I got the chance to attend Street Fight’s Local Data Summit in Denver and it was a great event.  In addition to making connections and networking with the savvy local experts, I learned all about the exploding developments in big data that are helping local marketers deliver stronger ROI.

I really enjoyed the panel titled, “The Quantified Shelf and the Promise of Real-Time Inventory,” moderated by Perry Evans, CEO at Closely and featuring Jeremy Geiger, CEO at Retailigence; Mike Wilson, CEO at Goodzer; and Sherry Thomas-Zon, VP of Shopping at Local Corp.  Here are some of the highlights from the session:

• Large retailers have a ton of data and have some technical expertise and resources, but they still need help in developing insights and targeting strategies.
• SMBs are getting involved in the data game but, compared to the national brands, they don’t have the data sets or resources needed to really leverage this information.
• The retail space was the primary consumer of data but data providers are becoming more flexible in order to support more industries.
• Ecommerce is only 10-15% of the retail space.  At the end of the day the experience of going and talking with someone is driving sales.
• Online scheduling is an extremely important development in the local space because it is the equivalent to closing the loop between online and offline.
• The primary goal of big data is guiding and measuring the path to purchase.