Dunnhumby, Placer.ai partner to provide customer insights to retailers

Dunnhumby, a global company specializing in customer data science, and Placer.ai, a location analytics company, are joining to empower retailers to unlock online/offline customer insights and create unique customer propositions. By combining location data, behavioral science and dunnhumby expertise in retail consulting, the partnership aims to give retailers and CPG companies an edge in increasingly competitive environments. The partnership will introduce a new range of connected insights from dunnhumby, powered by Placer.ai’s suite of location data.

“Much like last year, 2024 will be a year of increased competition,” said Matt O’Grady, president for the Americas at dunnhumby. “It’s never been more important for retailers— especially in sectors like grocery, pharmacy, and convenience—where differentiation has become challenging—to develop the right value proposition for their customers and to holistically understand their shoppers' journeys. In the past, customer journeys in-store and out-of-store were viewed in isolation. Integrating these insights into a holistic journey creates a great opportunity for retailers to better understand their customers and influence what brings them to the stores.”

The partnership builds on the firm’s relationship wherein Placer.ai has provided location visit trends data to dunnhumby, which dunnhumby uses to complement insights it publishes in the Retailer Preference Index, an annual report that ranks 60+ retailers according to both customer sentiment and financial performance data. 

The RPI has become the industry standard for measuring grocery retail brand equity. It established a strong correlation between grocery financials and customer perceptions of retailer value propositions—i.e., the reason shoppers shop at their stores. Now, with this partnership, the same science for ranking retailers is more accessible to individual retailers to position themselves more competitively, based on the attributes their customers most care about.

[Read more: H-E-B, Costco best navigate pandemic grocery market upheaval, bumping Amazon from top]

“Placer’s ultimate mission is to unlock the power of analytics to help empower businesses to improve their decision making and drive tangible business goals,” said Mark Bowan, head of partner programs of Placer.ai. “The partnership with dunnhumby is a clear step in that direction bringing together industry leading insights, perspectives and analysis in order to better inform strategy and decision making.”

As part of the partnership, dunnhumby and Placer.ai will provide services such as collaborative proposition building, go-to-market strategy, and access to the Placer.ai Partner Program (including 1,600+ Placer.ai customers and 10,000+ users). In addition, the partnership is enabling the firms to explore new connected data sets across Placer’s extensive partner network

.[Read more: In the coming years more retail pharmacy brands will adopt technology to gain a competitive edge]