Clubcard Data gives dunnhumby Sample of 13 Million

UK consultancy dunnhumby is to use the ultimate consumer panel - data from the Loyalty Clubcards of 13 million households visiting its key client, Tesco - to offer evaluation of the impact of marketing activity on shopper behaviour.

The firm says its Marketing Mix Optimisation (MMO) suite of analytical tools provides a robust measurement system which examines the influence that each area of the marketing mix has on sales. It also claims that MMO beats competitor systems as it uses individual transaction data and granular information reduced to hourly sales.

Head of Communications and Media Jeremy Caplin (who joined the firm in 2006 www.mrweb.com/drno/news5079.htm ) said that previously marketers have had to make multimillion-pound investment decisions based on databases that are too small.

He explained: 'On a panel of 25,000, a brand with penetration in excess of 5% of households would have a sample size of less than 1,250. If split into test and control groups before looking at the performance of a specific ad, sample sizes become very small.'

The system enables advertisers to measure the impact of their advertising campaigns, providing evaluation of what effect advertising has on customer purchases and brand loyalty. It evaluates all products sold in Tesco stores nationwide, across the FMCG, electrical goods, clothing and health and beauty sectors and covers UK marketing activity across all media platforms including TV, print, Internet and direct mail.

Dunnhumby was founded in 1989 as a specialist provider of database management and analytical services, and helped Tesco launch its Clubcard scheme in 1995. The firm has offices in London, Dublin and Ohio and is online at www.dunnhumby.com.