Every company is a tech company now. In a way, this has always been true. Every tool is a form of technology. The first blacksmith shop was the cutting edge tech company of its day. Today, the concept of tech means something entirely different, even something different than it did ten years ago. Back then, a tech company was one that made phones and computers, things full of wires, circuit boards, and transistors. Now, it usually just refers to companies that make some sort of software or operate primarily online.
So in what sense are all modern companies tech companies? One thru line during all of these changes has been the growing importance of and ability to collect and analyze data. Once, this was considered a useful tool in marketing but little more. A business would learn who was watching what kind of shows and when and put ads in front of people who would hopefully be willing to buy them. Now, data drives everything. It is being used to determine not only the best marketing windows, but how to most efficiently lay out a restaurant, or what new product should be rolled out to appeal to an untapped demographic.
Food trends illustrate this very well. Organic foods were once a niche market, with only a few specialty stores making it a focus. However, once the major grocery stores started looking at the data showing an increasing number of people eager to spend the extra couple of shekels for food that was healthier for them and the environment, organic sections started popping up around the country. Now, the organic food is often not confined to its own grocery ghetto but distributed around the store as just another option, equal with all the others.
Chipotle is another excellent example. The millennial generation has a number of preferences that weren’t getting served. They had a greater tendency to like foreign food than previous generations, wanted something healthier than a burger, but still wanted it fast. The founders of Chipotle not only were able to read the data and see a need, the figured out how to fill it with food that is fresher and better tasting than your typical fast food, while also allowing a degree of customization of your order that no one was even coming close to at the time. They even provided a lot of vegan options to accommodate people who prefer that for moral or health reasons.
Speaking of vegans, let’s take a moment to appreciate the single strangest example of this trend – The Impossible Whopper. Burger King, having seen the success of places like Chipotle and the interest in meat substitutes started looking at the data to see if there was a niche they could plug into. Thus was born the Impossible Whopper, a plant-based burger that is completely vegan. It now shares space on the menu with Burger King’s typical fare of burgers and chicken sandwiches. While regarded by many as a flash in the pan marketing gimmick that would quickly fade away it has been surprisingly successful. It turns out there really is a market for vegans who need to quickly deal with a case of the munchies on a budget. Even outside of Colorado.
None of these successes would have been possible if grocery stores, Chipotle, and Burger King hadn’t taken on the role of a tech company and started collecting and analyzing publically available data. In doing so, they were not only able to identify market trends, they were able to see needs that weren’t being met and how best to fulfill those needs. Thanks to their solid and honest data analysis, these businesses were able to build or expand their customer base while also increasing their profits.
TARTLE aims to help take these companies to the next level. Instead of bulk data bought or collected at a premium, TARTLE is working with people all over the world to create a marketplace in which companies can get more than bulk Twitter likes. Rather, companies can go right to the data source, the individual person generating the data in the first place. With that kind of access, companies can build a better product not just for their customers, but for you.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
