THE LITTLE BOOK ON BIG DATA

U NDERSTAND R ETAIL A NALYTICS THROUGH U SE CASES TO

O PTIMIZE YOUR B USINESS
MAHOGANY BECKFORD

Copyright © 2016, Mahogany Beckford

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in

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WHY I WROTE T HIS BOOK
The time has come for Big Data to be demystified. We hear a great
deal about it these days, yet it still seems like a foreign and intimidating thing.
The problem isn’t helped any when experts talk about Big Data and they make
it seem like a highly technical thing that requires a PhD or an IT background to
understand. I wrote this book because, while it most definitely is true that
certain aspects of the topic of Big Data are somewhat technical and complex,
the concept itself is actually quite easy to understand. When a shopper makes a
purchase and his or her items are tallied into the point-of-sale system, data is
being created about the items (the number of stock is now reduced as the
purchase leaves the store), and data is being created about the balance sheet
(additional money is added to this month’s earnings). If the shopper paid with a
credit card, debit card, or gift card, even more data is created around
deducting money and adjusting account balances on the card’s side. If the
purchaser utilized a loyalty card during the transaction, additional information
about tastes, shopping frequency, and shopper profiles are updated. Even data
about the sales associate who helped the customer (if any) or who processed
the purchase (if any) is created as well. These days, data is generated simply
by doing business! If you can understand tools and trends that enable putting
this data to use for your business, you can begin to build a competitive
advantage for your retail locations. This book is a starting point for helping
you to do that.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ T HIS BOOK
Big Data has the power to help you optimize your company’s retail
operations. I wrote this book to help you see that the idea of putting retail
analytics or Big Data tools to use is actually not as intimidating as it may seem.
Big Data used to seem overwhelming to me as well, yet I was very
fascinated by the field. My work as the Director of Marketing was where I
began to put web and retail analytics tools to use in a serious way, but putting
systems into place that help with understanding retail metrics or online
behavior is significantly easier than being able to use tools of that level within
physical stores. It was that gap that I became interested in because we, as a
footwear team, could not think only about online metrics. Shoes are something
that customers prefer to try on in a store when possible. This meant thinking a
lot about brick-and-mortar factors as well as online user interactions with a
brand.
These same sorts of challenges are what many retailers are facing.
Regardless of what your shelves contain, doing what you can to improve the
experience of your brand for consumers is something that matters. What also
matters is understanding what draws customers in, and, ideally, what you can
do to keep them coming back. As you read through this book, you will explore
use cases of what other retailers are doing with Big Data technology as a way
to see how it is being applied in the real world. Also, you will find out about
existing retail analytic technologies that you can consider also incorporating
into your own business operations. Some of this technology is so quick and
easy to use that you can get up and running with it in mere minutes.
There are two things to keep in mind as I relay the information in this
book. You will find Key Takeaways located at the end of each chapter. These
summations will help you easily refer back to the important points after you
have finished reading the book. Also, with the vast availability of information
on omnichannel considerations and strategies, this book will not touch on that
topic. My goal is simply to arm you with very insightful and easy to digest
information about Big Data’s applications in a brick-and-mortar retail setting.
Hopefully this book helps.
Enjoy!
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. The Inherent Power of Retail
2. Pay Attention to the Customer Experience
3. Applied Big Data
4. Create a Compelling Environment
5. Boost Customer Loyalty
6. Informed Product Planning
References
About The Author
INTRODUCTION
Another magical thing happened at Disney World in 2013. That year,
visitors of the park began experiencing a greatly improved guest experience.
Turnstiles were gone, lines throughout the park were much shorter, payments
made at gift shops were extremely simple, guests were greeted throughout the
park by “Cast Members” who knew the customers’ names, and pre-ordered
food seemed to miraculously arrive at any table at which the visitors sat1.
Every area of customer interaction with the park, the brand, and Disney’s staff
had been thought about and elevated to new heights. Data and technology
played a big role in helping to map out these improvements.
The guest experience was changed when Disney introduced
MagicBands into its operations. MagicBands are Internet of Things (IoT)
devices that are powered by RFID technology which allows the wearables to
store things like credit card information, reservation details, and guest
preferences. Starting in 2008, the company spent one billion dollars
overhauling their operations to enable these wristband devices to communicate
over Wi-Fi and via sensors. These invisible design efforts were made to allow
guests the freedom of using their MagicBands for pretty much everything they
did in the park and at the Disney World resorts2. MagicBands have been a big
win for the brand because customer surveys show that the guests love these
wearables, and this appreciation has translated to an increase in visitation, an
increase in customer spending at resorts in the United States, and an increase in
profits for the company. Specifically, the 2015 profits for their parks division
was three billion dollars, which was a fourteen percent increase from the year
before3. Disney has also integrated the IoT wristbands into operations on
Disney Cruise Lines as well.
The technology integrations at Disney properties is a prime example of
how “Big Data” is changing the way that businesses are interacting with their
customers, both online and offline. Not only are interactions now different (and
improved), but also the ways in which valuable data can be obtained are
easier than ever before. As an example, data allows Disney to see where
congestion is happening in a park and allows its team to correct for that issue
in real-time. Similarly, being able to use data to detect when staff is most
needed in a retail location can help to improve wait times and staffing at a
physical store as well. In the past, access to retail analytic tools and
technology for helping companies gain certain types of customer insights was
largely limited to online retailers. Now, things have changed. Today, brick-
and-mortar retailers have some of that power as well.
1. T HE INHERENT POWER OF RETAIL
With the rise of e-commerce, the experience of shopping has changed
for consumers. It has become a force to be reckoned with as its appeal has
grown and consumer trust in it has grown as well. Also, with tools like access
to a customer’s browsing history and online search insights, e-commerce
retailers have a really unique view of buyer tastes and consumer behaviors
based on actions that are carried out even outside of their retail stores. These
realities may make a brick-and-mortar retailer nervous about his or her
business’ ability to compete.
E-commerce does indeed offer consumers certain advantages that are
very difficult for brick-and-mortar retailers to compete with. One thing that can
easily be forgotten is that brick-and-mortar retailers currently have very
specific and very unique advantages and, more importantly, will continue to
have these advantages moving forward. Even big e-commerce brands
recognize this reality. Some large e-commerce companies continue to grab
market share in retail spending while simultaneously beginning to incorporate
brick-and-mortar locations into their expansion strategies. To be clear, these
are not brands that are expanding from brick-and-mortar into e-commerce then
back to brick-and-mortar expansion again. No, these are businesses like
Amazon, Birchbox, and Warby Parker who exist fundamentally due to what
they were able to achieve as e-commerce companies whose businesses were
born one hundred percent online. They were able to tap into the compelling
shopping factors of convenience and efficiency to serve customers and grow.
Now, these notable e-commerce retailers have brick-and-mortar locations, too.
To look closely at just one, Birchbox is a prime example. Having roots
in e-commerce, being a brand that was built on intense personalization for its
customers, Birchbox has been a data-driven company since day one of its life.
Off and on since the brand started, Birchbox has set up pop-up shops to allow
customers to see the company up close. In a move to take that idea one step
further, it is now operating a brick-and-mortar store in New York City, and it
also has plans to open additional physical shops in other cities before the end
of 20161. Again, when considering that Birchbox managed to create and then
grow a wildly successful brand without the need for brick-and-mortar
locations, one simple question may arise - why? Why would a brand that has
managed to do so well in the low-overhead environment of e-commerce then
choose to take on the task of operating physical locations? This move is a
testament to the power that comes along with operating a brick-and-mortar
business.
Things can be achieved with a brick-and-mortar location that simply
cannot be done in a virtual setting. Birchbox’s customer loyalty is top in the
fashion and beauty industry, and, by all measures, Birchbox is a successful
brand. Furthermore, as a brand, the majority of its customers do business with
it, not in lieu of some competing company. Instead, the more poignant lesson
that Birchbox learned was that with most of its customers, the brand was
competing against non-consumption2. From an engagement standpoint, that is a
very powerful, and probably very humbling, position to hold.
Even despite having acquired a customer base that contained such big
fans of the brand that some customers would have preferred to purchase from
Birchbox or no one at all, still Birchbox decided to venture into physical
retail. The brand recognized the inherent benefits to having a physical location
that customers could visit to further engage with it on a regular basis. The
lesson in this move is that it behooves brick-and-mortar businesses to
remember that they are in a unique position in that way. How else can a
customer physically touch their brand? The rising trend of pop-up shops and
their success speaks to that customer desire3. It may be easy to forget that, in
certain retail segments, customers appreciate being able to experience a
product up close.
With the fashion and beauty sector being a prime example, customers
will always want to get a sense for things such as what a product is physically
like on their bodies or on their faces, what it feels like, and how it makes them
look. From electronics to furniture to travel gear, a customer having the option
of touch and sensory contact can be the difference for them between buying a
product or not. Furthermore, having the option of physical contact can also
mean the difference between buying from one company or another. Service
offerings such as free return shipping does not offer an adequate replacement
for those core desires. Even as technology further expands into people’s day-
to-day lives, one thing that it will never be able to replace is a physical
environment. A brick-and-mortar business offers that!
2. PAY ATTENTION TO THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
In an article written for Harvard Business Review, customer
experience research scientist Peter Kriss shared some key, and very valuable,
research findings. Kriss’ team looked at revenue data and customer experience
data at one billion dollars plus companies, and “it soon became clear:
customer experience is a major driver of future revenue”1. Specifically, what
the team found for one of the companies studied after controlling for other
factors that could influence a customer’s buying decision was that “customers
who had the best past experiences spend 140% more compared to those who
had the poorest past experience”2. Overall, research found that not only do
customers who have a great customer experience spend more with companies,
they also tend to stay loyal to those companies longer. Also, these customers
tend to be less expensive to serve over the lifetime of their relationship with a
company due to factors like less time investment in the resolution of service
satisfaction issues, customers being less likely to return a product, fewer
support ticket requests, et cetera. In recognizing these sorts of benefits, thinking
about investing in an improved customer experience can become easier even
though at face value this investment may seem to be a high-cost. In reality,
however, its effects on a business’ bottom line may not only balance those
costs out but may also reverse those costs and have them translate into longer
term profits.
3. APPLIED BIG DATA
Now a question that might be asked is, “Ok, so the customer
experience matters. I get it. But what can I do to make these improvements in
my business, and how can data help with that?” Remember that e-commerce
brands have a few unique tools in this area. With that being the case, e-
commerce’s techniques can be looked at for guidance in this area.
As noted earlier, brick-and-mortar retail still has advantages over the
e-commerce shopping experience. One advantage is that being a brick-and-
mortar business means a retailer can harness the power of the Internet of
Things (IoT). Think back to the Disney World IoT use case. Disney is a great
example of a brand that not only put IoT technology to use in its physical
location, but also used this technology to greatly improve the customer’s
experience with the brand in a very unique way. When a customer visits
Disney World, the incorporation of this Big Data technology does not feel at all
like an afterthought. Instead, the technology has been integrated in a way that
makes it disappear, giving way to a frictionless and more pleasant brand
experience. This sort of so-called “invisible design” thinking can do a lot to
help allow cutting-edge technology to coexist alongside normal customer
interactions.
The idea that parallels e-commerce here is that it is possible to create
an environment where customers are swimming in technology with each visit
to a company’s site - regardless of whether the site sits on a URL or on Main
Street. Once that environment is in place, retailers can then use the technology
that powers that environment to help influence the customer experience and
improve the interactions the customer has with the company while visiting or
shopping. A company can also use the technology to gain insights to help make
informed business decisions, setting in place even greater improvements.
Thinking about the integration of IoT into a retail business’ operations is a
great starting point for beginning to gain advantages by using of some of what
Big Data can do.
In a report released on the topic of IoT, Accenture notes that this
technology “is driving innovation and new opportunities by bringing every
object, consumer and activity into the digital realm”1. Being a tool that can
only be used in physical environments, the IoT’s immense power means that
this data-empowered category of technology can help swing the pendulum back
towards brick-and-mortar shopping. As such, brick-and-mortar businesses can
then uniquely gather information about customer shopping behavior in ways
that e-commerce brands cannot and can then translate that information to help
optimize business operations. Notably, the insights gained can have many
benefits such as helping to inform SKU portfolios, increasing the speed and
efficiency of keeping inventory information updated, and improving store
layouts and planograms to help improve the customer experience. Accenture
feels that the “IoT will be particularly disruptive to the retail industry”2. And
Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer, Casey Carl, feels that “[the]
Internet of Things is this impending mega trend — a multi-trillion dollar
opportunity”3.
So, what is the IoT? Is it just wearables, like Disney’s MagicBands?
Not exactly. As the name suggests, IoT is a network of “things” that are all
connected. These things have technology embedded in them (processors, chips,
sensors, et cetera) that allow them to send and accept signals from other things
and to communicate amongst one another. Also, indirectly, they can
communicate with people, too, through things like phones, kiosks, and digital
signage. Some IoT items have even been programmed to send out tweets via
their own Twitter accounts.
Consumer use cases exist for entertainment as well. For example, with
the release of “Hello Barbie4,” Mattel’s classic doll became a member of the
IoT network too. While the doll’s reception has not been completely positive,
the takeaway here is that IoT can be designed for a very varied set of uses. For
example, the thinking behind the creation of an IoT doll was that it would help
make play time more interactive and engaging. These examples show that to
say that these “things” can have capabilities for robust functionality would be
an understatement.
Some of these IoT-enabled devices have been used in retail for years
now, an example being the common use of RFID technology. To illustrate the
differences and show how these devices can help with improvements, one can
look at how much greater functionality RFID labels provide over standard
printed labels or even barcode labels. With standard printed labels or barcode
labels, a scanner needs to be in close proximity to the labels and at a specific
angle in order to read them, and each label is read individually. RFID labels,
though, give greater flexibility in that multiple labels can be read at the same
time, and items do not have to be moved around in order to gain access to the
label for reading.
The following are a few applied use case examples in three areas:
people (customers), products, and planning.

People
Beacons can be used both to speak directly to customers and to help
improve the customer experience by equipping sales associates with rich and
targeted information about the needs of repeat customers. Beacon technology
is, in short, a way to use a customer’s location (and usually their smartphone)
to send him or her a relevant message in real-time. So, for example, a customer
could enter the dairy section of a supermarket, and this action could trigger the
delivery of a coupon for milk to his or her smartphone.
The reason why this IoT-enabled technology is so powerful is because
it can allow a retailer to react immediately to customer behavior. Since the IoT
is really many smart “things” broadcasting messages amongst themselves, the
retailer can use this technology in many different ways to help simplify the
shopping experience for a customer and improve the way that the shopper
interacts with the retail space. A specific example of its usefulness with repeat
customers is couponing. Since a company is likely to already know a
customer’s shopping habits, it can tailor offers to that shopper’s unique needs.
For example, Catalina, a company that helps retailers send
personalized coupons to its shoppers, uses past history to tie into a current
need that a customer may have. In an interview about its technology, the
company noted that it “make[s] decisions not based on what you bought today
but what you have bought over the last two years ... [we] can recommend a
product you buy every four months. You don’t have to know, but we know”5.
Customers appreciate these efforts. A 2014 Swirl study found that sixty percent
of customers actually do open and engage with beacon-transmitted messages,
and thirty percent redeem offers sent in this way6. The study also found that
customers enjoy and want more personalized offers. This situationally-aware
way of interacting with customers is appreciated by them and is also a way to
give them more of what they want as they shop in a store. Companies like
Euclid Analytics and RetailNext provide technology solutions that cater to
these needs.

Products
Inventory management is an area of retail that tends to cause a lot of
headaches. A shipment arrived, was signed for, but cannot be found in the
store. Where is it? Are there ten items of product X remaining, or seven? Has
all of the labeling been updated to reflect the price changes that went into
effect last week? Managing inventory is tough, and this is an area that can
impact not only business operations but also customer service - especially
when looking at the effects of stock-outs. A study done by the retail analytics
firm DynamicAction found that “‘out-of-stocks’ accounted for $634.1 billion in
lost retail sales for the year ending in the spring [of 2015] — 39 percent higher
than in 2012”7.
In this situation, good news comes in the form of RFID technology.
Again, the use of RFID technology is not new in retail. Also, its use is already
beneficial. The same study found that by using “RFID tags, retailers can expect
99% inventory accuracy, a 50% reduction in out-of-stocks, a 70% reduction in
shrinkage, and sales lifts in the 2% to 7% range”8. Furthermore, what is
important to note here is that RFID technology is simple and inexpensive to
integrate, meaning that the barriers for putting this technology to use are quite
low.
Smart shelves can use the IoT to take things even further. Imagine
being able to quickly, digitally, and efficiently update pricing, update
inventory, and alleviate unnecessary mistakes in the updating process, all in
real-time. That is the promise of smart shelves, and they are already here.
Panasonic has released a line of smart shelving units that it calls Powershelf.
Powershelf units do not need batteries, use weight sensors to detect stock-outs,
and can be placed in freezers because they are not sensitive to cold9. Mondelez
International, the parent company of Kraft Foods, also has plans to release its
own line of smart shelving units - ones that it says will even be capable of
using “image sensors to capture basic demographic information from
customers as they wait in checkout lines and offer targeted promotions”10. But,
bells and whistles aside, the key additional benefit here is that this technology
can help retailers stay on top of inventory-related matters; and that value is a
vital thing that can help to make operations more efficient.
To look more closely at the concept being used in real life, a great
example is one retailer who is already putting the technology to use to make
quick improvements to operations in its retail locations. Since pricing can be
updated digitally across an entire store in real-time, “Kohl’s, with nearly 1,200
stores in America, now holds sales that last for hours rather than days,
pinpointing the brief periods when discounts are most needed”11.
Another use case example can be a smart shelf that has only the
function of keeping track of items. The shelf recognizes that an item has been
taken off of it, and that activity triggers a wait for either placement onto another
shelf or receipt generation at the point-of-sale (POS) system. If neither of those
activities are detected within a given timeframe, an alert is created in real-time
to allow for speedy replenishment. Also, a note could be added to the smart
system’s daily activities report. Integrating this kind of awareness can really
help with not only staying on top of things like where items are going and how
many are left, but it can also go a long way to help service teams be more
available for customers, as opposed to those teams spending heaps of time
managing inventory tasks.

Planning
The industry-shifting effect of e-commerce has many believing that
customer shopping decisions are now being made mostly online. While it is
indeed the case that online resources are being used to help inform customers
and simplify certain types of shopping, a lot of decision-making still happens
during the in-person shopping experience. In fact, an upward trend exists in
that behavior. Research carried out by POPAI – The Global Association for
Marketing at Retail has shown that “the in-store decision rate has climbed from
70% in 1995 to 76% in 2012”12. Also, this POPAI research echoes the
Corporate Executive Board’s Customer Contact Council research findings that
noted simplicity (or ease of gaining access to the item(s) that a customer
wants) as being the most compelling factor for customer loyalty13. A key
component of ease of access and shopability is how a store is laid-out.
Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, was notorious for paying very close
attention to the details of effective store layout practices14. This attention to the
customer experience can be argued as being one of the reasons for Walmart’s
immense success. He paid a great deal of attention to shopper behavior
amongst different layouts - both in his own stores as well as those of his
competitors. Unfortunately, though, an understanding of shopper behavior
within a retailer’s store is still a big puzzle for many retailers. According to a
November 2015 study released by Forrester, “62% [of retailers feel] that
understanding the customer experience in-store is critical to a holistic CX. Yet
retailers overwhelmingly struggle to measure shopper behavior”15.
The startup Scanalytics has a solution that utilizes the power of the IoT
to help retailers out. Its floor sensor analytic technology can be used to gain
insights that can help inform a store’s understanding of customer behavior.
After collecting that valuable data, the business can then use those insights to
improve its store layout. The floor sensors work via IoT mats that are laid
throughout a space, capturing all foot traffic. The mats can detect not only
visitor numbers but also something like dwell time, a behavior that can be
measured to help with understanding which store areas or displays have the
most engagement around them. In addition to how this IoT technology can help
with planning store layouts, it has the real-time benefit of being able to alert
sales associates of activity in an area where customers may be waiting and in
need of service.
If you are enjoying this book so far, please consider going here:
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4. CREATE A COMPELLING ENVIRONMENT
As stated in the chapter on the inherent power of retail, brick-and-
mortar retail already has a few distinct advantages over e-commerce retail.
With that noted though, paying attention to the reasons why customers are
coming into retail stores is still important. If the only reason they are stopping
by is because a certain store offers very low prices and is located near their
homes, then that specific store’s advantage is not very unique. It is more
coincidental than anything else. In that way, not taking anything for granted as a
retailer makes sense. Following that line of thinking, a store owner giving
careful thought to what they could do to create an experience for customers
who shop with him or her also makes a lot of sense. This chapter will spotlight
a few retailers who are doing a great job of that.

Diesel
Diesel takes the stance that the future of retail “lies in combining
traditional browsing with the wealth of information available on the Internet
and giving customers something in return for their data,” and it opts to use
technology only where it adds value to the customer experience1. One move
towards delivering that technological compliment came when the retailer
paired with the London-based innovation consultancy The Upside to enhance
its in-store customer experience within its Shepherd’s Bush location. Through
a mobile app called “Tapestry,” customers entering the store could use their
smartphones to have a more engaging experience with the items of clothing that
they were considering. Special tags had been made that allowed customers to
scan each garment’s tag in order to bring up standard information such as the
size, price, and laundering options. They could also gain access to the item’s
story (including any available video for the item), as well as information on
magazine features related to the item, any celebrities who had been spotted
wearing it, blogger reviews of the item, and so on. Then, after getting further
information about the item, customers could also choose to add it to a wishlist
or post it to their social network for feedback from their friends.
There is a trend of customers carrying out research on items online and
then making their final buying decision inside of a physical store2. Information-
loving customers would likely enjoy the ease of curation and the compilation
of so much information about a potential buy being at their fingertips,
accessible without requiring any further work on their part. In that way, this
sort of technological integration can help provide more of an incentive for trips
to a physical store by allowing both the research and the purchase to happen
more easily there.

LEGO
Customers who walk into a LEGO store (or any toy store that has a
LEGO “Digital Box” setup in its toy section) are in for a treat. Previously,
when buying a LEGO set, the customer had difficulty trying to get a sense of
what the end result would be like after assembly. LEGO sought to change that
for its customers. Getting help from an expert 3D animation team at Metaio, the
company was able to bring its idea to life3. The “Digital Box” augmented
reality stations that Metaio and LEGO developed create a really cool and
informative experience. The experience is informative because now customers
have the ability to hold a box of LEGOs up in front of a screen to see what the
final model will look like after assembly. They can even twist and turn the
model to view it from all kinds of angles.
This augmented reality use case is really the tip of the iceberg for what
could come. It is merely one step away from the creation of context-aware
computing. EY (formerly Ernst & Young) notes that combining the IoT and
augmented reality creates a technology combination that can use environmental
factors to help improve the customer experience. Specifically, “[this]
technology uses situational and environmental information about people,
places and things to anticipate immediate needs and proactively offer enriched,
situation-aware and usable content, functions and experiences”4. An example
that EY gave of this sort of context-aware computing being put into action is a
bank’s app recognizing that a customer is at an airport and then noting that the
account should not be flagged for any foreign transactions that may happen in
the near future.
Brooks Bothers
In 2001, Brooks Brothers made the news with its introduction of a new
service that helps customers get the perfect fit5. Its “computer tailoring”
technology uses lasers to scan a customer’s body and then transmits the very
precise measurements (accurate to one-hundredth of an inch) to a computer,
making a file for each customer. Then, an expert in-house team will use the
data gathered, along with customer style options (i.e. - choice of collar, fabric,
colors, et cetera), to cut a suit that is promised to have an amazing fit. One
journalist described the process of being scanned as feeling like a Disney
experience where the comfort, smoothness, and dazzle of it left him “feeling
entertained and even special”6. Initially, the service was targeted towards
Brooks Brothers’ core customers - men. When news of the technology spread,
however, women also began lining up to be scanned.
The Brooks Brothers case study is a really good example of a retailer
creating a highly unique and highly beneficial reason for customers to enter its
brick-and-mortar location, and the technology behind the experience is not
proprietary. This same computer tailoring technology first hit the public in
1999 when Levi Strauss installed a body scanner at one of its stores in a city
that is known for its appreciation of technology - San Francisco. There, it was
used to help customers get a great fit in the jeans that they bought. Victoria’s
Secret is another company that is using the scanners in its retail locations. It is
calling the scanners “Body Match” technology, and the scanners are helping
women find the best-fitting bras within the Victoria’s Secret collections.
Brooks Brothers’ intention with the technology (and perhaps the other
retailers’ as well) was to:
improve the customer experience by reducing the number of times a
customer needed to be fitted for an item that would fit them well.
simplify the reordering process since having data points for an entire
body meant that the store could easily cut additional garments that
were not included in the first order.
reduce the size of the inventory that it needed to have in-stock
because with the efficiency of the technology, the retailer could better
 anticipate its stocking needs and optimize its inventory accordingly6.
In these ways, the scanners not only benefit the retailer in what they can do for
clothing fit and customer service but also in what they can do for a store’s
bottom line. Not all categories of retailers need to solve problems around
clothing fit. Still though, this is a great example of how technology can help to
both improve a customer’s in-store experience and optimize how data is
collected to better serve the customer as well.
5. BOOST CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Loyalty programs have been a part of the retail experience for many
years now. Today though, with the addition of data-enabled customer
intelligence, these programs can be used as a tool in ways that were not
possible before. In the past, these programs tended to be fueled by a
gamification component, whereby some psychological hook was involved with
a customer staying loyal to a store or a brand. A desire to build up enough
points, stamps, stickers, et cetera in order to be able to get some sort of reward
like winning a toaster or having the tenth cup of coffee be free, for example.
In the case of the toaster, the customer would have shopped enough
times and earned enough stamps/tokens/points to trade his or her accumulated
earnings in to “win” the toaster. In this way, the process, as well as the end
result, could be compared to a game. Similarly, a customer who is loyal to one
cafe can feel his or her repeat visits are being rewarded when, upon presenting
the loyalty card for the tenth time, the loyal customer sees that he or she has
sipped enough coffee to be given a free cup1. That feels like a reward.
With both loyalty scenarios mentioned above, the customer feels a
reward after having had frequent transactions with the business, and usually,
the series of purchases would have already paid the incurred costs of the
reward (or paid enough for the difference to be negligible). However still, the
customer feels a sense of earning or being rewarded, or a sense of
accomplishment, and he or she also feels a sense of being a valued customer.
These are good feelings, and imagine that now data can be used to both amplify
these kinds of feelings and the overall positives of the shopping experience.
After spending six years studying the topic, McKinsey & Company
found that some of the approaches mentioned in this chapter are keys to
building the most effective consumer decision journeys moving forward.
Specifically, it concluded that “companies building the most effective journeys
master four interconnected capabilities: automation, proactive personalization,
contextual interaction, and journey innovation”2. Furthermore, they advise that
using the automation of collecting information on previous interactions
between a business and its customers to inform its customer personalization
efforts is a good idea.
The coupon company Catalina was mentioned in the Applied Big Data
chapter. Catalina uses technology and previous purchase history to develop
unique customer profiles for the shoppers who visit the brick-and-mortar
locations of its clients’ businesses. Once a business has customer profiles in its
Catalina system, it can then use the insights gained from a buyer’s shopping
habit patterns to send out highly targeted offers and personalized promotions to
that customer.
This system of increasing personalization for customers on an
individual basis is an effective strategy even without an element of
gamification. For example, being able to know what a customer has bought in
the past informs the couponing system in ways that serve to improve it over
time. Having that data means not only being able to present a customer with
offers that are targeted to his or her tastes, but also being able to use predictive
analytics to anticipate an upcoming purchase (i.e. - this person bought shampoo
on date X and may be running low soon)3. Predictive analytics can also be
used to gauge new products a customer is likely to be interested in trying if he
or she were presented with a promotional offer. This could be done in a low-
risk way for them, such as a trial offer or a deep discount to test the new
product. Having access to past purchases means that a customer’s taste profile
could be combined with a low-risk offer for an item that aligns with previous
items they have bought. This nudges them to expand their purchase profile in a
way that is highly-likely to be successful in generating a sale. Timing can help
to nurture more sales after a brand interaction as well. Issuing highly-targeted,
time-sensitive coupons at the end of the customer’s purchase gives the
customer a reason to return to the store again soon.
These ideas about improved personalization are key because in
addition to being able improve the shopping experience for customers in
traditional ways via things like points and rewards, data can now add to the
shopping experience as well. Activities like putting purchase history data to
use and having technology be used to closely match products to tastes allow
for a level of personalization that was not possible before. In this way, both the
brick-and-mortar and the customers win because personalization is good for
business. That is largely because in addition to personalization being a nice
tool to have (as in the McKinsey example), it will also become a standard
component of the shopping experience moving forward. The reason stems from
the reality that this sort of added value is becoming an expectation among
consumers. According to Bill Chamberlin of IBM, “Increasingly, customers
expect personalized service based on their shopping histories and value, a
one-on-one relationship with a brand”4. Thusly, being slow to (or failing to)
increase the level of personalization that customers experience with a
company’s brand is likely to create negative impacts with its customer
relationships over time.
These personalization trends do not relate only to couponing and other
offers that explicitly urge a customer to make a purchase. For example, the
body scanner technology being used by fashion retailers also greatly increases
personalization. So it must be noted that, overall, being able to expose
customers to a level of personalization that was not possible before the options
that Big Data has allowed for has now become an important area for building
customer loyalty. Making improvements around personalization and loyalty
programs, however, is not enough. In a study involving seventy-five thousand
people, the Corporate Executive Board’s Customer Contact Council found that
simple things can be done to increase customer loyalty. Specifically, its
findings suggest that:
Reducing their effort—the work they must do to get their problem
solved—[helps to build customer loyalty]. Second, acting
deliberately on this insight can help improve customer service,
reduce customer service costs, and decrease customer churn5.
Disney World provides another prime example of data technology being used
for both reducing effort and also acting deliberately.

Reducing Effort in Getting Problems Solved

The Disney World park is huge, taking up a space that is approximate
the size of San Francisco; and when guests go there, they tend to have a
specific set of attractions that they would like to visit while at the park. Prior
to their trip, Disney has them put their attractions into the Disney system, and
the company then uses the information and data to help them create an itinerary
and a map that allows for finding everything they want over the course of the
duration of their trip. In this way, Disney very specifically helps its customers
create agendas to find the things they want, improve the customer experience
for them, and reduce their overall stress levels as they interact with their
brand6.
In a retail operation, helping to simplify things can be as basic as
merely making very counter-intuitive shifts in layout or product arrangement.
As an example, a grocery store organizing milk by fat content (i.e. - adding
convenience by having all of the skim milk placed together, regardless of
brand) and package size (i.e. - letting customers quickly make decisions for
alternatives if their preferred brand of half gallon milk is out. They could
really quickly see which option is next in price, for example). This sort of
setup may be less practical for the grocer, but the added convenience for the
customers would make the shift worthwhile for what it can translate to in
profits7.

Acting Deliberately on Insights

An example of how Disney uses data to help in this way is with its
MagicBands. Through the information collected, the company is able to tell if a
customer has waited too long in a line. When a situation like that is detected,
the brand is able to respond immediately and improve the customer
experience. If the brand responds by sending the customer a coupon for free ice
cream which can be used once he or she finally gets to the front of the line,
Disney can then “recast” the memory of the experience by turning something
negative (a long wait) into a positive (free ice cream)8.
Similarly, retailers can use the IoT to take immediate action. This can
be action taken either in response to implicit customer behaviors as well as
explicit customer behaviors. In the Applied Big Data chapter, another grocer
example was used to show how the IoT could be used to send a coupon for
milk to a customer as he or she physically entered the dairy section. That
would be an immediate action triggered by something implicit (in that the
customer did not actually ask for an offer to be sent), yet the customer would
be highly likely to appreciate having the option of redeeming it9.
On-demand systems can offer help here, and Rebecca Minkoff’s store
locations give a great example use case for it in a retail space. Shoppers at the
designer’s stores do not need to re-clothe and leave the fitting rooms in order
to request help from a sales associate. The fitting rooms have data-enabled
mirrors that allow the IoT help to customers make that request from within
their fitting rooms10. Also, RFID chips embedded into garments allow the
mirror to know which items are in the fitting room at a given time. This then
lets customers ask for pairing suggestions and see suggested items show up in
the mirrors in real-time.
When looking at Rebecca Minkoff’s operations, it is hard to know the
specific strategies that surround the retailer’s product development processes.
But this real-time suggestion technology is an interesting area to look at for
how the brand could use it to help customers outside of the fitting room as
well. To look at the technology from a slightly different perspective, it can be
seen that the interactive help that Rebecca Minkoff customers receive in their
fitting rooms can serve not only the customers, but also the brand. That is
because the design team could learn, over time, common pairings that
customers are making on their own, and the team could also integrate that data
into suggestions that the brand gives customers on-demand (as opposed to
relying completely on the internal team’s ideas about how items in their
collection could work together). This could help sales for the current
collection. It could also help the staff better understand the tastes of their
customers and help with the design of future collections. This sort of data is far
richer than what POS data can provide. This creates a scenario that is nearly
the equivalent to looking at the contents of an abandoned shopping cart in an e-
commerce context. There are insights to be found in these kinds of interactions.
6. INFORMED PRODUCT PLANNING
The war for customer wallets can be won with a series of small wins
in battles for purchases. So how can retailers help customers feel the urge to
purchase from their shelves specifically? In previous chapters of this book,
things like customer experience and loyalty programs were looked at, but
something even more fundamental can help with winning a customer’s wallet -
having products that the target customer actually wants to buy.
McKinsey & Company urges retailers to hone in on one (or only a
few) areas where big data and analytics can quickly help with decision-
making1. If a company chooses only one area to focus on, then the area
surrounding its SKU portfolio is a great contender for this focus. That is in
large part due to big data’s ability to help with forecasting. This can help with
creating a framework that will allow the company to project out more
efficiently and can serve to equip it with a great tool for its business’ toolbox.
Considering that “It’s a challenging balance: Must-have products may require a
98% in-stock level, but others can fall to 75% without causing undue harm to
sales or customer relationships”2, a company will want to do what it can to be
able to anticipate (and shape) demand.
With one retailer that McKinsey spotlights, the use of advanced
analytics helped it with knowing “exactly which SKUs were selling well in
which retail formats and determining which SKUs to swap in and out to best
meet consumer preferences, it is now seeing 10 percent sales growth in a low-
growth category”3. The growth of knowledge is powerful since with access to
only traditional tools and methodologies, knowing beforehand which
categories or specific products are destined to be candidates for poor
performance would be quite difficult.
Now, brands “can leverage real-world data through digital tools to
better understand the expected performance of a product before it is
launched”4. Furthermore, once a system is in place for gathering data that can
be used to better inform product decisions, over time a retailer will have a
good pool of data to work with for use in other related operations as well.
 Properly used, insights from these vast data storehouses can
scientifically inform retailers’ decision-making in critical, strategic,
tactical and operational areas, including category management, shelf
space allocation and new product introductions5.
Also:
It can help set automated business rules governing acceptable in-
stock levels for categories, products, and even individual SKUs. As
a result, retailers can more accurately determine how much safety
stock to hold, and where to hold it — all while keeping overall
inventories as lean as possible6.
These improvements create efficiencies that translate to positive impacts on a
company’s bottom line.
PwC spotlights the story of a German grocery retailer who, as part of
its expansion into the U.S. market, chose a business model that “hinges on a
small number of SKUs and private labels, which enables it to produce
innovative products at competitive prices”7. This grocer’s approach shows an
example of a next-step sort of planning that can help a company create a
competitive advantage via the better understanding of customer needs and
demand forecasting data that have been gathered over time. This provides yet
another reason to set up a way to utilize data to help with planning because the
earlier a business can get started with a system for capturing and crunching
data, the sooner it can move to a stage where its teams can use the information
to not only inform product decisions but also to inform a larger strategy. While
a business may or may not choose to use the data for more than helping with
product planning, something noteworthy is that a company will have additional
help with demand shaping as well as the intended help with demand
forecasting.
The Singapore-based Goodvine Group provides a great case study of
a brick-and-mortar retailer putting data to use in this way. Goodvine is the
company behind leather goods retailers like Tenero and Tocco Toscan. The
way its operations were structured in the past meant that product development
was heavily reliant on information that was gathered from the frontline staff in
retail locations. The company recognized that that did not create a very
efficient starting point and decided to shift away from this qualitative approach
to instead put into place more quantitative methods for understanding customer
preferences better. By informing its work in this way, Goodvine knew that it
could become much better at demand forecasting.
With this vision in mind, Goodvine began by overhauling its inventory
management system. Now, its system uses a combination of IoT technology
along with POS data to help create and also “run sophisticated data models to
determine which features of a product resonate with consumers”8. Prior to
putting its new system into place, SKU portfolio planning and restocking
decisions were also carried out qualitatively; those decisions were made by
store mangers’ gut instincts. Since the rollout of its new system in September of
2015, the company has been able to make data-centric business decisions and
has already produced optimization benefits in how its retail locations are
running.
Aside from the efficiency gained in making business decisions, the
system has also translated to customer service improvements as well. That is
because the sales associates’ “administrative work has also been greatly
reduced, as they no longer need to keep physical copies of inventory lists. This
gives them more time to serve our customers better”9. Furthermore, the
automation of the data retrieval also means that cumulative sales data and
reports for Goodvine retail locations can all be accessed in real-time by team
members in its main offices.
Infusing data into retail planning is simply good for business. An
improved SKU portfolio that contains products that are more likely to resonate
with customers, better tools to help with developing planograms, more
efficient inventory processes, and having a system in place that helps sales
associates spend more time on the floor and less time in the stock room are all
business optimizations that can translate to improved sales for a retail location.
REFERENCES
Following are references for information mentioned in each
section.
INTRODUCTION
1. Joel Domingo, "Hands On: Disney Magicbands,
Mymagic+ Web Service,” PCmag Asia, August 1, 2015,
http://asia.pcmag.com/disney/4773/feature/hands-on-disney-magicbands-
mymagic-web-service.html.

2. Cliff Kuang, "Disney’s $1 Billion Bet on a Magical

Wristband," Wired, March 10, 2015,
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/disney-magicband/.

3. Christopher Palmeri, "Why Disney Won't Be Taking

Magic Wristbands to Its Chinese Park," Bloomberg Business. January 10,
2016, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-10/why-disney-
won-t-be-taking-magic-wristbands-to-its-chinese-park.
THE INHERENT POWER OF RETAIL
1. Sarah Perez, "Beauty Product Subscription Service
Birchbox Is Opening More Brick-And-Mortar Retail Stores," Techcrunch,
July 13, 2015, http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/13/beauty-product-
subscription-service-birchbox-is-opening-more-brick-and-mortar-retail-
stores.html.

2. Noah Robischon, "How Birchbox Discovered the

Beauty Consumer Everyone Else Was Ignoring," Fast Company,
November 10, 2015, http://www.fastcompany.com/3053388/the-fast-
company-innovation-festival/how-birchbox-discovered-the-beauty-
consumer-everyone-el.html.

3. Sophie Christie, "'We Made £2,000 in a Month by

Selling Our Clothes in a Pop-Up Store,'" The Telegraph, November 4,
2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/11180264/We-
made-2000-in-a-month-by-selling-our-clothes-in-a-pop-up-store.html.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
1. & 2. Peter Kriss, "The Value of Customer
Experience, Quantified," Harvard Business Review, August 1, 2014,
https://hbr.org/2014/08/the-value-of-customer-experience-quantified.html.
APPLIED BIG DATA
1. Jonathan Gregory, “The Internet of Things:
Revolutionizing the Retail Industry,” Accenture, October 23, 2015,
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-
Assets/DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Dualpub_14/Accenture-The-
Internet-Of-Things.pdf.

2. Jonathan Gregory, “The Internet of Things:

Revolutionizing the Retail Industry,” Accenture, October 23, 2015,
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-
Assets/DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Dualpub_14/Accenture-The-
Internet-Of-Things.pdf.

3. Jason Del Rey and Liz Gannes, "Inside Target’s Tech

Funhouse and Search for Its Next Billion-Dollar Business," Vox Media,
Inc., July 9, 2015, http://recode.net/2015/07/09/inside-targets-new-tech-
funhouse-and-search-for-its-next-billion-dollar-business.html.

4. Billy Steele, "Barbie's New Dreamhouse Goes Full

Iot with Voice Commands," Engadget, February 15, 2016,
http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/15/barbie-hello-dream-house-iot-
voice-commands/.html.

5. Tom Groenfeldt, "Kroger Knows Your Shopping

Patterns Better Than You Do," Forbes, October 28, 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/10/28/kroger-knows-
your-shopping-patterns-better-than-you-do/#230cff02396d.html.

6. Fiona Soltes, "Downright Personal," National Retail

Federation, February 2, 2015, https://nrf.com/news/downright-personal.

7. Krystina Gustafson, "Retailers Face Growing Out-Of-

Stock, Overstock, Return Costs," NBC News, November 30, 2015,
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/retailers-face-growing-
out-stock-overstock-return-costs-n471326.

8. David Dorf, "Oraclevoice: How the Internet of

Things Will Shake up Retail in 2015," Forbes, January 6, 2015,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2015/01/09/how-the-internet-of-
things-will-shake-up-retail-in-2015/#7191ea524293.html.

9. Sarah Halzack, "5 New Technologies That May

Change How You Shop," Washington Post, January 14, 2015,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/01/14/5-new-
technologies-that-may-change-how-you-shop.

10. Jonathan Gregory, “The Next Wave of Disruptors:

Five Game Changing Technologies for Retailers.” Accenture, September
15, 2014, https://www.accenture.com/t20151020T051216__w__/us-
en/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-
Assets/DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Strategy_7/Accenture-
Technology-Disruptors-Retailers-2015.pdf.

11. "Flexible Figures," The Economist, January 30, 2016,

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21689541-growing-number-
companies-are-using-dynamic-pricing-flexible-figures.

12. “Shopper Engagement Study.” POPAI – The Global

Association for Marketing at Retail, 2012,
http://www.popaibenelux.eu/images/media/pdf/78-20131220050621.pdf.

13. Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman, and Nicholas

Toman, "Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers," Harvard Business
Review, July-August 2010, https://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-
your-customers.

14. Mike Michalowicz, "A Guide to Store Layouts That

Can Increase Sales," American Express, January 5, 2016,
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-
business/openforum/articles/the-blueprint-for-designing-the-perfect-store-
for-more-sales.

15. Christine Murray, Real-Time Data Drives The Future

Of Retail: Stores Must Embrace Digital Technologies To Win In The Age
Of The Customer. Forrester Consulting. January, 2016,
http://home.retailnext.net/rs/314-HEV-582/images/Real-
Time%20Data%20Drives%20The%20Future%20Of%20Retail_RetailNext-
Thought%20Leadership%20Paper.pdf
CREATE A COMPELLING ENVIRONMENT
1. Steve Ager and Rod Fitzgerald, “Technology
Transforms High Street,” Financial Times video, 4:25 min., March 8,
2013, http://video.ft.com/2212212987001/Technology-transforms-high-
street/Companies.html.

2. Sarah Halzack, "One Way Online Shopping Is

Actually Helping Brick-And-Mortar Retailers," Washington Post,
September 3, 2014,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/03/for-
shoppers-showrooming-is-not-as-common-as-its-opposite-web-rooming/.

3. Alessondra Springmann, "Lego Augmented Reality

Coming to a Store Near You," PC World Magazine, February 13, 2016,
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194597/lego_augmented_reality.html.

4. Anita Kimber, Meredith Angwin, Mike Backeberg,

and Sonia Miles-Khan, Emerging Technology Trends: The Road to the
Bank of the Future. EY.
http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_-
_Emerging_technology_trends/$FILE/EY-emerging-technology-trends.pdf.​​

5. David Colman, "For the Man with a 15.95-Inch

Neck," The New York Times, November 18, 2001,
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/style/for-the-man-with-a-15.95-inch-
neck.html.

6. Eleonora Pantano. 2015. Successful Technological

Integration for Competitive Advantage in Retail Settings. Hershey, PA:
IGI Global.

7. David Colman, "For the Man with a 15.95-Inch

Neck," The New York Times, November 18, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/style/for-the-man-with-a-15.95-inch-
neck.html.
BOOST CUSTOMER LOYALTY
1. Joseph C. Nunes and Xavier Drèze, "The Endowed
Progress Effect: How Artificial Advancement Increases Effort," Journal
of Consumer Research 32 no. 4 (2006): 504-512. doi:10.1086/500480.

2. David Edelman and Marc Singer, "Competing on

Customer Journeys," Harvard Business Review, November 2015,
https://hbr.org/2015/11/competing-on-customer-journeys.html.

3. Terence A. Shimp, Advertising, Promotion, and

Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications (Mason: South-
Western Cengage Learning, 2010).

4. B. Chamberlin, “IBMVoice: Four Ways the Internet

of Things Will Innovate the Retail Industry,” Forbes, December 8, 2015,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ibm/2015/12/28/four-ways-the-internet-of-
things-will-innovate-the-retail-industry/#6c19d225cc4d.html.

5. Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman, and Nicholas

Toman, "Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers," Harvard Business
Review, July-August 2010, https://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-
your-customers.html.

6. Cliff Kuang, "Disney’s $1 Billion Bet on a Magical

Wristband," Wired, March 10, 2015,
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/disney-magicband/.

7. Tom Groenfeldt, "Kroger Knows Your Shopping

Patterns Better Than You Do," Forbes. October, 28, 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/10/28/kroger-knows-
your-shopping-patterns-better-than-you-do/#230cff02396d.html.
INFORMED PRODUCT PLANNING
1. Stefan Niemeier and Eckart Windhagen,
“Perspectives on Retail and Consumer Goods,” McKinsey & Company,
Spring 2013,
http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/retail/articles/pers
03-04_final.ashx.

2. “Enabling Commerce Anywhere In Grocery

Retailing,“ Oracle, November 2014,
http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/retail/retail-enabling-grocery-ebook-
2373227.pdf.

3. Stefan Niemeier and Eckart Windhagen,

“Perspectives on Retail and Consumer Goods,” McKinsey & Company,
Spring 2013,
http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/retail/articles/pers
03-04_final.ashx.

4. Jake Gregory, Adrian Xu, Andrew Cheng, and Liza

Turner, “Going Digital, Going Direct: Digital Strategies To Help Brands
Connect With Today’s Consumer,” Deloitte, January 20, 2016,
http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/consumer-
business/ca-en-consumer-business-going-digital-going-direct.pdf.

5. “Enabling Commerce Anywhere In Grocery

Retailing,“ Oracle, November 2014,
http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/retail/retail-enabling-grocery-ebook-
2373227.pdf.

6. “Enabling Commerce Anywhere In Grocery

Retailing,“ Oracle, November 2014,
http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/retail/retail-enabling-grocery-ebook-
2373227.pdf.
 7. “Retail & Consumer - A Subsector Focus on
Megatrends,” PwC Switzerland, May 2014,
https://www.pwc.ch/user_content/editor/files/ind_retail/megatrends_supermarkets_drug

8. "Tapping on Data Science in Retail," The Straits

Times, September 2, 2015, http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/retailers-
capabilities/tapping-on-data-science-in-retail/.

9. "Tapping on Data Science in Retail," The Straits

Times, September 2, 2015, http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/retailers-
capabilities/tapping-on-data-science-in-retail/.
ABOUT T HE AUTHOR

Mahogany Beckford is a fashion industry insider who has worked in

numerous areas of the field. She has served as the Director of Marketing for a
boutique German shoe brand, consulted fashion startups on their digital
marketing and branding strategy, and co-founded a beauty startup in Hong
Kong. In addition to fashion, her background is in digital marketing and data
science.
ONE LAST THING...
If you enjoyed this book or found it useful I’d be very grateful if you’d post a
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