Bridg, pioneer of customer identification technology for brick-and-mortar retailers, announced the Bridg Customer Data Platform (CDP) is launching this fall. The first-of-its-kind Bridg CDP is designed specifically for the needs of restaurants and retailers, making guest data more accessible and actionable than ever before.

For the first time, restaurants and brick-and-mortar businesses will have the same level of insight available to online retailers. Whereas POS transaction data is typically underutilized for marketing in brick-and-mortar businesses compared with online businesses, Bridg CDP takes valuable POS transaction data, and combines it with loyalty and ordering data to create robust, individual unified customer profiles. Profiles are then augmented with social media and other marketable identities, making it possible for brands to engage previously unreachable guests.

The all-new platform powers a new B2C CRM, giving marketers a powerful Segment Builder to create audiences for marketing on nearly any owned or paid channel plus daily customer lifecycle insights. With both opt-in and purchase data, Bridg CRM allows marketers to make decisions based on the most granular and accurate guest data available. The underlying Bridg CDP also makes data accessible through a variety of APIs, making it possible to input segments, insights and more directly into enterprise environments.

“Our research shows that the average brick-and-mortar business today is, at best, able to identify 15 to 20 percent of their consumers via a loyalty or other ‘opt-in’ marketing program,” says Amit Jain founder and CEO of Bridg. “The Bridg Customer Data Platform gives operators access to an entirely new revenue opportunity – the other 80 percent of their guests existing in their historical POS data. Given the evolutions taking place across the restaurant and retail worlds, we believe precision, data-driven marketing is among the single largest opportunities for margin growth.”

Ecommerce businesses such as Amazon have long enjoyed the benefits of being able to connect guests with their purchases. However, brick-and-mortar retailers and restaurants have not. Unlike making a purchase online, connecting a physical, POS-based purchase to guest identity has not been possible except for through loyalty clubs or other opt-in programs.

Customer Data Platforms are central locations for consolidating customer data that significantly reduce the time and resources required to clean, standardize and integrate data – information which is ultimately made accessible through a CRM tool. Bridg CDP takes things further by matching existing guests to Bridg Bureau™, which enhances incomplete guest profiles with proprietary details, allowing for precision segmentation and campaign targeting.

“Only the most sophisticated QSRs and retailers have started trying to solve this multi-billion-dollar puzzle,” said Jain. “Bridg is leveling the playing field between traditional and online restaurants and retailers by making this challenge not only solvable, but affordable.”

Brands currently using the Bridg platform today can identify their guests and, more specifically, which guests are new versus regular, one-time or lapsed. In its Fall 2018 release, Bridg will debut a new interface with category-leading CRM functionality that allows for further guest segmentation, analyses and retargeting. Marketers using the Bridg platform will also be able to export segments of unified and augmented data back to their email, SMS, social media, display, mobile, video advertising and other channels.

The Fall 2018 product release includes:

• Bridg CDP. The underlying data pipeline powering Bridg CRM, Bridg CDP consolidates disparate silos of customer data, including usually-untapped POS transaction data, to create a single view of the guest that incorporates all of their interactions with the brand.
• Bridg CRM. The first true business-to-consumer CRM for restaurant and retail brands including a Segment Builder and deep lifecycle and activeness insights, giving marketers access to every customer, including those who’ve yet to opt-in to loyalty or similar programs. Bridg CRM also includes an API Library to integrate with third-party analytics tools, marketing platforms and communication channels.
• Email, Loyalty and Mobile Applications. Optional, built-in and integrated communications channels including an email platform with revenue attribution,