Managing Supermarket Customer Offers in a Wireless World | Using Data Mining with Mobile Applications

Supermarkets offer a very similar variety of products at similar prices and quality. Thus the companies have to search for other ways to differ from their competitors. This can be achieved by offering a unique type of service to gain customer loyalty and at the same time using methods to maintain customer loyalty.This dissertation investigated ways of creating customised offers that fit to the customer¿s needs but also allow the supermarket to advertise products that are interesting for retail reasons. These offers have been based on customer purchasing patterns which were found by analysing data that had been generated by the use of loyalty card schemes. Furthermore, it was investigated to what extent mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants or smart phones can be used to inform customers of offers over a wireless connection as they enter the store. Such offers would be based on previous purchasing patterns and special promotions. To avoid the necessity of installing new software an interface was deployed as a client process that is transmitted dynamically to the mobile device. This concept provides a new way of advertising especially in the retail market.