A fresh surge in the commercialisation of personal information is set to fuel the rise of consumer-facing “data marketplaces” which will finally usher in an era when people will be able to sell their data to companies for a premium.
So says VML’s Tomorrow’s Commerce 2024 Report, which flags up the top 20 predictions for the next 12 months and beyond, based on the WPP agency’s global Future Shopper surveys, client conversations across every business sector, and its in-house commerce experts across 150-plus offices worldwide.
While the concept of consumers being able to sell their personal data is hardly new – a joint venture between Royal Mail and Royal Dutch Post called The Preference Service launched as far back as 2001 with the same aim, while former Capital One chief Justin Basini also tried in 2011 with a scheme called i-Allow – the report argues it will soon be a reality.
And, with , it is in the interests of retailers and brands to get involved in aiding consumers who want to make better use of their data, with data collection and distribution increasingly lucrative activities in their own right. Freeing up the flow of data also removes barriers to people accessing and engaging with online services, helping to grow customer bases, the report maintains.
It also details the rise of retail media: “Our technology-driven age means that the time-honored disciplines of shopper marketing for retailers and brands are being upended. Clean rooms are overtaking clean stores, algorithms are replacing human rhythms and first-party data is supplanting instinct.
“All well and good, but our obsession with optimising performance can only take us so far – returns become incremental rather than exponential. In future, it will no longer be about retail media as a vehicle, but how it is used to engage shoppers, and create experience.”
VML sees the key to success in “creative commerce”, creativity that inspires conversion, regardless of channel. It cites a Warc study which shows the second biggest driver of marketing effectiveness (behind brand size) is creativity, delivering on average ROI of 12:1 . Its own research shows a “creative multiplier effect” of up to 400%, when creativity is harnessed in commerce channels.
The report adds: “Creative commerce should build the brand, connect to purpose and culture, and earn and multiply attention by being clever and disruptive. It’s all about adding art to science – research and data are the foundations for success, but creativity will enhance your ROI and multiply the effect of the message.”
Meanwhile, the prevalence of “digital life records” means that with better data collation and sharing, businesses can develop much better, tailored and targeted sales programmes and companies can get better at predicting what consumers will buy, from whom and when, often before they know it themselves.
The report continues: “This means that who we are marketing and selling to is also changing… from a complex, hard-to-fathom human, to a predictable and logical set of data points.”
Other areas covered include the return of the QR code; experimentation and search; brand collaborations; the quest for omnichannel omnipotence; smart assistants; “consumer social responsibility”; gated online communities and even the almost forgotten Metaverse.
VML global chief commerce officer Beth Ann Kaminkow said: “Today, the world remains in a state of constant and unpredictable flux, and that includes the economy, the climate, and the realm of commerce – to name a few.
“In terms of commerce, an omni-channel future doesn’t simplify the increasing complexity and pace of change. We seem to be approaching a most exciting and broad-ranging omni-channel future, which spans physical and digital.
“But what comes along with it is an ever-more demanding set of consumers and customers, dictating the rules of engagement for the brands, retailers, and marketplaces they deal with. And that means switching when they feel under-served. What we sell and how we engage needs to fully accommodate both the overlap and delta between real and online worlds.
“This report brings together some of the key, long-term trends that we’re predicting to influence and shape commerce. Their impact might not be felt tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean the planning for them shouldn’t start today.”
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