One clear powerhouse of customer insight is UK-based Tesco. In a recent piece in the Economist, the high-growth retailer is recognized for its ability to adapt to and even influence British culture. "If an anthropologist wanted to know what Britain was like, he would do well to take his notebook to Tesco," the publication writes. "That's partly because it sells a third of Britain's groceries. But it is also because Tesco's customers are made up of the wealthy, middling and poor in just the same proportions as shoppers in the country as a whole. Tesco has become big by being like Britain."

Tesco has proved a master at leveraging customer intelligence. It recently collaborated with the University College London's geography department to figure out how to make the most of its statistical information. However, it gathers most of its data from its successful Clubcard. With 12 million cards in use in Britain, Tesco can closely watch what its shoppers are purchasing. It then explores linkages between the products people presently buy and the ones they might be persuaded to buy next. “We believe we have one of the largest databases anywhere in the world,” says Martin Hayward of dunnhumby, which handles data management for the company.

As the Economist explains, "This knowledge allows Tesco to do two things. First, it can lavish attention on customers by giving them discounts on things that they buy routinely. Each cardholder gets a letter at the end of each quarter containing vouchers worth 1% of what they have spent. But they also get coupons that entitle them to discounts on products that Tesco's database, working much like the software that powers Amazon.com, suggests they might like. Last quarter, the store sent out 6m versions of this letter, each offering slightly different discounts....

Second, Tesco can adjust its shelves to suit the profile of the local area, or even the time of day. Tesco in Brixton, an area of south London settled by immigrants from the Caribbean, sells plantains, a kind of savoury banana that can also be found for sale on market stalls outside. Tesco stores in central London do not, but are instead designed around selling sandwiches to office workers at lunchtime and then ready-meals to them in the evening. The aim is to combine the local knowledge of the village shop with a multinational's economies of scale in buying and logistics."

Those are impressive capabilities. They position the company for increasing growth in the years ahead, particularly as its competitors continue to deny the extraordinary power that this intelligence delivers.