Transparency, digital transformation, luxury purchases: 5 killer stats to start your week

From UK consumers wanting more transparency from retailers about AI, to less than a quarter of companies reporting GDPR compliance post deadline, here are all the stats you need to know this week.

1. Majority of UK consumers want transparency from retailers about AI

Most UK consumers (80%) want transparency from retailers about the use of AI and are less willing to give retailers their personal data compared to their European counterparts.

For instance, 32% of UK customers are unwilling to hand over more data to retailers, compared with 31% in France and 25% in Germany.

Such privacy fears could be based on a lack of understanding, as only 25% of UK consumers say they’re familiar with AI, compared to 37% in France and 67% in Germany.

More than a third (38%) of UK consumers would be willing to share more data if it was collected anonymously.

The five technologies given the highest “creepy” rating in the UK are emotion detection technology (58%), facial recognition technology (57%), technologies that let retailers see when people have just been paid (56%), voice assistants (56%) and targeted ads on mobile devices (46%).

Source: Rich Relevance

2. Annual door drop spend remains stable despite industry uncertainty

Between 2013 and 2017 the annual door drop net spend by UK businesses remained stable totalling £263m in 2017, compared to £260m in 2013 despite political uncertainty and legislative changes caused by GDPR and Brexit.

However, annual volumes of direct mail fell considerably during the same period from 6.6 billion in 2013, to 5.7 billion in 2017. And in the past 12 months alone the total weight of door drop material declined by 3650 tonnes.

Meanwhile for every 100 unaddressed door drops received, 10 are passed on and shared, and each piece is revisited three times. On average, 51% of all mail is read immediately, whether addressed or not, with a further 19% eventually followed up on.

Source: DMA and JICMail

3. UK’s affluent households purchase more luxury items despite economic confidence falling

Despite the fact economic confidence has fallen, the UK’s affluent households (earning £100,000 or more per year) have increased their purchasing of luxury items.

Research shows the number of people buying luxury items has grown 13 percentage points from 56% in 2017 to 69% this year, with 39% of affluent households in the UK saying that “once you experience luxury, it’s hard to scale back”.

However, just 13% of affluent UK households are confident in the global economy, a decline of three percentage points on 2017. Of those surveyed, the fear factor that has particularly increased in the past year is the security of their retirement assets. Currently, 26% of the UK’s wealthiest households are concerned about this, up from 22% a year ago.

Source: YouGov

4. Less than a quarter of companies report being GDPR compliant post deadline

Only 20% of companies (21% in the UK) surveyed believe they are GDPR compliant, while 53% say they’re in the ‘implementation phase’ and 27% haven’t even started.

EU companies (excluding the UK) are further along with 27% claiming they’re compliant, compared to just 12% in the US and 21% in the UK. Overall, while many companies have significant work to do, 74% expect to be compliant by the end of 2018 and 93% by the end of 2019.

Since August 2017, the number of companies who say their GDPR implementation is under way or completed climbed from 37% to 73% in the UK. While 80% of companies plan to increase their spending on GDPR technology and tools to maintain compliance.

Source: TrustArc

5. Many digital transformations fail because companies aren’t focusing on culture

Just 17% of companies which neglect workplace culture in their digital transformation efforts improve performance, while 90% of companies that prioritise culture thrive.

And almost 80% of the companies that focus on culture have been able to sustain strong or breakthrough performance.

The key elements of digital culture include: encouraging employees to engage with customers and partners, promoting delegation over control in the workplace, encouraging boldness over caution, focusing on action rather than on detailed planning and fostering collaboration over individual work.

Source: The Boston Consulting Group

 

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