Making Retail Personalization

More Relevant

Based on the Brick Meets Click presentation

given at the Annual Food Industry Summit Saint Joseph’s University, March 13, 2014

By Bill Bishop

Chief Architect, Brick Meets Click

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Brick Meets Click delivers the strategic insight and guidance that retailers, suppliers, & technology

providers need to drive growth by meeting shopper needs in an omnichannel environment .

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Many leading food retailers have made progress in personalizing offers – in

particular, their circulars. This is key to making it easier for customers to find the

items they want from among the 30,000 to 40,000 on store shelves.

But the real question is:

Does personalizing the offer go far enough to win the “hearts and minds” of

shoppers?

A report on Omnichannel Personalization by The CMO Club* indicates that the

answer may be NO and shows how retail marketers are moving beyond just

personalization of offers to personalizing the shopping experience and building

the basis for future purchases.

We want to build on the conversation started by The CMO Club’s paper and

explore examples that will help food retailers move beyond the limits of

personalized offers and toward engaging more fully with their customers via

omnichannel personalization.

* The reports lead author is Nadine Dietz, SVP of Global Consultancy 5one; request a copy

Why personalization?

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What’s the problem?

Shoppers are not reacting the way they used to to marketing and promotions.

Takeaway:

Your offering has to change.

More Information

Greater Choice

Increased Market Power

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Why translate omnichannel personalization into

today’s food retail?

Aligning the offer with your shopper’s perspective

Winning the trip

Interaction makes customer segmentation more dynamic

Retention is more profitable/efficient than acquisition

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Accessing more new

information sources

Communicating more

frequently online

Takeaway:

These shoppers expect more options.

Omnichannel describes the empowered

shopper who is:

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It shows you understand who

they are.

It sorts through all the choices

to make it easier for them to

find what they want.

Takeaway:

Personalization will soon be REQUIRED to satisfy

the empowered shopper.

Personalization is one way to appeal more

effectively to the empowered shopper

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The core principles of omnichannel personalization

Takeaway:

Emphasize these

principles as you

navigate the

changing

marketplace and

embrace the digital

path to purchase.

Expanding engagement

Creating experience

Increasing retention

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Adjusting to the Digital Path to Purchase One of the ideas highlighted in the CMO Club report is the shift from the traditional

concept of path-to-purchase to the notion of a customer journey on which all the new

digital touchpoints can play an active role. We see opportunities to translate this

idea to food retailing.

The shopper

In home

On the go

In-store

On the web

GETTING STARTED

Here are eight examples from outside

of the food industry that fit into a

customer’s digital path to

purchase/journey. These will help you

visualize what is possible.

At the end of each example is specific

guidance in the form of a takeaway,

plus a call-out for ideas about

translating the key idea to your

business.

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In home

Following the customer’s lead IKEA personalizes communications by analyzing the way customers communicate inside the store’s loyalty program, IKEA Family. They look at how each customer engages with them via email, mobile, social and the store website, and then IKEA develops “purchase triggers” to deliver communications in a way that shoppers have shown they want to get them. In this way, IKEA personalizes communications to fit each individual customer’s digital preferences. Their engagement is particularly effective as they connect customers with what’s available in the store. IKEA believes “our store…is our richest source of content.”

Takeaway: Find ways to personalize communications

that match your shoppers digital activities. This shows

you know them so well you can anticipate their

preferences.

Ideas?

Expanding engagement

Creating experience

Increasing retention

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Reserving items anywhere/anytime

Takeaway: Identify options for customers to blend

online shopping with the convenience of store pick-

up, and give them the confidence that what they want

will be there when they want it. This encourages a trip

to the store.

Ideas?

The Gap opens up more personal choice for its customers through a “Reserve In-store” program that was tested in 2013. The service was so well received that it’s now rolling out across the country. Online, customers can reserve an item at a nearby store anytime of day or night. The store sends them a text reminder when the item(s) have been set aside for them, and customers then complete the purchase at the store when it’s convenient for their personal schedule.

In home

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Creating value from "moments"

Takeaway: Look for opportunities to increase the

personal value of rewards by delivering them

immediately following the desired action by your

customer. This connects your business with the

satisfaction and emotion of being rewarded. In the

words of Brian Wong, “Respect the customer.”

Ideas?

Brian Wong, Founder of Kiip (pronounced “keep”), uses rewards to create a wow experience with apps. It’s a way to connect the virtual and the physical worlds by bringing alive the moment with an immediate reward. In a task management app sponsored by manufacturers called any.do rewards, customers are given a reward each time they cross a task off their to-do list, thus providing immediate gratification.

On the Web

March 2014

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Experiencing life with your shopper

Takeaway: Retailers can tap into the popularity of

reality shows by providing individual customers

with ways to become part of events themed

around holidays and other occasions like back-to-

school.

Ideas?

Target’s Bullseye University streamed a live, 24-hour reality-TV-like dorm event to connect with college students.

The program offered advice as well as fun and prizes, and students could personalize it by: • Calling in their own question • Sending in a photo for a chance to have a caricature

drawn on the show

Bullseye University didn’t simply break through the clutter with a video of college students; it invited them to be part of it.

On the Web

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Making shopping easier

Takeaway: Develop ways to personally engage

shoppers that simplify their lives by helping them

keep track of what they’ve bought, especially the

products that are really important to them.

Ideas?

Sephora has streamlined the way it connects personally with each of its shoppers via the store’s app and website. • They make it easy for customers to keep track of all their Sephora

purchases in one place, whether they were made in-store or online. • They give customers an easy-to-use and fun place to personally

engage called My Beauty Bag. • They reserve a special area for “products I love,” and make it easy

for customers to access the rich content of Sephora’s website. • They automatically enroll customers in the store loyalty program

when they sign up for My Beauty Bag.

On the go

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When “At Your Service” is at your finger tips

Takeaway: The same customer will come to the

store with different needs depending on the

shopping occasion. Good customers can be made

even better customers by giving them exactly the

experience they’re looking for.

Ideas?

Neiman Marcus offers an “At Your Service” app that gives customers an easy way to build the personalized experience they want on their next visit to the store.

Via the app: • A customer can book an appointment with their favorite

sales associate as well as ask questions and send them messages.

• Customers can also call out their favorite products to be automatically communicated to the sales associate, and the app will alert the associate the moment they enter the store so they can have immediate service.

On the go

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Augmenting the in-store experience with iPads

Takeaway: Food-shopping customers also enjoy the

discovery that can happen when they learn

something new. Imagine how you could surprise and

delight your customers with this experience.

Ideas?

Kate Spade, the apparel retailer, is personalizing the in-store experience in its Saturday Stores by building on the insight that sometimes “dwell time is more important than sell time.”

They’re using IPads located throughout the store to give shoppers expanded access to different products: What was the design inspiration? How was it made? When and where should it be worn? This can be helpful and fun. The tablet-size screen also lets it be a shared social experience.

In-store

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Making in-store more “my own” experience

Takeaway: Some suppliers have plenty of good

reasons to increase their personal experience with

your customers. We’ve seen it in the Nutella section

at Eataly, where staff interacts with customers.

There’s plenty of room for partnerships with

suppliers that deliver high-value, personal shopping

experiences.

Ideas?

Media Markt, a German retailer, is leveraging ideas from employees and partnerships with suppliers to transform the shopping experience into one that helps neutralize the advantage of online retailers by personalizing their experience in the store.

Among the many ways they do this is by encouraging customers to bring their own content to play or listen to on the products displayed in the store, thus simulating the experience of owning the item before it’s actually purchased.

In-store

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