Our RetailX Global Elite Top1000 report has just been published (download here) and it’s full of insights from the biggest retailers in the world. Today we publish an extract examining consumer behaviour and the customer value chain across different channels, just one of the insights you’ll find in the report:
Ask a customer why they shop online and convenience comes high up on the list of responses. In fact, 72% of consumers told RetailX that it is the main reason they choose to shop on marketplaces. Price is just one percentage point higher as the key driver for shopping on online marketplaces, according to the same survey. Choice ranks in third place, mentioned by 64% of consumers, with delivery options chosen by 47%.
For retailers, this translates as helping customers find what they want to buy quickly, enabling them to checkout with ease and receive their order at a location and time that fits in with their routine.
Customers first have to be acquired by the retailer, identified, targeted and attracted to their ecommerce site. Engagement then continues through the purchase journey with measures put in place to help retention and reactivation. A large quantity of data is collected and this is valuable to retailers since it helps a connection to be made with the customer for use during the current interaction or future visits, emails or other marketing activity.
The customer value chain measures how retailers acquire and engage customers, taking them through the purchase journey to checkout and beyond – all actions that affect profit per customer.
Customer data is also a valuable commodity. Grocers such as Tesco and Ocado in the UK share information about customer behaviour with brands, helping them to accurately target shoppers while in the process of ordering groceries online. Beauty retailer Douglas, which also operates as a closed and selective marketplace, does likewise, actively working with sellers and the brands it retails.
Combining first-party data from its ecommerce sites, bricks-and-mortar stores and CRM data, Douglas Marketing Solutions is actively helping brands to reach customers across its channels. This includes targeted adverts on different country sites and social, sponsored product slots, product testing to generate reviews on the ecommerce sites and via Instagram as well as 360-degree campaigns encompassing on and offline.
Retailers with a strong level of customer engagement have the opportunity to use customer data to optimise engagement and monetise traffic and that’s something we’ll see a great growth in over the next 12 months. I think the transparency and the ability to do that is a win for consumers as everyone is listening to them. It’s also a win for the retailer and consumers as it will optimise the onsite activity and make sure that they are not overwhelmed and the right product is being surfaced to them at the right time.
– Jessica Christenson, regional vice president for the UK & Ireland, Mirakl
Products also need to be shown in the best way for each customer in the right channel, regardless of whether that is on a direct-to-consumer site, marketplace, mobile web, social network or in a bricks-and-mortar store. Customers who buy across multiple channels on average spend more than single channel customers and those who buy items from multiple categories that a retailer sells are also more profitable.
