Special Report 3: Data increasingly used to enhance in-store customer experience
Enhancing the customer experience in-store by improving engagement and offering a more tailored proposition to each shopper is the target for retailers around the globe as the store fights to boost its relevance in a multi-channel environment. by Glynn Davis in Germany
Speaking at Wincor World 2012 in Germany this week John Osborne, general manager for research and development at US-based Kroger, stated: “We want customers to be able to build their shopping list at home and to then come into store and have an independent experience. I need to be able to walk into a store with my mobile device and get a unique experience.”
For this to work he says Kroger needs to know its shoppers’ history and what they like – which is possible through its use of insight specialists Dunnhumby – and to then use this to “make sure we’re providing a service that they then see as a benefit”. Osborne says this requires a common network and service, and is device independent.
He is therefore sceptical of the approaches Kroger receives from various mobile platform providers and technology suppliers: “Do I give them access to our data – no. We’re doing this by defining a standard and then giving that to the technology suppliers so we can [continue to] own the customer. We need to own the customer data.”
This is very much the thinking of Richard Feest, Head of IT at Anglia Co-operative, who says: “Customers need to feel valued. We’ve got to make it easy for them to interact with us. For every toughpoint I need the data back to see what they’ve purchased, when they purchased…so we can upsell. The more information we have about our customers, and use technology to interact with them to get more data in, then we can work out the best way to engage with them.”
He suggests this is the only way to counter the toughest thing in the market at the moment – the myriad offers and promotions from rival retailers. To help with this Feast says there is a drive to recruit new customers to the Co-operative’s loyalty programme. The desire to improve the engagement with its regular shoppers via a loyalty programme is driven by the findings of research the company undertook over the Christmas period.
It found that its 110,000 most ‘loyal’ customers account for 50% of turnover and that the most valuable 10% contribute 25% of the company’s revenues. Anglia Co-operative is now working on getting these customers into its shops to spend more by offering them relevant services such as click & collect by simply “talking to them” through various channels and interactions.
Feast says such communications have increased the average basket spend of the 110,000 by 27% and increased their store visits by 33%. “It’s how you engage with them that’s important,” he says.
For Paolo Ciceri, chief information officer at Italy-based department store group Rinacente, the engagement in-store is everything and the company has therefore shunned developing a multi-channel proposition: “We’re bricks, bricks, bricks. It’s all about the experience in-store. We’re more an entertainment company than a retailer. Omni-channel to us means engagement with the customer [using social networks and digital marketing] rather than selling online. We’ve 1,500 brands in our flagship store and it’s impossible to do this online.”
He also points out that all the brands sell their products on their own websites and that Rinocente therefore sells products that can be bought elsewhere. Its point of differentiation is its superior in-store experience.
Register now for the Retail Bulletin’s 4th Multichannel Retailing Summit, 6th February 2013.The theme of the day is: “Connecting everything in the new omni-channel world retailing environment: 360° loyalty solutions to maximise sales effectiveness at every customer touchpoint”.
Click here for programme details and registration.
