Alex Jardine, director of analytics, Sainsbury's
Describe your career to date
I graduated with a civil engineering degree but left university clear on one thing, I didn’t want to be a civil engineer. Instead, I fortuitously fell into data, with my first role at Information Resources using retailer data to understand shopping behaviours and trends and that was it, I was hooked. While still relatively nascent at that time, I remember being drawn to the potential of data to drive clearer decision making, cutting through opinion and conjecture with hard facts.
I’ve since spent over two decades working with some brilliant businesses across multiple domains, including both consultancy and client-side roles, and have been lucky to work with some truly excellent and inspiring people along the way. As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve become even more passionate about the use of data to drive both business transformation and commercial advantage.
And these are key aspects of my current role with Sainsbury’s, where I’m privileged to lead a brilliant team of people developing data-led capabilities that are transforming the customer experience and driving significant incremental revenue for the business.
What stage has your organisation reached on its data maturity journey?
The value and importance of data and analytics and its potential to help differentiate Sainsbury’s in a very competitive market is well understood and recognised right across the business.
Sainsbury’s is awash with data and in the Nectar loyalty scheme owns of one of the richest and most extensive data-sets in the UK. It’s a key resource which drives data-led decisioning right across the business.
As is often the case with a 150-year-old business though, the challenge is managing a mixed estate with many legacy systems and environments that weren’t originally designed to leverage data and the hard work required to bring them together.
Tell us about the data and analytics resources you are responsible for
I’m very privileged to lead an analytics department of 90 people within the marketing and loyalty division at Sainsbury’s. The team span three broad and distinct areas:
- Analytics for our retail brands, including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tu, Habitat and Nectar, focused on understanding our customers, how they shop and how best to serve their needs. The team is developing exciting new customer decisioning and personalisation capabilities that drive signficant incremental revenue for the business.
- Analytics as a service for our Nectar client partners, including eBay, British Airways, Esso and American Express. The team uses our rich data and analytics to help our Nectar partner brands build long lasting valuable relationships with their customers through Nectar.
- Data and analytics monetisation to Sainsbury’s and Argos suppliers through our B2B brand Nectar360. Bringing suppliers and Sainsbury’s together around a common view of the customer and generating a significant revenue stream in the process.
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