Customer segmentation
Segmenting customers has long been a stock-in-trade for marketing people. But an idea that changed the entire dynamics came in 1995, when Tesco, the UK’s biggest retailer, launched the Clubcard, a customer loyalty scheme that gave it a mass of data to mine about how people shop.
Clubcard was developed by Terry Leahy, a marketing man by background who was to become Tesco chief executive in 1997. The scheme could not only analyse consumer habits but also spot gaps in Tesco’s offerings.
A similar approach has been adopted around the world; in the US by, for example, Kroger, the supermarket chain. Meanwhile, in the intensely competitive UK supermarket sector, Tesco’s rival J Sainsbury uses the Nectar loyalty programme.
In a ...
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