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Act before the market
here are many “intelligences” in the world of business. Besides the cognitive ability of a business’s staff, it refers to the information that has been gathered, analysed, and presented in a way that is useful for decision-making. It is not just raw data; intelligence is actionable information that provides insight into a particular subject, such as a competitor’s activities or internal business capabilities. "Intelligence" is a multifaceted term that usually denotes a high level of understanding, awareness, or information processing, whether by humans, collectives (like organizations), or technology.
What type of intelligence is needed often depends on what strategic decision you are looking to make, what type of resources you have, and the amount of data. Here are the ten most common ones:
Business Intelligence is a technology-driven process for analysing data, presenting actionable information to help executives, managers, and other corporate end users make informed business decisions. BI encompasses a variety of tools, applications, and methodologies that enable organizations to collect data from internal systems and external sources, prepare it for analysis, develop and run queries against the data, and create reports, dashboards, and data visualizations. This process offers comprehensive business metrics, often in real-time, to support better decision-making. With BI, businesses can focus on data-driven strategies to address weaknesses and capitalize on strengths.
Market Intelligence is the gathering of relevant data about the entirety of a company's market space. It covers broad spectrums such as understanding industry trends, identifying market opportunities, and detailed insights into competitors and customers. This intelligence is crucial for forming market entry strategies, pricing models, business development and sales & marketing initiatives. It aids businesses in anticipating market shifts and consumer needs, enabling proactive rather than reactive strategies. The insight gained from market intelligence informs various strategic decisions, such as market opportunity assessment, market penetration strategy, and market development.
Marketing Intelligence is the practice of collecting data from a variety of sources about the market environment a business operates in. It includes the analysis of consumer behaviour patterns, campaign outreach, and purchase triggers. The focus is to understand the success of marketing efforts and to gauge the sentiment and preferences of current and potential customers. It influences tactical marketing decisions and helps businesses adapt their strategies to better meet consumer expectations, enhance brand loyalty, and optimize return on marketing investment.
Competitive Intelligence refers to the systematic collection and analysis of information about competitors and the competitive environment. CI aims to provide a complete picture of the marketplace and the forces at work within it, encompassing aspects such as competitors' strategies, market developments, new entrants, and technological advancements. Effective CI provides a legal and ethical means to anticipate competitive moves and stay ahead of industry trends, supporting strategic planning and risk management.
Customer Intelligence (CI) is a sophisticated analysis of customer data designed to create comprehensive portraits of ideal customers to better understand and predict their behaviour. It is an advanced step beyond basic customer service, seeking not just to address customer needs but to anticipate them. CI combines demographic and psychographic data with transactional and behavioural insights to paint a detailed picture of current and potential customers. This intelligence helps in personalizing marketing strategies, enhancing customer experiences, and boosting customer loyalty. In the age of big data, companies leverage machine learning and AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms to process vast amounts of information, providing a deep dive into customer preferences, pain points, and potential opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling.
Financial Intelligence combines understanding a company's financial health with the savvy to use this data in making robust decisions. It involves the analysis of financial data like cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements to grasp a company's financial condition and forecast its future performance. It is not just about number crunching; it also includes reading between the lines of financial statements to identify the underlying performance factors, assessing the company's fiscal policies, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Financial Intelligence helps in capital budgeting, financial planning, and aligning financial goals with corporate strategy.
Operational Intelligence (OI) is the real-time dynamic, business analytics that delivers visibility and insight into data, streaming events, and business operations. OI solutions run query analysis on live feeds and event data to deliver real-time operational insights. It involves understanding and optimizing labour productivity, machinery performance, and other operational sectors. By integrating and analysing data from various operations, businesses can quickly identify and address inefficiencies, ensuring the smooth functioning of processes and supporting continuous improvement.
Sales Intelligence refers to technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of information to help salespeople keep up to date with clients, prospect data, and drive business. It includes a range of activities, such as tracking customer data and interactions, social media monitoring, and sales forecasts. With accurate and insightful sales intelligence, sales teams can enhance their productivity, improve lead generation and conversion rates, and drive increased sales and profitability.
Product Intelligence involves collecting and analysing data concerning one's products and those of competitors. It is pivotal in understanding how a product performs across its lifecycle, which features resonate with customers, and what improvements should be prioritized. This intelligence is crucial for product development, management, and innovation, informing companies about user feedback, product usage patterns, and market demands. By leveraging product intelligence, businesses can tailor their product offerings to better meet customer needs and stay competitive in the market.
Technological Intelligence is the systematic gathering and analysis of information about the technological environment of a business to aid decision-making. It includes tracking trends in technology advancements, research and development within the industry, patent filings, and regulatory changes. With a solid technological intelligence strategy, a company can foresee technological disruptions, identify new business opportunities, innovate, and maintain a competitive edge. This intelligence is vital for strategic planning, particularly in industries where technology evolves rapidly and is a key differentiator.
Many types of intelligences are not exhaustive and often overlap. Businesses typically leverage a combination of these intelligence types to inform various functional and strategic areas within their organizations.
ith our E-commerceMarket Intelligence Report, we have taken a deep dive into the e-commerce industry in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway to better understand delivery price differences, who are the dominant delivery providers and i.e. which technology providers power all the webshops.
The report is packed with data & insights to give the reader a better understanding of the market as well as the competitive landscape.
The nordic e-commerce is growing fast, with a market size of over €38 billion distributed over 76.000 webshops. Out of the regions 27 million people, more than 19.5million are online shoppers. It's also an exciting place for startups — over the past three months, 4,848 new webshops have opened up online.
All data in this report comes from Tembi’s E-commerce Intelligence Platform (EIP).
We don’t talk about consumer data in this report. We only focus on the businesses in thee-commerce industry, such as webshops, delivery providers, and technology providers.
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he Nordic eCommerce report dives into the eCommerce market in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The report is free and available for download here.
Looking into data from 79.000 online retailers that sell physical goods we analysed what type of commerce platforms are popular, which payment providers are mostly used as well as delivery methods and product categories.
Interested in knowing more about our data, or are you looking to reach a specific type of webshops? Contact our sales here for a short intro.
Baltic E-Commerce Market Intelligence Report (Published January 2024)
Nordic e-commerce Market Intelligence Report (Published October 2023)
