A Loyal Partnership

“Data is the new oil”

^{Clive Humby}

The Birth of the Club Card

The boardroom falls silent. All you can hear is the heavy tap of ballpoint pens against the paper pads scattered across the table. The leaders of Tesco, clad in their heavily-padded suits, barely shift in their seats. Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, the presenters, have just concluded their presentation on the grocery store chain's customer segments. Finally, breaking the silence, the chairman at the head of the table looks up and delivers a remark that cuts through the tension, "What scares me about this is that you know more about my customers after three months than I know after 30 years." With those words, a collective sigh escaped Edwina and Clive. Their analysis has resonated.

This pivotal moment would mark the beginning of a groundbreaking partnership between the couple’s company Dunnhumby and Tesco, ultimately leading to the most novel application of analytics in retail history: loyalty club cards. This innovation heralded the dawn of "segmentation," whereby companies group similar customers together to optimize marketing strategies. As Dunn later remarked, “you are what you buy.”

Growing Family

Amid the triumph, Clive and Edwina faced daunting challenges in scaling their operation for Tesco. In 1989, with a team of 30 people and a solitary computer, which had to be hoisted into their office by crane, the task seemed Herculean. The couple had met, married, and were subsequently ousted from a consulting company in the late 1980s. Now, they found themselves navigating the delicate balance of work and family life. With young children in tow, they established strict ground rules: driving separately to and from the company's London headquarters, seldom discussing business matters at home, and limiting such discussions to their home office when necessary. Despite these personal and professional challenges, they managed to double the size of the company immediately and remained committed to Tesco. The partnership, the couple realized, could open the door to a new sector of data science.

Clever and Customer-First

It did. Their innovation for Tesco paid off. Before the terms machine learning, data science, or artificial intelligence ever went mainstream, Dunnhumby used advanced analytics techniques such as predictive modeling and clustering for the largest consumer packaged goods companies of the day. “We were using some of the data some of the time - that was the clever bit,” Dunn confessed. These methods allowed them to extract nuanced insights from complex datasets, providing clients with actionable recommendations for targeted marketing campaigns, product recommendations, and more. The company’s customer-first approach propelled the couple pull the same tricks with companies all over the world, such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Kroger. Their bespoke approach to business and data paid off.

Female-Led

Beyond their business savvy though, Dunnhumby pushed the envelope of collaboration in data analytics. They were literally a family, yes, but their culture also enabled dynamic growth. By the time the company sold a majority stake to Tesco, about half of its 1500 employees were women. This was a time when having an equal mix of men and women on staff was not just a strategic choice but a reflection of their own journey. Their collaborative approach fostered a culture of innovation as the data science industry matured with Humby. Edwina Dunn has built on the legacy of Dunnhumby, founding The Female Lead to further promote gender diversity in science and technology. After all, “businesses and leadership will be better and make more money if women are involved.”

By marrying this business-savvy with a highly collaborative and diverse approach, Dunnhumby set itself apart as a trusted partner in retail analytics, driving innovation and enabling transformative growth. Now that’s partnership.