When First-Party Isn’t Enough: Building the Data Foundation that Outlasts Signal Loss

Adapting to New Habits

In contrast to CPG brands, retailers have access to tons of consumer data. However, while they might know where someone shops and what they’re buying, this alone doesn’t provide a holistic understanding of who the consumer is. Even when demographic data is added to the mix. 

That’s because consumers don’t shop in one place. They rely on different retailers and brands for different products and occasions. They’re also increasingly choosing to have everyday items delivered. Instacart may be their go-to when ordering milk, with Amazon catering to their need for  pantry staples. 

What’s more, a growing number of people are using AI to support grocery shopping. According to a Rithum survey, 36% of consumers use AI tools to compare prices, options, and retailers before making a purchase. 

In this new interconnected retail ecosystem, getting a full picture of the consumer means CPG brands must consider first-party data alongside search behavior, GEO, and social listening. 

Overcoming Data Silos

CPG brands have long depended on retail partners for access to consumer data. Often this would include leveraging partners’ clean rooms to harmonize disparate data. 

However, this model is not foolproof. Despite the use of clean rooms, data still remains fragmented and is often shared in inconsistent formats and unhelpful structures such as slide decks. 

CPG brands that truly want to understand consumers must therefore create their own data repositories.

Historically, this has meant undertaking a massive transformation project, and in most cases relying on outside consultants, making it both time-consuming and costly to implement. APPLY’s TORQ™ Data Solution offers another approach. It uses agents to ingest, organize, and anonymize data in real time. 

From One-To-One to One-to-Some

When CPG brands and retailers were chasing the holy grail that was first-party data, one of the reasons was to understand the consumer. The other was to use this understanding to create highly personalized marketing campaigns that spoke directly to them.

If there was a time for brands to achieve this, it would be now. With agentic tools, it’s possible to scale and personalize content in a way that was far too time-consuming before. But this one-to-one approach isn’t as valuable as it sounds.

In reality, creating completely tailored content for each consumer simply isn’t necessary. Of course, doing the opposite and going too broad is equally unhelpful, as generic messaging doesn’t resonate.

Instead, CPG brands and retailers should shift this one-to-one strategy to a one-to-some strategy, focusing on smaller groups of consumers who share common traits or behaviors. This targeted method is the most effective way to engage audiences meaningfully and maximize ROI.

Unifying Data for a Connected Experience

The call for a unified data set is particularly important when it comes to the consumer experience.

CPG brands and retailers should leverage everything they know about a consumer’s behavior – what they like, dislike, search for, or when they abandon their carts - to inform the journeys they create.

The more information they have, and the better connected it is, the better they can diagnose challenges and optimize the experience. And as a result, improve conversion rates, sales, and ultimately drive growth.

As AI and LLMs become an increasingly important part of the journey, it’s also essential to ensure that product information and pricing is structured and readable for AI bots. Because in this post-research world, if you’re not optimized for LLMs, you’ll be overlooked by consumers.

Embrace Big-Picture Thinking

Consumer behavior is evolving. But the age-old data dilemma remains. And first-party data isn’t going to solve it. If CPG brands want to deliver more relevant, impactful experiences, they must stop relying on siloed data and start building their own repositories.