With 75% of consumers concerned with how companies use their data, building trust is a key challenge for the retail sector, but a new search and discovery platform launched this week hopes to offer a way to personalise privately.
Created by Empathy.co, the new platform aims to use ethical and privacy-lead AI to deliver privacy-first personalisation and 1:1 recommendations, moving away from invasive, tracking-based personalisation. These latest innovations give consumers the power to decide what data they share, and how and when they share it with retailers whilst providing an intuitive and enjoyable user experience.
The platform is now available to all retailers who can join the likes of Music Magpie, Massimo Dutti, Carrefour and others and take important steps towards protecting customer data and rebuilding trust.
In an industry first, the platform will provide merchandisers with an overview of privacy-focused insights so they’re able to review and make adjustments depending on customers’ needs and their business requirements. This privacy board adds value for brands and customers by analysing performance, potential risks and highlighting areas for improvement when it comes to protecting consumers’ data privacy.
The platform offers a set of extensible microservices with an incredible amount of flexibility to enable each retailer to adapt the Search & Discovery experience to their own, individual business. The new platform’s playboard also provides a set of advanced configuration tools to easily fine-tune the Search and Discovery experience using no-code controls, allowing retailers to tailor results, promotions and campaigns, and how customers can view these.
Lara Menéndez, Product Director at Empathy.co explains: “This new Empathy platform is a landmark not only for us as a business but for the wider e-commerce sector. We are quickly reaching a tipping point where consumers will simply no longer tolerate the misuse of their data and the invasive practices that characterise so much of their current experience online. It’s vital we now tip the scales back in favour of consumers and prioritise their privacy and look to build relationships based on trust and transparency. We’re thrilled to be working with retailers and brands such as Music Magpie and Massimo Dutti, plus many more to bring this to life. By kick-starting this change and working directly with businesses, we can deliver search experiences that are seamless and give them the results they need whilst protecting customer’s right to data privacy.”
David Pert, Head of Ecommerce at Music Magpie, which is using the platform, says:: “Working with Empathy.co and implementing this platform as part of our online user experience, will allow us to build and forge better and more meaningful relationships with our customers. It’s vital for our continued growth and success as a business to continue to look to ways to improve and enhance our online experience, by utilising Empathy.co’s new platform we’re able to have the best of both worlds, where we can understand and meet the needs of our customers whilst respecting and protecting their data privacy.”
