A New World of Consumer Behavior Is Coming | So Good News

As we enter a new world of consumer behavior, businesses are finding that they must keep up with ever-changing tastes in order to succeed in their industries. With the unpredictable nature of the market, and the looming recession, consumers are looking to make the most of what they want. In addition, they look to save time by spending less time in stores and buying more online, as we move towards a hybrid lifestyle of the digital and physical world. No longer bound by traditional norms, people are exploring new ways of living and interacting with the world. This has led to rapid changes in various industries, making it difficult for businesses to keep up with the changing demands. To remain competitive, companies must understand and adapt to these changes.

In the business world, however, getting data to see changes in consumer behavior from data isn’t always easy. There are many players in the smart data industry, but most do not offer global, high-quality data on a single platform. We caught up with Anil Mathews, founder, and CEO of Near, a global leader in privacy-driven intelligence, which manages and manages the world’s largest collection of intelligence and information on people, places, and things. The Near platform collects data from unique users and their behavior from over 70 million locations in 44+ countries. Anil shares how we’ve entered a new world of consumer behavior, and how data intelligence can help businesses meet consumer demands to win over their competitors.

Gary Drenik: How are consumer behavior changing and how can business leaders get their arms around an ever-changing world?

Anil Mathews: As the post-pandemic world rapidly evolves, consumer behavior continues to change rapidly. Behaviors that were once alien to many people, such as shopping, have been replaced by overnight delivery services, and have returned to the “innovation” as more people adopt a liquid, hybrid approach. For example, the recent gas price shock caused 64% of Americans to change their driving habits, according to AAA. Almost all industries have been challenged by this rapid change and must adapt to survive. Some of the companies affected are restaurants – the pandemic has forced them to innovate and evolve quickly. In a recent report by Near, The New World of Consumer Behavior: Restaurants 2022, the results were revealed that there is no longer a single restaurant and it has been shown that restaurants have to adapt to new ways of consumer expectations, or risk. face a loss of business. Additionally, a recent study by Prosper Insights & Analytics found that 32.8% of Adults, 18+ are shopping in stores less often, pointing to the importance of having a physical and digital presence to meet customers where they are.

Business leaders can be globally equipped for change without making business decisions based on conventional evidence, past experience, or instinct. Today, business leaders must take a data-driven approach to understanding and changing consumer behavior. In the past few years, we have seen the rapid adoption of human resource management information that helps businesses better understand their customers and competitors. It has become a table on the price of understanding consumers. With data that can connect the digital and physical world, business leaders can create strategies to deal with problems, and ensure that they do not fall behind. Business leaders who use a data technology platform will stand out against their competitors and maximize business results. Simply put, data drives better business decisions.

Drenik: What are the biggest data challenges facing today’s leading businesses?

Matthew: The biggest challenge for the world’s leading businesses is three-fold: having the ability to collect data from digital and physical assets around the world, dealing with customer acquisitions or errors, and unlocking digital intelligence using AI/ML models. . Solving these problems can help businesses take action on their data in multiple ways and measure the results. The problem we first saw was that in order to achieve this, businesses often seek out multiple vendors, with different backgrounds in different departments, which leads to data and governance confusion.

Finding a partner who fully understands these challenges is important. In our experience, the search for a business intelligence platform that allows users and business leaders to make business decisions without the need for technical expertise is important, enabling data to be released from siled and opened to improve marketing and operations. divisions.

Drenik: How can businesses learn more about their customers and their customers?

Matthew: To learn more about their customers, businesses have two choices – to rely on their limited and scattered customer base, or to partner with a company that can help improve their customer experience. Businesses need to understand where their customers spend their time, know how to engage them, and understand what they want when they are in the store. For example, according to a recent study by Prosper Insights & Analytics, 46.9% of adults over the age of 18 focus on what they need in life, not just what they want, and 32.9% have become more budget conscious. With this, businesses can choose to create better customer experiences, or offer loyalty programs so customers can earn rewards and incentives for shopping. This improvement can be done by completing and enriching the customer experience, as well as obtaining information about customers who have not shared their information through loyalty programs, e-commerce, mailing lists, and more.

Drenik: How can businesses assure consumers that their privacy is protected when they share data?

Matthew: Businesses can assure consumers that their privacy is protected by offering the option to share even their personal data. If consumers choose to share their data, businesses must adopt a privacy policy that does not store PII (Personally Identifiable Information) or any streams without users’ consent. Protecting privacy must start with user consent. Therefore, ensuring user consent when collecting data is the first step towards privacy. When data is collected, it means complying with local privacy laws and regulations—GDPR in Europe or CCPA/CRPA in the US are the two most commonly cited privacy laws. A business must respect consumers’ right to control their data by allowing them to opt out and delete consumer data. A privacy policy should always be part of a business’s DNA.

Drenik: How can businesses build trust with their customers when using data intelligence?

Matthew: To build trust with customers, be clear and transparent about who is accessing data and what they are doing with it and allow them to easily opt-out or delete their data. Treat the customer’s information as if it were your own. Ask yourself how you want your data to be managed and then follow these steps. Help your customers gain confidence in sharing their data and realize the real value of such actions.

Drenik: Can you provide specific examples of how Near and its customers are using data effectively?

Matthew: Near has real-life examples of how its customers are using data effectively in many industries including retail, real estate, restaurants, travel, technology, and more. For example, a Fortune 500 marketing company that used Near to understand traffic across their operations and their competitors, as well as advanced modeling and forecasting to understand sales, property development, and rent analysis—resulting in a 10-fold increase in rental income % approx for property owners. They also saved time and money developing their data science skills. The solution is used in 14 countries and 800K locations on three continents.

Another example, in collaboration with Stellar Ace, McDonald’s Singapore was able to increase sales and boost sales with Out-of-Home (OOH) sales. This partnership brought traditional OOH advertising to a new level for McDonald’s by using a connected ecosystem, involving the street-store-phone network. This means accurate communication of hundreds of digital screens at train stations, bus stations, etc. which not only led to lower traffic but also increased awareness of new product categories.

Drenik: Thank you Anil, for your insight into changing consumer behavior and how business leaders must adopt and use the smart platform to make the best and smartest business decisions for success.