dunnhumby launches world-leading customer first retail media platform

• Customer data science experts dunnhumby launch clear, simple, data-led platform for retail media
• Automated workflows, AI-driven audiences and customer-centric measurement allows for greater collaboration between retailers, brands and agencies, creating a better customer experience

London, UK, 18 January 2022 – dunnhumby, the world’s leading retail data science organisation, has today launched dunnhumby Sphere, an all-in-one customer first retail media platform.

dunnhumby Sphere is the end-to-end retail media platform that takes users from brand insights to campaign billing through its fully integrated set of modules, helping to unify audience targeting, media booking, forecasting and measurement across a range of retail media channels.

The platform, available to retailers looking to build and expand their retail media capability, allows retailers to scale and maximise revenues from retail media, while advertising partners will benefit from enhanced collaboration and the ability to plan, book, measure and pay for campaigns across online and in-store channels.

Retailers will be able to use dunnhumby Sphere to transform their media business, increasing the sophistication of their omnichannel media offerings without any of the complexity or cost that this change usually involves. And as a modular solution that integrates with the broader ad ecosystem, dunnhumby Sphere will also allow retailers to incorporate their existing retail media technologies.

dunnhumby Sphere is already used by Tesco in the UK to power several of the retail media products offered as part of the Tesco Media and Insight platform, which was recently launched in the UK to help Tesco suppliers and agencies engage with customers and understand their evolving needs.

Reducing complexity

“Retailers are finding out that building their own retail media business is complex,” explains Julie Jeancolas, Head of Media and Customer Engagement Products, dunnhumby. “The retail media ecosystem is highly fragmented, making platforms difficult and expensive to develop. This often means that the value of data gets trapped, with some third-party data platforms serving unusable data to brands and agencies, which undermines the point of a self-service platform.”

“Brands need a single point of access for all their measurement reporting to compare the relative performance of each channel, while retailers need a way to validate the long-term impact of Retail Media on the customer experience and sales.”

“And that’s where dunnhumby Sphere will make a real difference. It allows retailers to efficiently manage a complex ecosystem, unlocking the value of their data by making on-demand AI-based audiences easily accessible to CPGs, whilst still allowing the retailer to measure the true impact of media on their core business.”

Efficient workflows: everything in one place

With dunnhumby Sphere, everything from insights to billing is controlled via one intuitive interface, covering all retail media channels. The platform makes it easier for retailers to optimise the performance of their retail media activity by providing an overall representation of their customers across every channel and campaign. dunnhumby Sphere can also help retailers to access larger brand budgets, with access to new revenue from agencies who would traditionally be excluded from this activity, thanks to the integrated multi-channel offering.

Science-based audiences: simple but powerful

As the world leaders in customer data science, dunnhumby Sphere gives access to simple but powerful AI powered audiences to predict the customer likelihood to buy any given product, resulting in up to twice the return on ad spend (ROAS) when compared to standard descriptive segmentation models.

dunnhumby Sphere helps retailers and brands save time by making complex workflows easier to manage across all media channels. Bringing together multiple sets of data, Sphere provides retailers and their advertising partners with a single view of all audience activations, providing easy access to AI-powered audiences to help Brands find the shoppers they need to target in order to hit their marketing goals and deliver high return on ad spend.

Customer centric measurement: impact made clear

With consistent, cross-channel customer profiles, dunnhumby Sphere tracks the long-term impact of retail media on the shopper experience. Retailers can monitor the impact on customer lifetime value, loyalty, and basket size. At the same time, in-depth measurement helps to maintain campaign relevance as shopper needs change, while transparent closed-loop measurement provides gives advertisers the proof of incremental performance.

Jeancolas continues: “dunnhumby Sphere enables retailers and brands to collaborate in a way that will really improve the customer experience. Retailers can set their own parameters around how advertisers can engage with their shoppers, while brands will have self-service access, making it easier to target the right shoppers with the right messages. It’s a true omnichannel approach to ensure a consistent experience for all customers.”

​​​​​​​​dunnhumby Sphere will launch in several stages, with modules including digital, store media, digital onsite and sponsored products to follow throughout 2022. For more information, visit dunnhumby.com/retailers/retail-media/dunnhumby-sphere/

About dunnhumby 

dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, empowering businesses everywhere to compete and thrive in the modern data-driven economy. We always put the Customer First.  

Our mission: to enable businesses to grow and reimagine themselves by becoming advocates and champions for their Customers. With deep heritage and expertise in retail – one of the world’s most competitive markets, with a deluge of multi-dimensional data – dunnhumby today enables businesses all over the world, across industries, to be Customer First. 

The dunnhumby Customer Data Science Platform is our unique mix of technology, software and consulting, enabling businesses to increase revenue and profits by delivering exceptional experiences for their Customers – in-store, offline and online. dunnhumby employs over 2,000 experts in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas working for transformative, iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter & Gamble, Raley’s, L’Oréal and Monoprix.