Kount: 2021 Was the Year of Insights

​​Companies large and small turned to data for up-to-the-minute consumer insights during a topsy-turvy 2021. Look for that trend to accelerate in 2022, says Brad Wiskirchen, founder and general manager at Kount, as firms leverage insights to address friction throughout the retail process. Read his thoughts in the PYMNTS eBook, “In a Word: 50 Thought Leaders Sum Up 2021.”

In 2020, as the COVID pandemic forced people around the globe to make purchases — almost exclusively — online, retailers were forced to convert three- to five-year plans into three- to five-month plans. It was the year of the digital-migration acceleration.

As consumers left the confines of their houses in 2021, it would not have surprised me to see the eCommerce growth rate level off. I know that I was eager to spend time and money anywhere other than my home. But some researchers predict a 17.9% year over year increase in 2021 eCommerce sales. Those same researchers predict 6.3% year over year growth in brick-and-mortar spending in 2021 — the sector’s most substantial growth rate in a decade. 

But many retailers that accelerated their digital migrations in 2020 were flying blind. They had no history of digital consumer engagement or awareness of the treasure trove of data they could harness from eCommerce transactions. They certainly weren’t ready for the risks and fraud challenges that came with these new transactions, but that’s a story for another day. As they entered 2021, those retailers were prepared for the challenges to which they’d adapted in 2020. But, they were also armed with new channel development, consumer engagement and funnel optimization tools flowing from the data that they were able to collect and create about consumers. As such, 2021 was the year of digital insight acceleration.

I predict that the digital insights of 2021 will be leveraged to yield a year of digital-enablement acceleration in 2022. Tools unheard of, powered by supervised and unsupervised machine learning, will be developed to further decrease friction in digital interactions of every kind. Market efforts will be refined and optimized. Sales funnels will be enhanced and further personalized. Customer compliance challenges will be addressed without friction. Transaction closings of every sort will become entirely frictionless. Post-transaction cross-sells and up-sells, buy now, pay later (BNPL) opportunities and loyalty programs will become far more efficient and far less risky. The ultimate beneficiaries will not be the retailers alone, but the consumers as well.