R E P O R T

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF
RETAIL PERSONALIZATION

Striking a balance between customizing experiences and preserving privacy is crucial for today's retailers. 

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Short Preview - The science of retail personalization

For over a decade, personalization has been *the* word in retail as the primary way to win shopper loyalty. Advancements in data capture have allowed retailers to collect and leverage more personal information than ever before. However, just because retailers can, it doesn’t necessarily mean the path to purchase should be hyper-personalized. In multiple cases, participants in our Personalization Survey were most likely to say that personalization is and should be, about tailoring the shopping experience to a group of similar individuals versus to the individual. While brands have elevated options for tailoring experiences, consumers’ preferences for personalization have not moved at the same speed. For retailers to best cater to shoppers while respecting their boundaries, striking a balance between customizing experiences and preserving a sense of privacy is crucial.

Which of the following do you believe best describes personalization in the retail industry?*

Top two responses selected, by percentage (%)

Option 1: Getting a unique shopping experiencee designed for me and people like me

Option 2: Me intentionally sharing my personal information with a retailer at the beginning of my shopping journey with them in exchange for a unique shopping experience designed for me and people like me

* For the purposes of this survey, let's define 'personal information as any of your data that could help a retailer better understand what are you shopping for. For example, Personal Information could include things like your age, gender, race, where you live, how many people in your household, what items you've bought or looked at before, etc.
Source: CI&T Personalization Survey (Mar. 2023)
Please select which statement you agree with more, by percent (%):

Option 1: I prefer that a retailer personalize the shopping experience for groups of similar consumers

Option 2: I prefer that a retailer personalize the shopping experience to each individual

Source: CI&T Personalization Survey (Mar. 2023)

The CI&T Personalization Survey was conducted with a sample of 542 US consumers, carefully selected to be representative of the demographics of the US population.

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