lake, but the interpretation and evaluation of the data must be thought through in advance and anticipated accordingly. In other words, just because a person has bought dog food for their own pet in a store and this data can be retrieved from 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 how to interpret large volumes of data, which have been generated from the product perspective, from the customer's point of view, therefore begins with the collection of the data and the question of whether the desired data may be collected in this way. In addition to data protection considerations, there are further challenges: Which data must be collected anonymously? Which data can be assigned via app registrations, for example? However, it is not only the collection of data that poses important questions, but above all the aim and purpose of the various data collections.
Master Data Orchestration aims to provide valuable, data-centric solutions for a wide range of business endeavors. Data-based insights are indispensable, especially for marketing campaigns and corporate measures that are geared towards customers. Not only can short-term measures such as campaigns or the introduction of new services be sent to the target audience with the right approach, but longer-term efforts such as the expansion of online business or customer loyalty programs can also be significantly supported with data.
Anyone who works with data knows that challenges are not only of a technical nature, but also require a great deal of effort at an organizational level. In this context, companies often talk about data silos. Not everyone knows where data is located in the company that may be central to achieving corporate goals or only has partial approval to work with this data. This organizational component requires data orchestration to ensure that data flows are checked and delivered to the right people in the right format.
Because one thing is probably the most important thing about 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 showing us that there is great data potential everywhere in companies. The next Expert Talk will take place soon, we look forward to it and hope that you will join us again.
