Ding Jie, a partner at Bain & Co, and Hu Weixiong, general manager of Tmall's fast-moving consumer goods practices, at a signing ceremony on Monday. The two companies will collaborate on big data and consumer insights. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

E-commerce guru Alibaba Group and global consultancy Bain & Co have entered into a partnership to offer consumer insights in China using big data and to help brands embrace digital trends.

According to an agreement signed in Shanghai, the pair pledged to host seminars on an annual basis, publish reports on the latest consumption trends and release tools that can empower brands to distill and analyze customer preferences and behaviors.

"Online traffic is coming close to its ceiling. It's time for us to go back to the commercial basics with a consumer-centric approach, which should be backed by big data," said Hu Weixiong, general manager of fast-moving consumer goods practices at Tmall, Alibaba's B2C marketplace.

"Previously unattainable data has now become an incredible lever for brands to stay closer to consumers and develop innovation and engagement campaigns in a more targeted fashion", said Bruno Lannes, a partner at Bain.

Since Aug 16, the companies have devised a so-called FAST index to measure brands' consumer assets and help companies leverage data to identify, capture and retain customers.

This is specifically realized through "Fertility and Advancing", which aim to attract new users through multiple channels, whereas "Superiority and Thriving" are designed to engage with existing high-value customers.

The two parties will collaborate under an upgraded version, with a special focus on managing members and fans. This means content marketing will be an important strategy for Tmall this year.

The duo also unveiled a Bain Brand Accelerator empowered by Alibaba, a tool that leverages Alibaba's over 600 million users and Bain's analytical frameworks to facilitate implementing the "New Retail" initiative, a term coined by Alibaba chairman Jack Ma to integrate online and offline business resources using data.

Live broadcast, algorithm-backed advertisements and customized influencer recommendations have formed a strong matrix in Alibaba's ecosystem to draw in customers and predict their shopping patterns. Hu said they are eyeing even more novel measures such as a "joint club member alliance" to enhance online and offline integration.

"For instance, by purchasing from a vending machine, a user becomes a member of the brand's online store and automatically signs up for membership in a number of brands in the alliance," Hu said.

Data is especially critical to winning over consumers who have not been consistent buyers of a brand, Lannes noted.

"Typically many consumers have six to eight brands to choose from. What we can do now with the data is to be a lot more systematic about where the blank spaces are, and what brands can do to ensure they will be purchased again next time," he said.