Targeting Accelerates with ID and Authentication Technology

• Subscription Commerce

Unilever acquired Dollar Shave Club, a five-year-old startup. The company provides a service that delivers replacement razor blades monthly to customers who sign up online. The goal is to expand this relationship marketing expertise to other Unilever brands.

 

• Amazon Dash Button

Allows users to purchase specific Amazon Prime household items with a single click.
While convenient for users, it also allows Amazon to capture purchase history data.

 

• Amazon Go

Amazon's new AI-powered brick-and-mortar store concept. Shoppers check in upon entering, select desired items, and simply walk out. Payment is automatically charged online via AI. Amazon gains access to that person's in-store purchase data.

 

Each service will likely seek as much personal information as possible from its audience.

The latest version of the Uber app accesses users' calendars and other data to determine where they are at specific times, predicting when they might need a ride.

Payment always involves identity verification. The complexity and inconvenience of the ordering process is one reason consumers abandon online shopping. Innovations addressing this include MasterCard's "Pay by Selfie," which uses biometric authentication technologies like facial recognition to confirm payments.

Challenges in Marketing

Marketing increasingly targets people already known to the brand. This enables personalized messaging tailored to the audience. While data utilization is essential, privacy protection remains a critical consideration. Every action a brand takes must clearly benefit the consumer.

Brands must build systems that securely manage data while maximizing its utility. The newer the startup, the more likely it is to possess agile and robust systems.