Nielsen Analyzing Nationwide’s Customers
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 8/19/2008 10:21:00 AM
Winston-Salem, N.C. — Nielsen Claritas is conducting a sweeping segmentation analysis of more than two million customer records for the Nationwide Marketing Group.
The records will be accessed from a select group of Nationwide dealers, Nielsen said, and results, which will help identify the buying group’s best customers, will be shared with its members and manufacturers.
VP Neil Portnoy, who heads Nielsen Claritas’ consumer durables sales team, said the company has successfully performed similar customer analyses over the years for leading national chains. Through Nationwide, the market information firm is now committed to leveling the playing field so the independent retailer can effectively compete with big box retailers, he said.
Indeed, Best Buy’s much-vaunted customer centricity initiative, which resulted in the creation of segment-specific stores and services, was based on similar customer segmentation studies.
The analysis, which is expected to be completed in September, employ’s the company’s Prizm lifestyle segmentation system, which classifies the U.S. population into 66 segments based on various socio-economic data, such as income, age, race, occupation, education and household composition. Prizm also includes information about lifestyle attributes that are critical to shaping advertising and marketing strategies, such as where people vacation, what they drive and their favorite brands.
“Through this partnership we hope to help the independent retailer uncover hidden market potential,” Portnoy said, adding that Nationwide will also provide the findings from the analysis to an exclusive group of manufacturers.
Nationwide appliance VP Adam Thomas said the buying group is offering the data to manufacturers so they can better partner with dealers to grow sales and drive more profitable store traffic.
“By aligning manufacturers and dealers, and leveraging the intelligence gleaned from this study, the focus is on targeting the right customers, with the right message using the right media and measuring results efficiently,” Thomas said.
The $11 billion Nationwide Marketing Group has more than 2,800 members operating approximately 8,000 storefronts
