Data share: The greater the sample size, the more accurate the data – so has the time come for operators to share data with each other? In this edition of his controversial blog, Planet Vending Editor Ian Reynolds-Young once more ruminates on the future of vending.
Hello again
Surveys and market research: what’s the key to their success? Obviously, it’s the accuracy of the information they deliver. You hear a lot of talk about sample size. I was chatting to Richard Ashton at Aimia Foods the other day and he was walking me through a recently concluded taste test, in which consumers were asked to compare fresh skimmed milk to Milfresh Gold.
It total, just over 100 people took the test and that number was sufficient to allow some accurate conclusions to be drawn. (More on that in next Friday’s round-up, by the way).
But here’s the thing: how much more accurate would the survey have been if 1,000 had been consulted, or 10,000? The larger your sample size, the more sure you can be that their answers truly reflect the population. (There’s a Sample Size Calculator here, if you’re interested). How would that information influence planogram control, for instance?
Why should we data share ?
Accurate data is the key that opens the door that leads to greater understanding of how your business works – and how it could work better. Accurate data is thought provoking and it gives a competitive edge to those who interpret it wisely. As somebody put it to me recently, it ‘enables the seal to outmanoeuvre the shark.’
It’s the same in vending isn’t it? Data from 10 machines gives you nothing, from 150-200 machines it gives you insight; from 1,000 machines plus you get a pin-sharp picture that’s really powerful.
And yet in this business, operators cling to whatever data they have and they’re really secretive about it. It belongs to them; they’re not sharing it with anybody and to me, that’s crackers. As an industry, we should be sharing data because we can do it anonymously. Imagine how much more accurate our knowledge of vending would be if, say, Vendman’s Top 20 customers – no names, no pack drill – agreed to allow their data to be agglomerated so the entire industry could benefit from it?
Don’t hold your breath, mind…
We should data share because we can do it anonymously.
I was ranting on about ‘the data you need and the data you don’t’ last time out and at the risk of provoking even more derision, here’s a case in point; an example of data that really would be worth collecting.
Are you, like me, still getting your head around the concept of the Internet of Things? It’s a phrase you see bandied about with increasing regularity. At first I thought, ‘what’s the point in having a fridge that’s connected to the Internet? How would I benefit from getting a weekly low-down on what happened on every occasion that the fridge door was opened?’ Not a lot; but then, I looked at it from another angle.
What if I was the manufacturer of that fridge? What if I could use its Internet connectivity continually to monitor the fridge’s energy consumption? What if 10,000 fridges were all connected? I’d be able to spot signals that indicated that end of life was approaching. When the machine started on, say, an upward spiral of energy consumption, I’d have sufficient data to predict when it would give up the ghost for good and, for arguments’ sake, six weeks before that was going to happen, I could e-mail the owner along the lines of: ‘You bought your fridge 272 weeks ago and we’re delighted that it has never broken down. However, we’ve noticed that it is beginning to consume ever-increasing amounts of energy. Unfortunately, that means the time is fast approaching when it should be replaced. So, we’d like to offer you £100 off a new model if you choose to upgrade right now and by the way, we’ll remove the old fridge and make sure it’s recycled.’
I can see that sort of story being a very good thing for everybody connected (get it?) with vending. Can’t you?
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is the mirror that calls the doctor if you’re not looking well, and smart beds that’ll turn the lights off when you’ve nodded off…
See you next week.
Data share, date share, data share!