What’s a Knowledge Graph and Why Should Retailers Care?

The phrase “knowledge is power” is not a new concept to pretty much anyone. Just ask anyone who has ever watched any School House Rock video. But in an increasingly data-driven world, that concept has never been more true, particularly to retailers constantly looking to gather any scrap of insights about their customers they can find.

According to Pitney Bowes, one of the best ways to digest and act on that data is through the creation of a knowledge graph. A recent infographic illustrated five examples of how a knowledge graph can be applied to surface information about a customer that was thought to be inaccessible to retailers.

In the piece, Senior Director for Global Customer Lifecycle Marketing at Pitney Bowes Barbara Bernard explained, “This data-driven tool captures a 360 contextual view of the customer by aggregating his or her activities across the board. What’s more, it can uncover previously hidden relationships between people and products to help drive business performance.”

This observation technique gleans insights that add so much depth to an interaction with a customer that allows retailers to anticipate preferences and even potential new customers with similar taste or needs.

A couple of the scenarios that Bernard outlined included:

Understanding the importance of relationships – “For any sales, customer service or marketing team, understanding the interplay between customers can be a powerful tool, and can add a layer of intelligent targeting to outreaches and offers.”
Creating more efficient outreaches – “In any sales or marketing campaign, there are expenses: the cost of media, materials and time. Knowledge graphs can effectively fine-tune outreaches and reduce expenses.”

Data analytics and AI are bringing us closer and closer to the ability to replicate actual thought processes of which human minds are capable. That ability is the code that cracks a seamless, more genuine relationship between seller and customer.

You can find the full resource from Pitney Bowes entitled, “Knowledge (Graph) is Power,” in our Resource Center.