Personalization in Consumer Products: How CDPs and Data Enrichment Are Transforming CPG and Retail

In today’s rapidly evolving consumer landscape, personalization is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Consumer products (CPG) and retail brands are under increasing pressure to deliver seamless, relevant experiences across every touchpoint, both digital and physical. Yet, achieving true personalization is uniquely challenging in these sectors, where data is often fragmented, customer relationships are indirect, and the path to purchase is anything but linear. The rise of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), advanced identity resolution, and data enrichment is transforming how CPG and retail brands overcome these hurdles, unlocking new levels of loyalty, efficiency, and growth.

The Personalization Imperative in CPG and Retail

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation across retail and consumer products, fundamentally changing how people shop and interact with brands. Consumers now expect brands to recognize them, anticipate their needs, and deliver value at every stage of their journey—whether they’re browsing online, engaging on social media, or shopping in-store. According to industry research, companies that excel at creating personalized experiences generate up to 40% more revenue than their peers. For CPG and retail, where margins are tight and competition is fierce, the ability to personalize at scale is a critical differentiator.

However, CPG and retail brands face distinct challenges:

Fragmented Data: Data is often siloed across multiple brands, channels, and systems, making it difficult to build a unified view of the customer.
Indirect Customer Relationships: Many CPG brands sell through retailers, limiting direct access to consumer data and insights.
Omnichannel Complexity: Shoppers move fluidly between digital and physical channels, expecting consistent, personalized experiences everywhere.
Privacy and Compliance: Evolving regulations and the deprecation of third-party cookies demand new approaches to data collection and consent.

The Role of CDPs: Unifying Data for Actionable Insights

Customer Data Platforms are purpose-built to address these challenges. A CDP ingests data from every available source—e-commerce, loyalty programs, in-store transactions, social media, and more—then unifies it into a single, actionable customer profile. This unified profile is the foundation for advanced segmentation, targeting, and real-time personalization.

For CPG and retail, the impact is profound:

Identity Resolution: CDPs use sophisticated algorithms and referential datasets to resolve multiple records into a single, accurate customer identity. For example, a customer who appears as "Dorothy," "Dottie," and "Dorothy Amos" across different systems is recognized as one individual, preventing redundant communications and wasted marketing spend.
Data Enrichment: By integrating with partners like Epsilon, brands can append hundreds of industry-specific attributes to each profile—demographics, purchase propensity, lifestyle interests, and more—making personalization more precise and relevant.
Omnichannel Activation: Unified profiles enable brands to orchestrate personalized journeys across email, digital ads, mobile apps, in-store experiences, and even call centers, ensuring consistency and relevance at every touchpoint.

Data Enrichment: Turning Raw Data into Rich Insights

First-party data is powerful, but it’s often incomplete or outdated. Data enrichment bridges this gap by enhancing customer profiles with additional attributes and correcting errors. For instance, Epsilon’s CDP Essentials solution not only resolves identities but also performs rigorous data hygiene—validating emails, correcting addresses, and updating contact information. This process unlocks new channels (e.g., making previously unmailable addresses actionable) and increases match rates for digital activation.

Enriched data also enables more sophisticated segmentation. Brands can identify high-value audiences—such as football enthusiasts who are likely to own a truck and a boat—and deliver tailored offers that resonate. This level of precision drives higher engagement, conversion, and customer lifetime value.

Real-World Impact: From Insights to Outcomes

Publicis Sapient and Epsilon have helped leading CPG and retail brands realize the full potential of CDPs and data enrichment:

Quick Service Restaurant (QSR): By integrating Salesforce CDP with Epsilon’s Identity Essentials, a major QSR brand unified customer data across digital and in-store channels. This enabled real-time automations and insights, allowing the business to anticipate supply and demand, launch new products, and deliver personalized offers that drove measurable growth.
Retailer of Outdoor Footwear: Leveraging advanced segmentation and personalization, this retailer achieved a 5-point margin increase and significant sales growth by targeting customers with relevant content and offers based on unified, enriched profiles.
Pharmacy Chain: By enabling customer journeys on a unified engagement platform, the brand projected a 5-7% increase in total revenue, driven by consistent, personalized experiences across channels.

Best Practices for CPG and Retail Personalization

Start with Outcomes: Define clear business objectives and use cases—such as increasing loyalty, improving cross-sell, or reducing churn—then work backward to identify the data and technology needed.
Invest in Data Quality: Prioritize data hygiene and enrichment to ensure your customer profiles are accurate, complete, and actionable.
Break Down Silos: Use a CDP to unify data across brands, channels, and systems, creating a single source of truth for personalization.
Respect Privacy: Build trust by collecting and using data transparently, honoring consent, and complying with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
Iterate and Optimize: Personalization is a journey. Start with high-impact use cases, measure results, and continuously refine your approach as your data and capabilities mature.

The Future: Personalization as a Growth Engine

As third-party cookies disappear and walled gardens proliferate, first-party data and identity resolution become the new currency of customer engagement. CPG and retail brands that invest in CDPs and data enrichment are not just keeping pace—they’re setting the standard for what’s possible in omnichannel personalization. By unifying data, enriching profiles, and activating insights across every touchpoint, these brands are building deeper relationships, driving loyalty, and unlocking new sources of growth.

At Publicis Sapient, we help CPG and retail leaders navigate this transformation—combining strategy, technology, and industry expertise to deliver personalization that works. The future belongs to brands that know their customers, respect their preferences, and deliver value at every interaction. With the right data foundation, that future is within reach.