Shopper Experience
22 May
'You can't just hyper-personalize everything'
Even as data-powered shopping experiences advance, consumers are weighing tradeoffs on privacy and selection, said CI&T's Melissa Minkow.

Even as data-powered shopping experiences advance, consumers are weighing tradeoffs on privacy and selection, said CI&T's Melissa Minkow.
Brands and retailers have more data than ever on consumers. Increasingly, this presents the promise that they'll be able to put it to work to tailor shopping experiences so that people find more of the exact products they want, and move to checkout without a second thought.
It all points toward fast-moving advances in personalization, shifting the experience of shopping online from one that is geared toward the many, to one that delivers for you.
The push toward personalization has been around for years, but the latest advances in technology could open up a new and more expansive phase of the movement. In particular, new AI tools that enable conversational experiences and powerful data analysis point toward a near future where shoppers can ask for what they want, and have it delivered in minutes.
But in the midst of the excitement, it’s worth asking whether consumers are ready to change at the same pace as innovation.
That’s what CI&T did with The Art & Science of Personalization, a new report that surveyed 540 consumers about their preferences for more customized shopping experiences.
The takeaway: Consumers are sending mixed signals as they weigh privacy, control of the shopping experience and just how individualized they’d like shopping experiences to become.
To learn more about the tradeoffs that consumers are considering as shopping experiences are reshaped, The Current spoke with CI&T Director of Retail Strategy Melissa Minkow.
“What I set out to do with this report was figure out, how can you achieve efficiency and engagement in shopping experiences via personalization in a way that resonates with consumers’ comfort levels?” Minkow said.
Here’s a look at several of the key issues raised by the findings:
There’s a tension at the heart of the digital commerce experience: Consumers want choice and convenience, but remain skeptical of surrendering data in return.
This privacy push and pull has long animated the discourse around digital advertising. CI&T’s survey found that it is continuing to extend to personalization of the shopping experience, as well.
The survey found a majority of consumers (58%) believe that data sharing is necessary for personalization. Yet a far greater number of respondents (87%) said that it’s essential for retailers to ask for permission before they collect that personal information.
Still, 56% of respondents said they are excited, as opposed to uncomfortable, with the idea of a retailer using their personal information to personalize the shopping experience.
It shows consumers are of two minds on this tradeoff.
“There's acknowledgement that they need to share data,” Minkow said. “But there's also this acknowledgement that they don't like sharing data.”
They’re also particular about how they want to share data. When asked which perks they would be willing to trade personal information for, the top three responses centered on finding exact product attributes, enhancing search and locating the right pricepoint. It gets at another mixed signal, the report states: “Shoppers do not want brands to know their annual household income, but they do want discounts and low prices.”
In any conversation about industry trends, it’s worth remembering that consumers don’t think about industry terms such as “personalization.” They only think about buying stuff.
So there’s a lot to learn by actually posing the idea of personalization to consumers, and asking them what they think of it.
Again, CI&T found there were mixed reactions in this area.
For one, consumers have different ideas about what personalization means.
When asked about the definition of personalization, the survey found that 29% of respondents believe that it means “getting a unique experience that is designed for me and people like me.” Meanwhile, 20% agreed that it means something more specific: intentionally sharing personal data in exchange for a unique shopping experience.
It’s a reminder that not all consumers are thinking about the data tradeoffs taking place.
When it comes to how that data is used, CI&T’s survey also found that preferences are mixed: 52% of respondents prefer that a retailer personalize a shopping experience to a group, while 48% believe that experiences are tailored to the individual.
This again highlights that there are underlying concerns about privacy at the heart of the personalization shifts taking place.
The results indicate that there’s a disconnect between what brands and retailers are doing, and what consumers understand about what they’re doing. Minkow believes more communication from brands and retailers could serve as a bridge, especially as technology moves faster.
“There's a massive elephant in the room here,” Minkow said. “If retailers just had more transparent dialogue with shoppers, I think they could get a lot further [with] the data that they're able to collect and the experiences they're able to provide. But because the conversation isn't happening, there's this wall being put up by shoppers because they're weirded out by what retailers are collecting without talking about that first.”
Retailers also may want to take a step back and consider the ways in which they deploy personalization. The findings underscored that consumers aren’t quite ready to give up complete control of their shopping experience.
Consumers indicated they are interested in a personalized search process. But there wasn’t much interest in personalized landing pages that show items selected for them. The survey found that 47% would rather first be shown the same website everyone sees, then navigate to the type of item they want with filters. Only 15% want to “automatically be shown a web page with the products that the retailer thinks I would be most interested in.” Plus, survey results indicated that consumers aren't yet ready to fully embrace virtual shopping assistants provided by brands.
Online shopping has introduced plenty of new tools for efficiency that are designed to show a shopper exactly what they want. But it has also given consumers tools that allow them to do their own research and browse endlessly without leaving their couch.
Shoppers may be able to get recommendations instantly, but they're still willing to put the time in to find things themselves. In a world of constant marketing, they also still want to consider all of the information that's available about a product before they choose to click buy. They may even be delighted by finding something they didn’t know they wanted along the way.
In other words, people still like shopping. There's a difference between showing people products they like and letting them make a decision, and finding the exact thing they want by mining their behavior without asking.
“The majority of consumers said they are excited by the idea of personalization, but you have to really get it right,” Minkow said. “You can't just hyper-personalize everything.”
A redesigned Klarna app now has tools to manage ads, build creator storefronts and resell items.
Klarna's new shopping features. (Courtesy photo)
Klarna is launching a series of shopping-focused app upgrades that are designed to boost discovery with AI, provide personalized assistance and create new ways for retailers and creators to connect with users.
The improvements show Klarna tapping into rising currents in commerce, such as personalization, retail media, resale and creator commerce. Taken together, the rollout doubles as a look at where online shopping experiences are heading.
The expansion comes as Klarna is seeking to boost its standing as a shopping destination. It is well-known for payment services such as Buy Now Pay Later, but is seeking to grow tools that help consumers to find, browse and buy items. There’s a big base from which to build: Klarna’s app attracts 150 million consumers, and includes 500,000 retailers.
“Over the last 18 years, we’ve transformed into a global shopping destination with smart tools for consumers around the world,” said Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “The new tools we’re launching today will create richer, more enjoyable experiences for everyone along the shopping journey and create tremendous opportunities for retailers to grow their business.”
The launch, known as Spotlight Spring, follows a group of Klarna shopping updates that rolled out in the fall to introduce tools for search, shoppable video and a creator platform.
Here’s a look at the latest shopping features debuting from Klarna:
Klarna is putting its in-house AI-powered recommendation engine to work for shoppers.
A new feed on the app will provide personalized recommendations on products, as well as deals. The feed updates in real time, and is designed to become increasingly tailored as it learns more about the user’s preferences.
“Our new AI-powered discovery shopping feed is the next evolution of the Klarna app becoming the starting point for every purchase,” Siemiatkowski said. “This builds on a ton of initiatives we’re working on in the AI space, to provide a greater level of personalization to consumers that was once thought impossible.”
This builds on the fall launch of a search and compare tool that helped to curate the best prices and most efficient delivery options by comparing offerings across thousands of websites. Now, Klarna’s tools will provide recommendations that include product features specific to the user, right in a feed on the app.
Ask Klarna
Not all of the personalized shopping features in Klarna’s app will be tech-based. The new group of features also includes a personal shopping assistant that provides access to human experts through chat or video call.
Starting with the luxury sector, it’s designed to help shoppers find the right products across brands and retailers.
The capability to ask an associate a question is built-in to in-person shopping. Klarna said its recent research showed that 85% of US consumers would like a service where they can speak with experts to be able to access more information about a product while shopping online, as well. This new service is a direct answer to that feedback.
With this launch, Klarna has also redesigned its app into five distinct sections: Shop, Purchases, In-Store, Budget and You. This is designed to combine and streamline features for shopping and personal financial information, as well as delivery times, returns info and receipts.
Klarna Ads Manager. (Courtesy photo)
Along with tools for shoppers, Klarna is also rolling out features for retailers. The app is adding a self-service ad platform for retailers to an existing suite of ad offerings. Ads Manager is a new offering for retailers seeking to leverage the first-party data on Klarna’s platform to reach its high-intent audience of shoppers. Klarna said it offers brands more efficiency in areas including ad creation, audience targeting, and in-platform reporting for campaign optimization.
The Ads Manager reflects Klarna’s growing ambition to expand its foothold in retail media, which has grown rapidly as brands and retailers see increasing efficiency in advertising that appears on the platforms where consumers shop. Klarna said marketing revenue was up 131% in 2022, and additional tools designed for advertisers will help it double down on the opportunity to grow.
Creator Shops on Klarna. (Courtesy image)
Following the fall launch of a platform that provides a place for creators to connect with retailers, recommend products and share content, Klarna will now feature tools that allow creators to launch their own storefronts on its website.
This is designed to provide a space for shoppers to easily find and browse product recommendations from a creator. Along with the forthcoming ability to share content through the Klarna app, creators can also include links to every item from any social platform, offering the ability to boost revenue.
"The Klarna Creator Platform has opened up a new world of opportunities when it comes to affiliate content," said content creator Lydia Tomlinson, in a statement. "The transparency between what I link and what the brand can see has helped me establish new relationships with brands that I have loved and shopped at for years."
Creator Shops are not yet available in the U.S., but will roll out "soon" as part of a phased launch.
As consumers seek eco-friendly options, the market is moving toward resale. Over one-third of consumers are more likely to sell an item secondhand when compared to a year ago, Klarna said. Now, the app is seeking to provide a way to ease the process of getting a resale listing started.
The app will now include a “resell” button that enables users to start a listing on a secondhand marketplace beyond Klarna that contains an item previously purchased from Klarna. Then, the system pre-fills product details and images for the listing,.
The feature is now available in Sweden with the resale platform Tradera, and is set to go live with other partners around the world “soon,” said Klarna.