Redefining Retail

5Making People Want Things Isn't Enough

Most people are inclined to think of marketing as a clever way to make people want things. We believe that this is only partially true, as it only puts the focus on one of the four Ps, Promotion, neglecting the importance of the other three levers of the marketing mix: Product, Price, and Place.

If we consider this holistic perspective and we add to the equation the vast availability of data that we have at our disposal, we can argue that marketing is actually not about “making people want things” but, today more than ever, it's about “making things people want.”¹ As we have seen in Chapter 3, accessing first‐party data can allow companies to realign their business model and deliver personalized recommendations. That data also enables more‐accurate targeting and retargeting and eventually contributes to shaping the very research and development (R&D) strategy of the firm. If data are translated into valuable insights, they can suggest which products, services, and experience will more likely meet customers' preferences—as well as indicate customers' likely price ceiling (the highest price they're willing to pay). Armed with this information, marketers can potentially increase the overall profit margin of the company, select the most appropriate sales and communication channels, and determine which promotional efforts will be most successful. And the list goes on. More data means more insights on people's wants, needs, and desires.

This ...