Information management practices supporting the usage of customer insight : Focus on the Finnish retail sector

Abstract

Retail companies are known for their attempts to build insight-driven cultures. It has been suggested that companies that are using loyalty schemes to increase their customers’ loyalty have not been successful in embracing a more information-intensive approach to their business. Loyalty schemes have not been the drivers for retailers’ transition from product-centered organizations to customer-orientated organizations in Finnish DCG markets either. The attention has been on the scheme per se and not on the data which could be derived from it. When and if pursuing customer insight -driven business, it can be achieved through information-intensive practices.

The purpose of this study is to assess how information management practices support the systematic creation and usage of customer insight in a company. The theoretical framework applied in this study provides answers to the following questions: How companies can create customer insight? How are information management practices linked to the systematic creation and usage of customer insight in a company? The empirical research is conducted as a single case study, based on semi-structured interviews.

The findings of this study suggest that insufficient customer insight weakens the individual’s or the organization’s performance. Several information management practices were pointed out as issues hindering the systematic creation and usage of customer insight. Moreover, organization’s top management has a significant role in fostering the creation and usage of customer insight and communicating the importance of customer-oriented approach throughout the whole organization.