Raising the bar for data management across multi-brand retail

As one of the largest retail holding companies in Belgium, Colruyt Group needed to incorporate data analytics into their operations as part of its digital transformation strategy. The analytics team had its sight set on optimising and expanding the use of data across the entire organisation and eventually introduce new products, so needed the right foundation to make this a possibility in future. Initially, the team had used Google Analytics to deliver this, but it took two years to implement across the entire company, as each brand had different digital touchpoints and requirements.

When Google reworked its analytics tool, rather than face another two-year deployment and associated vendor lock-in, the Colruyt Group turned to Tealium partner and independent data analytics consultancy, MultiMinds for an alternative to fit its needs.

Specifically, the solution needed to improve the efficiency of website updates – at the time, Colruyt Group was managing 12 retail brands, each with multiple channels – with a vendor-neutral solution that could demonstrably create efficiencies and an immediate ROI.

Challenge:
Colruyt Group needed a robust, vendor-neutral tag management solution to support their data analytics activity across the many retail brands within its portfolio.

Solution:
Colruyt Group worked with Tealium partner, MultiMinds, to use Tealium iQ to deliver its tag management needs.

Results:
Tealium iQ tag management reduced cost and time investments, and the fast implementation – roughly half the time for Google Analytics – delivered an immediate ROI.

Devid Dekegel, Head of Digital Analytics Colruyt Group

“As a business, we’ve always had a strong philosophy when it comes to how we gather, share and manage data. Our customers’ privacy has been a key priority and we always treated the user data with the biggest respect. This approach has enabled us to build strong, trusted relationships with customers. When GDPR arrived and with the disappearance of third-party cookies, Colruyt Group has been well-positioned to navigate these changes because of the way we’ve always collected, managed and used, customer data.

For any new solution that we implement, it is critical for it to support what we are trying to achieve in data management. Tealium iQ surpassed all of our expectations and we were surprised how quickly we saw an ROI. Even though we started with a specific issue, and in solving that we unlocked so much more.”

How was the problem solved?

MultiMinds introduced Tealium IQ tag management and it not only fit the criteria, but was instrumental in improving data collection, quality and trust, to better support analysis and automation across the entire marketing stack. This included funnel optimisation and personalisation, which was enabled by a single view of the customer across all of Colruyt’s retail brands.

The governance, security and privacy capabilities of the solution aligned to Colruyt’s approach for data management. The Tealium solution was also simple to implement and able to pull data from multiple touch points, including chat functions.

As a bonus, operations did not require additional developer skills, and the accompanying partner training program ensured that the MultiMinds team had access to the right education and support from Tealium for the journey. By being vendor-neutral, the solution integrated well with other software in place to help Colruyt Group meet its objectives.

Siegert Dierickx, Co-Founder & Managing Partner MultiMinds

“Having worked with Colruyt since 2014, we were familiar with what they were trying to achieve with their data journey, and the challenges they faced as a retail group with multiple brands under one roof. The analytics team was already bought into the benefits of tag management and needed a solution to take them to the next level.

Tealium iQ was the obvious choice, due to the ease of implementation and integration with new and existing solutions. This allowed the Colruyt team to build the applications they needed to meet their objectives, now and in future. Choosing Tealium iQ allowed us to implement and manage customer analytics efficiently. We created unification in diversification.”

What results were seen?

It immediately became apparent that Tealium iQ tag management would reduce cost and time investments, particularly in creating website updates. The solution was implemented in one year – roughly half the time that it took to get Google Analytics up and running – delivering an immediate ROI.

The simplicity of Tealium’s solution enabled any changes to be made efficiently. In the past, if Colruyt Group wanted to put a script in place, it could take two months to implement and a significant labour commitment. With Tealium, Colruyt Group was able to align data from different brands and touchpoints to get a better view of the customer. This went a long way to support the vision of improving and optimising the customer experience. Transitioning from marketing analytics to customer analytics would allow the retail group to move ahead of their competitors and create differentiation. Customer data, collected at every touchpoint, is used to enrich the existing data lakes, and opens up a new pipeline of applications beyond the marketing department. Having the option with Tealium iQ to send data to the internal data lakes and data warehouses, in a secure and GDPR proven manner allow for a better customer experience across channels and brands.

For example, in the past business intelligence activity was limited to data collected in store, which was useful but didn’t account for the customer’s activity online or with different brands. Including different types of data would provide a more complete view of customers, making it easier to trust the insights gained through analysis.

At the same time, Tealium iQ allowed MultiMinds to quickly test and implement other marketing tools for A/B testing or content personalisation and helps to optimize the processes.

In addition, this data can be combined with other sources – for example, weather forecasts – to help inform predictive modelling for the supply chain. This democratisation of data streams means that different departments across the Group benefit from this access and optimise their operations accordingly. By building and maintaining a solid foundation for data management, using Tealium iQ and other products Colruyt Group will not only be able to ultimately improve the customer experience, but set the scene for new channels for engagement, including a mobile app.

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