Most retailers can extract more value from their current data without embarking on expensive specialist projects.
So says Angelina dos Santos-Barrett, loyalty product manager at Innervation.
"You don't need to pay a lot of money for data you don't already have, or hire a specialist team," says Dos Santos-Barrett. "You simply have to make better use of the assets already sitting around in your organisation."
All but the smallest corner-store retailers are gathering data every day, notes Dos Santos-Barrett.
"People are used to considering it only as sales and inventory data, but once you start to match that with what you have in your marketing databases, your loyalty programme and maybe a CRM system, it becomes far more valuable. All you have to do is tie it all together."
This doesn't have to be complicated, she adds. "It's literally just about finding a few unique pieces of information, like a name, a mobile number, an e-mail address or a masked credit card number. Once you've matched these across a few databases, you can start to build a picture of your customers that can feed into your development of new products and services."
Many retailers are missing opportunities presented by their loyalty programmes in particular, she says. "If your loyalty information is sitting in an isolated database, you are really not getting value out of that investment.
"You have their names, their card numbers and the fact that they've made at least one purchase, but are you looking at exactly how many times they've been through your tills and what they bought? Do you have an understanding of what might motivate them to come back?"
Too many retailers limit their engagement with loyalty customers to an occasional 'Hi, you've earned R50 credit', and many don't even do that, notes Dos Santos-Barrett. "If you're not regularly sending relevant offers and reminders, you're relying on the customer to remember to present their card at each transaction - and many will quickly lose interest. If you're counting on your cashiers to remind people, you have to consider that they're also under pressure to move the queue through the till as quickly as possible, and there's no time for a long conversation about the loyalty programme."
According to Dos Santos-Barrett, the only solution is to use the information gathered at the till to maintain customer engagement beyond the till.
"Your customers give you valuable information about themselves - you have to use it creatively to give them something valuable back. It's pointless having a loyalty programme, for example, if you're sending the same generic set of special offers to all your loyalty customers. If I regularly buy the same premium brand of coffee, sending me 20% off your chicory-blend house brand is not assisting.
"You can only give your customers what they want when you understand who they are," concludes Dos Santos-Barrett. "And all you need to do that is a relatively simple strategy, and a simple interface to your data. Retailers can start small and still see big results."
Share