A prime example of this is Thornton’s surprising recent success. The confectioner has listened to customer demand and provided an increasingly personal service to its customers, using a new personalised gift service to drive sales of its most upmarket products. In a time when a luxury brand might be expected to struggle, good customer insight has made it buoyant.

While listening to customers and giving them what they need is one of the most basic concepts in retail, the reality is that making that work in today’s retail environment is demanding. A widening store footprint and the myriad complexities of multi-channel retailing make it very hard for retailers to emulate the successes, of, say, phone companies, whose every representative can call up detailed information about each customer at the push of a button.

Nevertheless, retailers are putting the intelligence they gather on how customers are behaving and reacting to more sophisticated use. In the process, they can be on the front foot when planning business strategies, product developments and customer service techniques.

E-commerce has upset the traditional relationship between retailer brand and the customer. Analysts estimate approximately 50 per cent of consumers who shop regularly online switch from their preferred retailer when they purchase. Aside from the lost opportunities, this causes a real headache for the retailer. The solution lies in extending the price benefits of the online world into the stores themselves.
For example, particularly valued customers could be offered special ‘online’ prices for the goods they want, or navigate the store’s website placing orders from in-store terminals. Of course, it goes without saying that staff in-store should be appraised of online pricing models in real-time: nobody’s interests are served if the same goods are priced differently online or in-store by the same company. Allowing in-store pickup of items ordered is the next logical step – and a very practical one for professionals who may not always be at home to receive deliveries from ‘traditional’ websites.

All of these are steps which allow multi-channel retailers to beat the e-commerce sites at their own game – and champion their own brand values in the process. This cannot happen, however, in the absence of a central view of all customer contacts.

Customer intelligence: a strategic asset

With websites and contact centres playing an increasing role in providing service to customers across all channels, retailers have discovered that these non-traditional channels can provide an invaluable source of customer intelligence. Used effectively, this intelligence can govern every area of operations, from merchandising to supply chain and website design. The challenge lies in bringing together and crunching the data in the first place.

Generally, different parts of the business have their own databases, using different technologies and managed under differing policies. This is where an outsourced customer service specialist can provide real value. They should be able to support almost any technology platform, thereby making it far easier to aggregate disparate data sources. More to the point, they should be able to mine this information so it yields real insights which can benefit the business.

Knowledge is power

Customers would like to view their transactions with a given brand as part of a continuous relationship, regardless of the channel they use – and this certainly stacks up in terms of sales figures: a multi-channel customer is generally worth three times a single channel one. However, the sales assistants in the stores have little or no intelligence available to appreciate the shopper they are facing. Yet as we’ve seen, this context is vital. Without it, an assistant may hesitate to extend the lower price for an item that is no longer on sale – risking the relationship with a potential ‘golden’ customer. Armed with the right information, however, sales staff could begin to offer the same level of personalisation as the local boutique – albeit spanning dozens of stores and thousands of customers.

So, in the mind of the customer, discrete sales channels are beginning to blur – from internet shopper to in-store purchaser. The call to action for the retailer is to ensure the in-store experience is integrated with what the shopper sees and hears on the web, TV and on the phone. However, the technological innovations which sparked the e-commerce boom in the first place could help multi-channel operators fight back – providing customers with the personal touch they expect in-store, combined with the compelling pricing they could find online.

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