Nikhil Patel: Inside Sally Beauty’s Data Strategy

Nikhil is the Data Science Director at Sally Beauty Holdings, which is a $3.7 billion specialty retailer, with more than 10,000 products sold through over 4,000 stores, as well as online. Prior to his current role, Nikhil held a senior leadership role at Harman International, working with panel data from top CPG brands like P&G, Unilever and Kraft.

In this episode, Nikhil describes his 19-year journey, starting from a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics, leading up to his current role at Sally Beauty. Within that, he describes several times when he needed to supplement his formal education with ad hoc or certification-led studies, in order to stay current and relevant. He also discusses omni-channel marketing, customer journeys and Segment of One, as well as emotional understanding of the consumer, beyond pure data science. And he describes how one-on-one experiences, like Studio by Sally (in store) or “licensed colorist on demand” (online), can change customer journeys, and can provide valuable insights for new product development.