Tesco signs up for 'customer as a service' data platform

Tesco is aiming to get even closer to its customers by being one of the first brands to sign up to a new “customer as a service” (CaaS) scheme, which will allow the retail giant to tap into a mix of online communities, quantitative insight, Clubcard data, synthesis, proposition development and creative activation.
The CaaS suite of “always on” solutions has been developed by global customer agency C Space which insists the scheme enables brands to embed the customer into business decisions.
The offering combines tools and techniques from the worlds of insight and research, business consulting, communications, customer strategy, and advertising – to identify needs and gaps within a business based on what the customer both needs and wants.
CaaS combines multiple sources of up-to-the-minute data, technology and commercial consultancy to unlock, understand and embed the customer in organisations at every level.
It is claimed the system can help clients to solve major business challenges, from in-the-moment decision making, improving customer experience outcomes, new product development and new marketing strategies through to organisational change.
C Space regional chief executive for EMEA & APAC Felix Koch said: “We hear from clients every day that customer centricity is difficult to operationalise. C Space has worked with over 200 of the world’s leading brands and through this experience, we were able to identify common business gaps and barriers, and then use this insight to create CaaS. The offering provides our clients with the first real subscription to the customer, enabling them to maximize growth and minimise risk.”
C Space UK managing director Kathryn Blanshard added: “Our clients have never had more data on their customers. Using that data as a competitive advantage to drive growth takes integrating a range of customer sources to provide a clear and connected customer ‘so what?’ Single-service solutions no longer cut it. CaaS offers a holistic customer understanding to our clients every day at speed and scale.”
This Tesco deal is a result of a long-standing relationship with the retailer, which has worked with C Space and its other agencies of record over a four-year period to address challenges as wide ranging as the removal of single-use carrier bags to imagining the future of the large store format, and everything in between.
C Space is also delivering CaaS to global businesses including McDonald’s, Bose and Citi.