Morrisons grows new customers by 150% using phone data

The grocer is using software from Telefonica Dynamic Insights, the data arm of the O2 mobile network, to pinpoint consumers that live near a Morrisons but do not shop there via locational mobile data.

The number of shoppers moving from each postcode to a Morrisons store was measured using their mobile signals, which enabled Telefonica to build up a picture of where shoppers in a particular postcode shopped. The software uses the data from the O2 network to estimate the movements of the total population in each postcode. Once the postcodes with few Morrisons shoppers were identified, vouchers were posted through their doors in a bid to prompt a Morrisons visit. 

The response rate was tracked, and the subsequent return visits of customers who paid by card were also measured. 

Morrisons ran the three-month trial from the end of June in 24 stores in the southwest of England, and the grocer is now looking at rolling the system out further. The trial generated 150% more new customers than its traditional method of ‘door drop’ marketing activity, which uses electoral roll data.

Morrisons customer director Crawford Davidson said: “We’re working with Telefonica to identify how the model can be scaled up – potentially nationwide – to help our stores more successfully reach customers.”