B SMART Interview: Vincent Luciani, co-CEO of Artefact, explains how accelerated digital and data transformation has made data-driven solutions more relevant than ever

At Artefact, we’re customer-centric data specialists. That means we build marketing and sales applications around consumer data, which enables us to deliver the most pertinent data consulting, data marketing and e-commerce services possible.

First, a word about GDPR and data privacy. Today’s consumers are aware of the value of their personal information. And because we need their data to target them in a highly personalised way, our challenge is to help our clients find creative ways to keep collecting that data.

“One of our clients, the Carrefour Group, needed help understanding why their customers’ behaviour had changed. We realised people had suddenly begun to buy printer cartridges in massive quantities because everyone needed to print authorisation forms and homework.

“And Saturday was usually ‘the’ big shopping day, but during lockdown, it became a day like any other. So we also built applications for Carrefour’s customers to use to decide which days and times were best for shopping with regard to COVID”, says Vincent.

The 6 pm curfew has also has impacted organisational methods for large groups, particularly in how they distribute their teams. “We’re observing a massive shift in e-commerce. COVID has brought about an explosion of e-commerce and a ‘switch’ – a change in behaviour towards more e-commerce – we’ve seen it with all of our customers. In fact, in 2020, worldwide ecommerce sales grew by 27.6%.

We help our clients understand the changes happening with their consumers, and help them capitalise on this data thanks to the creation of innovative applications based on powerful analytics and artificial intelligence, enabling them to improve their margins and operational efficiency, all throughout the value chain.