Celebrating its 42nd anniversary in 2022, Inmar Intelligence opened a new headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company has invested more than $1 billion in its technology platform solutions, “which has really driven momentous growth,” said Rob Weisberg, SVP.
“With that perspective, we’re doing about $120 billion in commerce driven through our platform,” he said, adding that Inmar has completed about 20 strategic acquisitions over the last 10 years.
The company also earned a Great Place to Work certification in 2022 as a result of its commitment to providing “a great place for our employees, that’s inclusive and fulfilling,” Weisberg said.
Data is at the core of the company, which collects about 2.4 billion transactions each year into the Retail Cloud.
“We leverage a data science team and our technology platform to drive intelligence,” Weisberg said. “It’s ultimately about making our customers smarter, by allowing them to leverage that data in ways to target shoppers more effectively, to provide incentives to shoppers more effectively, to drive higher customer lifetime value and satisfaction, as well as to allow shoppers to stretch their dollars and enjoy their baskets.”
With today’s inflationary environment, Weisberg said Inmar’s focus on shopper-first innovation is “really criticial.” By delivering incentives and coupons to shoppers via digital channels, Inmar delivered about $1.3 billion in savings in 2021 and that number was expected to increase in 2022.
“What we’re seeing is that shoppers are seeking out incentives like never before, to help offset that inflation,” he said.
When looking at shoppers’ perception of basket value, Weisberg said it basically comes down to what value means for them. “Very often, it’s the balance between the cost of the basket and what you receive in that basket – being satisfied overall with that exchange of value.”
Inmar is focused on personalizing the experience to make sure shoppers get the offers that will be relevant to them. Weisberg said the company’s white label e-commerce solution is “the only turnkey solution out there.”
“It’s integrated fully with programmatic media incentives, our loyalty program and our intelligent in-store program, all of which provide this holistic view of the customer…so that helps our retail partners deliver personalized experiences at every interaction for the shopper and really deliver value for that shopper,” he said.
Weisberg added that he has seen how e-commerce can “meaningfully change the trajectory of a company and ultimately change the trajectory of an industry, particularly when it’s built on a foundation of data and data science.
“We’re seeing that occur now in retail grocery at a level that has not been seen before,” he said.
While in the past retail grocery has been slow to adopt technology, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the pace and retail grocers had to react quickly. Now, they are looking to make their digital experience an extension of the in-store experience.
The data that retail grocers can capture via e-commerce channels is “far more robust than what you would generally capture on an in-store buyer. And as a result, you can really personalize the experience in a way that adds value to the shopper,” Weisberg said.
Inmar enjoys “the highest redemption rate of incentives in the industry, and it’s because of the AI that we’re leveraging.” Inmar’s redemption rate is 18.4 percent, which Weisberg termed “staggering.” It offers a 43 percent higher offer count than leading retailers, he said.
Inmar Intelligence has 100-plus new brands investing with it and has signed 50 new retailers in the last 18 months. Weisberg said it’s “the AI and data science that’s delivering.”
In the area of retail media, which he termed as the fastest growing segment of the media industry overall, retail media networks – advertising on the retailers’ sites – will become more important as cookies eventually are phased out.
“Ultimately, it’s about delivering return on investment,” said Weisberg, adding that advertisers don’t want to put a piece of media in front of someone who is not likely to respond.
