Tesco-owned Dunnhumby acquires Berlin tech firm Sociomantic

Dunnhumby made the acquisitions to further develop its tailored marketing to shoppers. It is not known how much Dunnhumby paid for Sociomantic, which employs 200 staff across 16 offices globally.

“Our strategic priority is to engage consumers and earn their loyalty wherever they shop”

Simon Hay, Dunnhumby chief executive

The German company designs customer relationship management (CRM) technology to allow retailers and marketers to analyse data in real time and tailor marketing campaigns to shoppers accordingly.

Last year Sociomantic, which operates in over 60 markets worldwide, reported a turnover of $100m (£60m).

Dunnhumby chief executive Simon Hay said: “Our strategic priority is to engage consumers and earn their loyalty wherever they shop, in-store and online, with personalized communications that are valuable and meaningful. Applying this approach to make online media a better experience for consumers and marketers is paramount to us.

“Our observed campaigns to date have shown that increased relevance leads to significantly better engagement and response rates”.

Founded in 1989, Dunnhumby was appointed by Tesco to develop its game-changing Clubcard loyalty scheme in the 1990s. The grocer took an initial stake of 53% in 2001 and increased this to 84% five years later.

The company has amassed shopper habit insights throughout the world, using sales data to analyse the patterns of some 400 million shoppers since it was founded. As well as delivering customer insight and marketing data for Tesco, the company has acted for a string of major international brands, including Coca-Cola, Macy’s and Procter & Gamble.