Big data innovation | Countdown | What's in my trolley?
Opening up Onecard to help people understand their own shopping habits
With 1.1 million active members, the Onecard loyalty programme provides Progressive Enterprises (Countdown supermarkets) with incredible insights into the grocery shopping habits of New Zealanders.
But New Zealanders are becoming increasingly savvy as to how valuable their personal data is, and increasingly wary of how companies are using that data. In the face of this, we were tasked with coming up with a Onecard innovation that would help the programme continue to grow.
We came up with a big, bold move to open up the Onecard data to the members themselves. Turning the concept of 'data-monetisation' on its head by using the generosity of open data as a loyalty strategy.
What's in my trolley?
The idea was an online tool that gave customers the power to track and compare their grocery shopping habits.
Members could login to see infographics of their grocery spending and their savings with Onecard. Plus, clearly visualise what kinds of groceries they were putting into their trolley each month - which could be a huge help for a country where obseity is at epidemic levels.
And they could discover how their shopping habits compared to other Kiwis – either anonymously comparing their data with the rest of New Zealand, or with their friends.
Future-proofing Onecard
By sharing the information they hold about New Zealanders, Onecard takes a positive, confident stand about open data and transparency.
The tool itself is useful and innovative, but the real innovation comes from a fresh approach to loyalty data collection. It takes the surveillance out of Onecard and empowers the customer, working perfectly with Countdown's 'Shop Smarter' brand positioning.
