I recently watched the programme about Sainsbury’s – Inside the Supermarket on the BBC. Here are my thoughts on episode 3:

We follow the opening of a new Sainsbury’s Local store. The store manager and the team decide which products to stock for the area.

They used data and discussed which products to stock.

And they all agree on the products.

When they opened, people in the area were asking for kosher food but they didn’t stock it.

Turns out there is a Jewish community in the area.

So with all that data and discussions about opening and stocking the store, they didn’t know there was a Jewish community in the area.

Data can only give you so much. We still have to think and use our brains. Don’t just rely on the data to do all the work.

In the same episode they misuse the data again.

Because people use their mobiles all the time, they wanted to create an experience with the mobile. 

So they created a tester shop that had no tills.

Customers came in and had to use their phone to buy the goods.

Customers had to download the app, add their banking details and then go round the shop and scan and pay for items.

But from the results, people weren’t all pleased of having an all mobile payment shop. There was a massive queue for a single, “secret” till that ended up handling most of the opening day’s trade.

This again, reads the data wrong.

When people use their mobile, they don’t use it when they are walking and being mobile. They use their mobile while stationary. On the bus, sitting down. Most people use their mobile sitting in their living room or bed. 

Have a look at people whilst they are walking around parks, in the town centre etc, they aren’t on their phone.

It’s reading the data wrong. It’s not using our brains again.

Data’s origin comes from the latin name, datum which means – ‘a piece of information’.

That’s all it is, a piece of information.

Information that can help with an idea. We still need to use common sense, don’t just let the data create everything.