Retailers are clearly on a personalization quest. We hear lots of talk about personalized assortments, the need for micros-marketing and the use of what people call “Big Data ” to match store and product attributes.

This is a good and noble quest. We see it in retail, in politics, across the marketing universe.

The problem is we may not (okay, we are not) cutting the data finely enough, and instead of getting personal, we run the risk of getting ever-more stereotypical. Big Data really does require deep analysis… and openness to the answers it reveals.

Let’s start with Millennials. Chasing Millennials has become the Holy Grail of the day, much as chasing the Baby Boomers was when I was a kid. I’ve read so many presumptions about the Millennial generation: what they like, what they don’t like, what they care about, what’s irrelevant. But guess what: rarely have I seen even an ounce of data that supports most of these myths.

The one general Millennial myth that seems grounded in reality is their aversion to debt. Growing into adulthood during the Great Recession will do that to you, I guess. But the rest? Let’s look at just two:

• Millennials care more about the environment and green issues than older consumers. Nikki and I just completed analysis of responses from 1011 consumers across the US. They were all over 18, but otherwise were split pretty evenly by age, income and gender. It turns out that a big concern when it comes to home delivery is “finding greener packaging options ” and “polluting the air in the neighborhood. ” I eagerly looked through the charts to find the expected difference between Millennials and everyone else. There was none. Even partner Steve Rowen (Gen X, I think), was shocked by that data. Retailers take note. Everyone cares about you being more respectful of packaging excess.
• Millennials care less about privacy because they’ve grown up without any. Every piece of data I’ve seen on this subject gives lie to that statement. While Millennials may be slightly less concerned about their privacy, they really don’t want anyone in their metaphorical drawers or faces any more than anyone else. We first saw this data in a survey from our client, Balance Innovations in 2014. Just recently I received a long report from Capgemini (not a client) that said essentially the same thing. In fact, the entire report was a “watch out ” for retailers on this very topic. Cap encouraged personalized goods and services without the attendant privacy breaches.

Now I’m going to move out of age to demographics and one of my favorite stereotypical “groups ” – Hispanics. If you live in New York, you might think Hispanics are similar to Puerto Ricans. If you live in Arizona, they must be Mexicans. But if you live in Miami, you know the truth… there is nothing whatsoever homogeneous about Hispanics. They don’t like the same kinds of clothes, they don’t use the same idioms, they eat very different food (I love Mexican, can’t stand Cuban or Peruvian, for example), they drive differently, dress differently, have different values and in a lot of cases, they don’t like other Hispanic flavors outside their own.

I’ve gone into a well-known national clothing chain here in Miami and seen their “localized for Hispanic ” assortment. I grew up in New York. This assortment was perfectly tailored to what I think of as New York Hispanics. For Miami? Not so much.

As we speak, given that the majority of the country is rapidly becoming part of this amorphous group called Hispanics, we have Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate. Mr. Rubio has a Cuban heritage. I promise this will not be of any assistance at all to him for those of Mexican, Venezuelan, or Colombian descent. As a general rule, they’re not natural allies.

I had a somewhat emphatic discussion on this subject with the CEO of a major consumer marketing company a couple of years ago. The company provides data to many of you out there. He had just given a speech on “Marketing to Hispanics ” and I asked him if he had observed some of the differences I mentioned above, and weren’t they more important than the similarities. He just couldn’t and wouldn’t go there. I finally gave up. So retailers take note. Be careful about the data you’re buying. It may not be quite right.

I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the point.

Here’s my major and important take away. “Big Data ” is a real thing. And it requires REAL analysis. Micro-analysis. Grouping consumers badly is almost as ineffective, if not worse, than not grouping them at all. Make sure your BI and analytics engines can give you the kind of granular information you need to make truly intelligent micro-marketing decisions. Get the engine you need, not the least costly one. I’ll say it once more. Big Data is a real thing. It’s okay if you choose not to use it. Just know the difference between what you’re doing and the ‘real deal.’

For those of you with stores, ask your store managers about local tastes. Let them have some input into assortment decisions. If you’re still small enough to do that well, by all means DO IT.

The truth is, a mythical segment is simply a stereotype on steroids.