What Amazon's purchase of Ring means for brands

Kristina: Why did Amazon acquire Ring, from a marketer's perspective?

Rob Glickman, CMO, Treasure Data: Amazon's goal with all of their recent acquisitions is to increase a deeper relationship with their customers. With Ring specifically, the answer is two fold. In the short term, Ring provides Amazon security benefits. They get to track the last mile of the delivery, which is plagued by theft and can put a damper on the customer experience, specifically the prime experience. In the long term, the real benefit is the customer data angle. Ring allows Amazon more data points of peoples comings and goings and market share. It is not a coincidence that Ring hosts all video on AWS so synergy already exists. Having more data points on their customers, the better customer relationship.

Kristina: Why is Amazon winning the data game?

Rob: Out of all the large tech companies, Amazon does two things above the rest - understanding the importance of customer data, and utilizing it for growth. Whether collecting it through its subscription services (prime, video), Echo, Whole Foods, connected home, etc., Amazon understands that the customer experience is rapidly evolving to an on-the-go, need-it-now mindset, and utilizes the data it receives per customer to tweak its interface accordingly, providing recommendations and suggestions that matter to each individual.

Kristina: How can marketers ensure customer privacy is still upheld?

Rob: With GDPR fast approaching, how companies manage and handle data is at the forefront of marketers' mind. Privacy breaks down with fragmented systems. Companies have a responsibility to have a wider understanding of their habits and in a permission based manner. As marketers we fundamentally know that having only the most qualified and interested contacts in our database, from those who have given us permission to speak to them in a personalized manner while respecting their privacy, reflects well on our brand and fosters deeper customer loyalty. It is important to communicate clearly your policies to customers, to create goodwill.

Kristina: What is the importance of customer data and why is it important for utilizing it for retargeting efforts?

Rob: Retargeting is one form of personalization and can be a powerful strategy to engage with a customer. However, retargeting efforts are only as good as the customer data that the company has the ability to attach that a profile. The more data the more signals a company has on a customer profile and therefore can better engage with that customer.

Tags: advertising, Amazon, ecommerce, ecommerce tips, ecommerce trends, mobile marketing, Treasure Data