This document discusses how retailers can use data to create a seamless customer experience across channels from initial customer engagement through purchase. It emphasizes that customers now research and shop through many channels, so retailers need integrated cross-channel strategies to understand customer behaviors and guide them smoothly to purchase. Retailers face challenges in collecting, integrating, and analyzing the large amounts of customer data needed to optimize the shopping experience. The document provides recommendations for how retailers can implement effective analytics to develop personalized marketing, pricing, and service strategies for different customer groups.
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Remodista RetailSource Paper - The Seamless Commerce Experience
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The Seamless
Commerce Experience
Using data to smoothly join customer journeys with
supply chain execution in a world of rising expectations
An Executive Snapshot of Global Retail Disruption
Sponsored by:
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Revving your (data) engines
Today’s tech-savvy consumers don’t just
engage with a brand when they wander
into a store—they gain access through
many channels, from mobile sites to
social media channels. By the same
token, they don’t just buy when they step
up to a cash register. How can
businesses build a strategy around
optimizing purchase behaviors when
technology is transforming those habits
at breakneck speed?
Fortunately, retailers can harness the
power of data. By tagging and targeting
consumers through different channels,
marketers gain insight into their
customers: what they buy, where they
buy, and—most importantly—how they
buy.
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Data, in short, can tell you how
to leverage technology to
connect demand and fulfillment.
The right data can give you a big head start
as you promote a seamless commerce
approach, guiding customers through virtual
and in-person contacts to an actual purchase.
Data can show how different generational
groups in your customer base interact with
technology—so how will this inform how you
personalize the omni-channel purchase
journey?
If Millennials research product information
differently than Baby Boomers, how can you
provide them both with the knowledge that
helps clinch a sale? How will their different
payment preferences influence the options
that you’ll offer?
“ “
DID YOU KNOW?
Millennials in the US wield about
$1.3 trillion
in annual buying power
-Boston Consulting Group
!
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With the right data, we can
do a better job at guiding
customers seamlessly
through their purchase
journey.
“
”Chau Banks
New York & Company
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What is seamless commerce?
Seamless commerce addresses that sticky
question of how a retailer integrates demand
and fulfillment most effectively, for both the
company and the consumer.
Gone are the days of localized pricing
decisions and focus on brick-and-mortar
stores; businesses must now adapt their
marketing strategies to an increasingly tech-
savvy clientele. More often than not, the
customer’s journey from point of entry to the
final purchase isn’t a straight line. A consumer
might research products online before
shopping in person or vice versa, and
marketers are hitting plenty of speed bumps
steering customers between virtual and in-
person experiences.
The twists and turns of the purchase
journey
How do customers engage with retailers, and
how do they ultimately buy? Well, these basic
questions have become far more complicated
with the advent of the Internet and mobile
technologies. Generational groups tend to use
them quite differently. Consumers can shop
whenever and wherever they choose, through
far more channels than in the past: online
commerce, social media, and third-party
websites, as well as customer service centers
and traditional shopfronts. Similarly, potential
payment methods have gone far beyond the
cash register to include one-click online
purchasing and mobile self-service checkout,
or capabilities for tablets or wearable devices.
Smart devices in particular offer tantalizing
possibilities for expedited browsing and
buying. Chau Banks of national retailer New
York & Company has observed that the more
data her company has provided to customers
through the mobile experience, the higher the
conversion rates. One caveat: optimizing
mobile at the expense of desktop or social
media efforts won’t bring home the prize.
Companies need to transcend department
mentalities and embrace integrated cross-
channel marketing, especially if they plan to
sell to different generations of customers.
Given this technology-driven revolution in
consumer habits, are businesses
implementing analytics effectively to pinpoint
how diverse customer groups navigate their
way to the point of sale?
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It’s too risky to cut corners on major technical solutions.
The bumpy road to good data
Companies are racing to implement cutting-
edge data collection, because the right
information can help them edge past the
competition and maneuver to meet rapidly
shifting consumer expectations. Data can not
only reveal the points of entry, but also
provide the roadmap for smooth sales.
Unfortunately, retailers encounter many
roadblocks. First, they need to redesign,
reorganize, and redefine their existing
systems to capture data more frequently and
tap all potential information sources—social
media and third party sources, for example—
but legacy systems don’t always adapt well to
the inclusion of these new components.
Companies must also match consumers with
actual purchase behaviors. The sheer volume
of incoming data can effectively put the
brakes on the decision-making process, so
retailers must find ways to filter information.
Finally, businesses need to allocate time for
adequate testing—it’s too risky to cut corners
on major technical solutions.
The home stretch to the point of sale
If customers are drawing on available product
information to make purchase decisions,
companies should be collecting data on these
behaviors to connect the dots between the
first spark of interest in products and the final
sale, wherever and however it occurs. By
tracking how customers shift gears between
virtual and in-person encounters and decide
on a purchase, merchandizers can offer better
options for speeding inventory into their
customers’ hands.
For the long haul, retailers must develop
informed strategies for improving pricing,
inventory, payment and delivery options,
outlet expansions, and individual store
success—as well as driving repeat business.
Marketers have to worry about far more than
simply enticing customers to points of entry;
they must also consider the journey to
eventual points of sale, too.
“
“
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Winning retailers are
growing their analytics
capabilities to create
experiences their customers
desire, and match them with
product where they want,
when they want.
“
”Bill Lewis
Capgemini Consulting
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The Finish Line
3 keys to using analytics in retail
Smart Data
Invest time and resources into adaptable data
collection systems that show you the dead
ends and the shortcuts to real purchases in
your marketing strategy, now and in the
future.
TAKE ACTION
Set up for long-term success: Develop flexible
systems to capture data from many sources,
but prepare to filter information for faster
decision-making. Anticipate continual
adjustments to the type of data you’re
capturing to address the latest trends in
buying behavior.
Test, test, test: Take the time to ensure that
your new and legacy systems are melding
smoothly, including accounting and point-of-
sale systems. Expect the unexpected by
budgeting for additional integration costs.
Unify your merchandizing: Break down silos
—share information company-wide, and
reshape your marketing plan from an all-
channel perspective.
A savvy plan for using analytics can help you pull ahead of the pack, lap
after lap.
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Smart Customer Service
Businesses help themselves by helping their
customers, which builds brand loyalty.
TAKE ACTION
Foster the omni-channel experience –
Integrate online and brick-and-mortar sales
strategies. Adopt technology such as
beacons to bring the same personalization
found in targeted email and social media
marketing into your stores, in real time.
Provide convenient payment options to cater
to different generations’ purchasing habits.
Show gratitude: Offer points programs,
coupons, and private label credit cards—
consumers return to the brands that promise
them more for their money.
Give the customer control: Seek feedback
(then listen). Let the customers dictate how
and when you market to them, yet remain
poised to respond promptly when they reach
out to you.
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The Finish Line:
3 keys to using analytics
in retail (cont.)
Smart Pricing
Businesses help themselves by helping their
customers, which builds brand loyalty.
TAKE ACTION
Know thy competition: Track rivals’ pricing to
shape your competitive strategy. It’s not
simply a matter of matching their prices; you
might set online and retail outlet prices
differently to optimize profit and fulfillment.
Know thy customers: Cultivate a nuanced
understanding of customer expectations by
generational group. Refine your engagement,
payment, and delivery strategies for their
convenience and preferences.
Know thyself: Analyze relative demand in your
own stores. Turn around low interest in a store
to serve demand from higher-traffic areas.
Conclusion
The right data delivers critical insights into
shifting consumer behaviors and allows
businesses to face the challenge of
seamlessness head on. “How do customers
buy?” seems a simple question, but today’s
shoppers wind their way to the metaphorical
cash register through myriad channels.
$
Thus, marketing strategists must break down
old barriers between digital and brick-and-
mortar merchandizing to ensure that
customers enjoy one cohesive purchase
journey. From the business point of view,
seamless commerce encourages retailers to
refine their understanding of demand, achieve
efficiencies in fulfillment, and provide more
personalized service to loyal customers than
ever, all through analytics. Could this be a
race where everybody wins?
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Learn more about
Capgemini Consulting
Contact - Bill A. Lewis
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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This focus area looks at how we unify the personalized
customer experience with the supply chain. From first
touch to product in hand, the process should be
personalized and easy for customers
REMODISTA FOCUS AREA
Commerce
Remodista
RETAIL & MOBILITY DISTILLED
www.remodista.com
Remodista is a social think tank examining disruption in global retail.
Our mission is to provide insight, education and innovation to global
brands through collaborative research and analysis.
www.capgemini-consulting.com
Capgemini Consulting is the global strategy and transformation
consulting organization of the Capgemini Group, specializing in advising
and supporting enterprises in significant transformation, from innovative
strategy to execution and with an unstinting focus on results. With the
new digital economy creating significant disruptions and opportunities,
our global team of over 3,600 talented individuals work with leading
companies and governments to master Digital Transformation, drawing
on our understanding of the digital economy and our leadership in
business transformation and organizational change.
Find out more at: www.capgemini-consulting.com
Capgemini Consulting
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