Arnjah Dillard

Retail is standing at a crossroads. Shopper expectations are rising, channels are multiplying and AI is redefining how, where and why people buy. Yet beneath all this innovation, one thing quietly determines who wins and who falls behind: the quality of customer data. A recent Stibo Systems study of 500 U.S. business leaders found that 91% say customer-data management is critical, but only 31% fully trust their data.

5 Hidden Costs of Bad Customer Data in Retail (and How to Avoid Them) 16:00 Who would've imagined that the iconic shopping malls and large retail brick-and-mortars of yesteryear would slowly disappear? And yet, nearly two decades ago, we saw the start of the retail apocalypse — the closings of thousands of retail stores and bankruptcy filings. But it's not all doom and gloom.

Many retail organizations struggle daily to build reliable data foundations while keeping pace with what customerswant and need. At NRF 2025, I got to chat with Yogesh Deep, who leads Enterprise Data and Analytics at Signet Jewelers. His two decades working where retail meets technology have given him a practical, no-nonsense view of turning messy data situations into real business value.