Earlier this year I had an opportunity to attend and speak at the National Association of Retail Marketing (NARMs) conference in Phoenix.

In attendance were retail merchandisers, brokers, shopper marketing companies; big and small – a feisty, resilient, and lively crowd.

I had fun exchanging colorful war stories & noticed a few recurring themes:

• “This economy is weighing us down; some retailers just won’t make it”
• “It’s a race to the bottom; you have to price below cost to win clients”
• “It’s a relationship business, otherwise you can’t standout from the crowd”

Fear not. There is a cure for all these ills. Somewhat simple. Definitely radical.

Just stop being a merchandising, brokerage, or shopper marketing company.

Become a data company.

Data is the magic elixir of business – it creates efficiencies even in the toughest economy; data never commoditizes, and hard data trumps the best of buddies.

Collecting, controlling, channeling, analyzing data will make you all-powerful and unstoppable for your customers.

This transformation requires you to make new investments and speak a new language.

Repeat after me: “data scientist”, “algorithm”, “machine learning”, “real time APIs”, “cloud”, “feeds”, “signals”, “visualization”

Easier said than done?

Bob Bahramipour

CEO, Gigwalk.