Kalahari.net, SA`s largest online e-tail company, has contracted Comparex Africa Customer Oriented Applications (COA) for the implementation of a business intelligence solution to analyse customer information to boost its already customer-centric knowledge base.
The business intelligence platform will use two elements of the Cognos suite, PowerPlay and Impromptu, advancing Kalahari.net`s marketing efforts from basic analysis of site activity to multidimensional reporting from a holistic perspective.
"Knowledge of customers is crucial in the e-tail game," says Gary Hadfield, marketing manager at Kalahari.net. "Cognos provides the tools for predicting and forecasting customer behaviour - the key to securing and growing an actively loyal customer base.
"Knowledge of customer behaviour, interaction with the site, purchase frequency and types of purchase all add to the customer centricity with which we approach online business - knowing and meeting our customers` needs is synonymous with our business."
Cognos PowerPlay delivers a complete Web-based business performance and measurement analysis and reporting environment, enabling multidimensional analysis and the creation of online analytical processing (OLAP) in a Web, Windows or Excel environment.
Cognos Impromptu enables Web-based database query facilities and managed reporting across the enterprise. "This facilitates a better understanding of customers` buying patterns - what they buy, how, when, where and why. Using this information, we can exercise selective marketing by dividing customers into specific niches of interests and tastes, and direct regular outward-bound communications precisely to those target markets," says Hadfield.
Competing directly with global e-tail brands such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Kalahari.net has secured about 80 000 of SA`s estimated 2.9 million surfers, says Hadfield - a substantial figure considering the company is not yet two years old.
As Kalahari.net has almost 2 million line items in its key online retail categories of books, music, DVDs and wine, communication with customers plays a vital role in effective marketing strategy. Hadfield estimates the percentage of customers requesting regular e-mail communication from Kalahari.net has risen from 63% last year to 86%, placing the company well within its goal of achieving communication with its entire client base by 2003.
"Cognos PowerPlay and Impromptu will facilitate Kalahari.net`s effective communication with its target base, ensuring each engagement is of value to the customer and ultimately maximising return on investment for the company. The right communication, at the right time, using the right knowledge, directly to the right customers is what effective online e-tailing is all about. Effective electronic communication and knowledge management allows the luxury of that successful one-to-one relationship," says Rodney Hood, managing executive at Comparex Africa COA.
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