dunnhumby Unveils Competitive Threat Tool

Retail customer data pioneer dunnhumby has launched a new web-based tool called Competitive Threat Evaluator, which it says swiftly diagnoses the intensity and nature of a retailer's competitive threat and its pull on shoppers at the chain, geographic and store levels.

The tool combines geolocation data from Placer.ai with customer perception data from dunnhumby's annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI). The former includes cross-shopping behavior, proximity to competitors, and the density of competitors within a store's trade area, while the latter covers perception of price, promotions, assortment, in-store and online store experience.

Potential uses include prioritising messages in the development of overall banner, pricing and assortment strategies; optimising resource allocation across their chain to focus on stores facing the greatest competitive challenges; and also help decide where to build new stores and how to compete in new markets.

Results are viewed in a dashboard, with three separate user views: Banner Level Insight, Store Level Insights and Store-Level Threat Maps. Grocery clients are the first to have access to the new tool, with other dunnhumby clients to follow soon.

'Grocery retailers often manage hundreds, if not thousands of stores, across diverse geographies and different competitive landscapes' says Matt O'Grady (pictured), the company's President of the Americas. 'Before today, there wasn't a single dataset that provided a holistic understanding of both the intensity and nature of each competitor a retailer faced. But with dunnhumby's Competitive Threat Evaluator, retailers have a single dataset that provides invaluable shopper insights and store preferences to make sure they stay on top of their competitive threats'.

A division of British supermarket Tesco, dunnhumby employs more than 2,200 people in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Details of the new tool can be found on the web at www.go.dunnhumby.com/competitive-threat-evaluator .