GfK Teams with Segment of One for Retail Targeting

GfK and Berlin-based Segment of One (SO1) have entered a worldwide partnership. The former's clients will be given access to the latter's grocery retail artificial intelligence (AI) targeting engine, which will be added to GfK's loyalty card data portfolio.

Founded in 2012 by Raimund Bau and Sebastian Gabel, SO1's AI platform learns from millions of transactions to understand and drive consumer preferences, enabling retailers to target them individually in real-time. The partners have jointly developed a platform called 'ATTRIBUTION +' to enhance GfK's loyalty card portfolio and allow retailers to add loyalty card data with information from GfK consumer panels - such as age, gender and household income.

The partnership will also enable retailers to assess which competitor grocers their customers use. GfK says SO1's targeting options combined with market purchasing patterns identified through its own household panel data, will help grocery retailers invest in customer clusters and acquire new buyers, while recapturing former consumers.

Marc Knuff (pictured), GfK's Global Retail Director, comments: 'This AI-based platform, targeted at retailers with loyalty cards, will learn from historical transactions, shopping trips updated on a continual basis in real time and customer metadata in order to offer personalized promotions. Looking not only at scientific contributions from SO1 developers, but also at proven SO1 success in real-world A/B testing in several countries, reassures us that this cutting-edge science will actually drive the business of GfK clients'.

Web sites: www.gfk.com and www.so1.ai .