How Suning Turns Data into a New Production Factor to Revolutionize Retail

Recently, the Chinese central government released the "Opinions on Building a More Perfect Factor Market Allocation System," which for the first time adds "data" as a new production factor alongside land, labor, capital, and technology, reflecting the urgent need for digital transformation in the post‑COVID era.

Suning, a technology‑enabled retail giant, has responded by adopting a full‑scenario smart retail model that relies on data‑driven operations. By integrating online and offline channels, Suning collects massive amounts of user behavior data and creates detailed user tags.

These tags form the core data asset of Suning’s ecosystem, covering over 600 million users, suppliers, merchants, and partners. The rich tag data enables precise user profiling, supporting personalized advertising, recommendation, and search, thereby reducing acquisition costs and improving conversion rates.

Suning’s "user tags" analyze behavior and habits, assigning each customer a unique label. This allows the company to identify target audiences, preferences, and optimal channels, facilitating targeted marketing and efficient resource allocation.

Currently, Suning’s tag system processes over 4,000 tags across all scenarios, handling data volumes reaching the trillion‑level daily. Since July 2019, Suning’s brand audience packages—derived from tag data—have been offered to advertisers, delivering significant ROI improvements (e.g., a 432% increase for a jewelry brand and nearly four‑fold ROI for Procter & Gamble shampoo during major sales events).

On the technical side, Suning unifies tag data management and services, improving implementation efficiency and lowering operational costs. It has pioneered five profiling analysis methods: crowd selection, custom audience, crowd analysis, multi‑dimensional self‑service, and crowd tracking, providing both offline and real‑time services to meet diverse business needs.

As the concept of "data factor" deepens, Suning will continue to leverage its extensive data accumulation and robust data capabilities to develop a comprehensive data‑tag product system, enhancing consumer experience and driving the retail industry's growth with continuous data‑driven innovation.