Sphere No.49 (Aug 2019)

>> SPHERE #47 2019 15 digital revolution is underway and AS Watson Group (ASW) is leading the charge. The ability to gather and analyse data from over five billion shoppers a year opens up vast new vistas for ASW to know – and serve – their customers. In the 21st century, personal contact in the stores and the offline experience are seamlessly integrated with online tools and enhanced by Internet- gathered insights. Through this, the hearts of millions of loyal customers are tended to by everyone at ASW, from front-line staff in stores and algorithmic engineers right up to senior management. ASW began a journey of digital transformation that is an online-plus-offline (O+O) approach that creates a customer experience where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This transformation is intentional and incredibly integrated, from corporate headquarters to every business unit in the retail group. THE POWERFUL, PLASTIC MIND Scientists used to believe that the human brain became ‘fixed’ after it stopped growing in the teen years. But now they have learned that, like an intelligent company, the brain can establish new connections and learn to process information in new ways. ASW’s brain has what scientists now call plasticity – the ability to change, reorganise, and reform its neural network to deliver new insights. The retail group’s ability to capture data points is awesome. Traditional intelligence gathering through technology already generates billions of data points annually. Sales transactions (including from online sales), merchandising data and customer preferences are gathered from interactions at the till and through purchases from wholesalers. The data are consolidated in a process known in the business as “Extract, Transform, Load”. Every day, the intelligence from multiple systems is automatically brought together on the Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) at the core of ASW’s intelligence. It not only collects in-house data, but is fed data on competitor activity, weather, socio-economic factors and more. In recent years, some sources of intelligence have become accessible in real time. Even more impressive, they have been augmented with new sources of data which help decision making. SHOWME THE LOVE ... SCORES While POS (Point of Sale) devices tell ASW what people buy in-store and online, the retailer also wants to measure customer satisfaction. A new online rating system, A It’s a major change of mindset – every ASWbusiness unit now has its own digital vision house to align the goal of digital transformation with all functions within the company. In the health and beauty business, ‘natural’ is the go-to position in product promotion. But in data analyses, a little ‘artificial’ goes a long way too – artificial intelligence (AI), that is. Canadian AI retail specialist Rubikloud has worked with ASW’s UK superstar Superdrug to improve operations across a range of functions. Stock forecasting accuracy (right stock, right place, right time) has jumped by 10% by using Rubikloud’s cloud-based, machine learning platform called Promo Manager. Since implementation in 2017, it has also assessed the effectiveness of promotional lift, price elasticity, residual basket value and other important metrics. It’s “All-in for AI” at Superdrug. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, RETAIL INTELLIGENCE Customer Love Scores (CLS), generates ratings from post-purchase questions to explore shopping experience and satisfaction. Social media are huge parts of people’s lives now, where they express their emotions and share their loves. That goes for the health and beauty retail experience too. Close monitoring, not only of ASW social media properties, but also those of competitors and key brands, informs the retail group about trends in customer sentiment. Even emojis play a role – they tell a story and impart emotional intel to the ASW team. ASWatson Group is driving a digital transformation that is putting the health and beauty giant closer than ever to millions of people around the world. A deeply integrated online-plus-offline approach is using cutting-edge technology to constantly reinvent the whole customer experience.