Improve Customer Loyalty in 2012

As many of us know, customer loyalty is a major challenge for many companies. Customer engagement and retention remain the top focus of the customer loyalty challenge both online and offline.

Back in December, Loyalty 360 released a list of the “Top 12 Customer Loyalty Trends for 2012.”

Below are the main ideas of the 12 trends that are mentioned in that article:

1.    Customer engagement is the journey, loyalty is the destination.

2.    There will be a renewed (and well-needed) focus on customer retention and loyalty vs. customer acquisition.

3.    Brands need to recognize customers at all touchpoints, especially the call center, to deliver a quality customer experience.

4.    Marketers will work to glean intelligence from social media feedback.

5.    Loyalty program is seen as critical element of “life cycle management.” Engagement with customers over a lifecycle is the new model for success.

6.    Marketers will look at a mix of location-based behavioral data and attitudinal and preference data.

7.    Mobile coupons will go mainstream.

8.    We will see a focus on social media ROI.

9.    Brands will increasingly use the rich information about customer buying patterns generated via loyalty programs to create more targeted marketing/messaging.

10.    Social personalization will increase.

11.    Mobile digital wallets will mark a big shift in retail payments.

12.    Worthy causes will continue to influence consumer brand loyalty.

Read the full version of the article here.

Is your company committed to improving customer loyalty in 2012?

Join us as we host a complimentary Webinar on Wednesday, March 14 (10:00 AM EST) to help you learn more about Product Information Management and how good product presentation and user-friendly navigation of your available channels can help fight the customer loyalty challenge and help you convert online customers into returning customers.

Is Your Company Committed to Improving Multichannel Success?

 

Here at our Enable Multichannel Success Blog, we are always trying to keep our readers informed on the latest trends and challenges in multichannel commerce. In today’s post, I wanted to give you an example of a company that is truly committed to its multichannel strategy.

Although many retailers are recognizing the need to improve their multichannel initiatives, how many are actually taking the necessary steps to do so? Not many.

Few are as dedicated to improving their multichannel strategy as major UK retailer, Mark and Spencer. Already very committed to its multichannel business, M&S launched a three-year plan in November of 2010 to further develop its multichannel operations.

Since the start of the initiative, M&S has already made significant enhancements to their website and have already confirmed the launch of a new 900,000 sq ft distribution center to service all customer orders through their “Shop Your Way” initiative. It continues to experience excellent results – its mobile commerce website has generated more than 59,000 orders. They have released over 900 videos (with over 7 million views and 900,000 clicks on the “buy” button) with their “M&S TV” strategy. They have also begun to launch touch screen ordering in some of their stores. In addition, they continue to use multiple social media channels to provide even more services to their customers.

The ultimate goal of their three year plan is to grow M&S into an international multi-channel retailer and have set a target to grow sales by £300m and £500m by 2013/14. Their investments in new warehousing and systems have given them a solid foundation to build their Multichannel business and make the M&S brand more accessible to more customers – both in the UK and internationally.

Mark and Spencer is a great example of a company that is “talking the talk and walking the walk” when it comes to delivering a true multichannel experience for customers. You can learn more about M&S’ multichannel business plan here.

If your company has plans to take its multichannel strategy to the next level, it is imperative that you learn about the benefits that a PIM solution can have on offering a seamless multichannel experience to your customers.

 

What Makes the World’s most Dominant Retailers so Successful?

 

NRF’s STORES Magazine (January 2012) recently published a list of the 2011 TOP 250 GLOBAL RETAILERS. This list features a lot of familiar names; Walmart, Kroger, Target, Costco, Walgreens, and many more.

But what makes these top retailers so successful?

After taking a look at the list, I found myself asking:

How do these retailers continually increase market share and generate profits during times of economic uncertainty? How do they continue to build customer loyalty and brand awareness? Just what is it that makes these retailers so successful?

Since I did not know the answers to these questions off the top of my head, I went to the internet to search for answers. In my search, I found plenty of statistics and studies that offered various explanations about what makes dominant retailers so successful. I would like to share an article that I ran across that offers the 10 Characteristics of Highly Effective Retailers (click on the link to read the full article)

Below is the list of the 10 characteristics that the author, Michael Baker, offers:

“

1. They are localizing. They practice localization of both their physical formats and merchandise assortments. Except in specific circumstances where the format is largely standardized (eg. Apple stores, convenience stores or junk food outlets) it is no longer possible for a retailer to grow by replicating a one-size-fits-all box and one-size-fits-all merchandising strategy across multiple locations. Real estate opportunities and customers are now too heterogeneous to let this model work.

2. They don’t equate hiring more people with better service. One of the biggest hoodwinks in modern retail is when a retailer tries to con the public that service will improve because it increased the number of salespeople. Retailers have service in their DNA – or they don’t. Not having it doesn’t represent failure but claiming you have it when you don’t is a lie that customers will easily see through and not easily forgive.

3. They are investing heavily in e-commerce and also in stores – but more strategically and selectively in the latter than they did in the past. In fact they are closing marginally profitable stores instead of just keeping them open to fly the flag. The marketing role of their stores – as opposed to the pure selling role – is assuming greater significance.

4. They are closely integrating their online and offline sales channels to present customers with a seamless shopping experience. Click here to learn how Product Information Management (PIM) plays an important role in creating this seamless multichannel shopping experience.

5. They are leveraging social media for direct sales. Facebook, for example, is becoming a powerful new sales channel for major retailers.

6. Private label merchandise accounts for a high and often increasing proportion of sales. This protects margins and offers a natural differentiator in a world where brands have become ubiquitous and, to many, boring.

7. They don’t suffer from psychic geographic barriers. International growth is a given and can be accomplished even before domestic saturation has occurred, whether by direct store operation, licensing or franchising.

8. They deliver an exciting in-store experience. This doesn’t mean that video screens line the walls or rap music blares. It can just mean that 10 per cent of the store has a revolving merchandise assortment to drive repeat visits. Aldi and Costco are great at this.

9. They employ people who believe in what they are selling. Retailers like Lululemon and Trader Joe’s wrote the book on this.

10. Whatever they promise, they deliver, or make themselves accountable if they don’t.

“

Half of these characteristics (highlighted in red) can all be supported by implementing a PIM solution. 

I felt like this list summed up the answers to my questions, without drilling down to statistics. The characteristics listed here are a good mix of both traditional and emerging business best practices that many retailers should try to incorporate into their strategies. After all, they seem to be working for the most successful retailers.

 

Putting the Product Page on a Pedestal

 

Why is the product page of your company’s online website or mobile application so important?

Because it is the last visual representation of the product and brand that the shopper will see prior to making their purchase.

Think about how much is involved in the creation of each product prior to it being made available on one of these channels; from the initial idea of a product – to the time it takes to develop the product and determine how many variations of the product there might be – to the strategy sessions involved in identifying a target market and the marketing strategy that will be used to expose the product to that audience – all the way to finally making the product readily available to consumers. Then, consider the time, money, and resources that a company must utilize along the way. That’s a lot of work right? It would be a shame to lose potential sales because of a poor product page.

Consider the following scenario:

Now that all of the hard work has been done, the consumer is ready to shop. He liked what he heard from your advertisements and promotions and already asked friends for their opinions of the product. He checked out the product either in your store or a similar product in a competitor’s store and finally arrived to your website,  ready to buy. He goes straight to the search function, clicks on the product and reaches the moment of truth – the product page.

At this point, it should be a given that a sale will be made – but sadly – this is not always the case. In many of these situations, customers either navigate away to competitor sites or begin the check out process only to end up abandoning their shopping carts altogether.

In a recent article from internetretailer.com, Louis Moreau, CEO of apparel retailer AgainstNudity.com, stated that “Product pages are crucial to generating sales because they are often where shoppers decide whether to make a purchase or move on to a different site.” Moreau went on to say that “the decision to proceed to check out and convert a visit into a sale is usually made at this point,” He concluded, “thus, the product page must make the customer fall in love with the product, which is not a small challenge.”

I would tend to agree. While I am not an expert, I believe that the first step to creating a great product page starts with the overall design and user interface of the website or mobile app. If it takes too long for me to find something, or the aesthetics aren’t visually appealing, then why would I even bother to find the product in the first place? If something as important as a company’s sales channel looks cheap or is not easy to use then why would I think that the product itself would be held to any different quality standards? I wouldn’t.  I would navigate to another site that looks good, oozes quality and is easy to use.

If I do make it to the product page, there are a number of factors that could influence my decision to purchase; accurate and up-to-date product information, customer reviews, quantities available, media assets (pictures, videos, rotating views), and different color options (just to name a few). Click on the image below for a visual example:

 

 

This image is not from a real website. It is simply intended to give a visual representation of the thoughts I have shared in this post. Consider these Seven Tips for Creating Killer Product Pages. This article offers great suggestions to enhance the overall look and feel over your product page, as well as tips for generating quality product descriptions.

There are many features of the online shopping experience that can be enhanced to increase the conversion of “ready to buy” shoppers into paying customers. Sure; there will always be people who are “just looking” or simply don’t have the money to spend on an item at that particular time. But if you perfect their online or mobile shopping experience, why wouldn’t they buy from you when the time is right?

 

Innovative Retail Marketing Ideas

 

The National Retail Federation (NRF) will be hosting its “101st Annual Convention & EXPO” at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from January 15-18. Often referred to by its nickname, “Retail’s Big Show,”  this event is where the world’s retailers and strategic partners gather once a year to share ideas, make connections, embrace technology and drive the industry forward.

While researching for the event (As we have a Heiler Sales Executive that will be walking the show – Fill out the contact me form if you are interested in setting up a meeting with our sales executive), I came across an interesting article from NRF’s Stores Magazine website. This piece, adequately titled “20 Ideas Worth Stealing,” provides a list of 20 innovative marketing and sales ideas that some companies used to drive business during 2011’s slow but relatively steady economic rebound. The article does not advocate directly “stealing” these ideas, but rather makes the suggestion that you share them with other colleagues or team member to get your creative juices flowing in 2012. These ideas cover everything from inventive apps for smartphones and tablets; vending machines dispensing fresh-baked goods; blizzard forecasts in the heat of summer; and even more convenient delivery options.

Here is just one of the many ideas I found very interesting in this article: Chinese fashion merchandiser and retailer 7GeGe Top Fashion took into account that mobile was pushing the need for speed to another level of consumer expectation and partnered with vendor Digby to mobile optimize their website. Here is the basis of the idea as read in the article:

“Key for 7GeGe will be delivering a unique and engaging mobile shopping experience to its hip, savvy and youngish Chinese consumer base while strengthening customer loyalty and delving into critical buying behavior data. To make it work, 7GeGe has determined it needs to give its customers the freedom to easily research and purchase items in as little as 60 seconds — all with features that include product images and descriptions, shop-by-category functionality, store locator, e-mail signup, order tracking, site search, ratings and reviews and promotional offers.

The site promises to be so timely that it will be able to monitor the fashions its customers are buying immediately. If certain items are selling more briskly, 7GeGe shifts merchandising within one day to accommodate the trends.”

I think this is a great idea that many retail companies can learn and benefit from. 7GeGe is a perfect example of a company that recognized a weakness in its multichannel strategy and developed a plan to keep up with today’s customer expectations. However, if companies plan to implement a similar strategy it is important to ensure that the product data being researched is accurate, enriched and up-to-date.

The entire list and article can be viewed here. Take a look at some of the other ideas that companies used in 2011 to drive business. Which ideas do you consider to be worth exploring to drive sales for your business in 2012? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.