Emma Herrod, editor of Internet Retailing magazine, shares her thoughts on the ways in which some of the biggest high street brands are engaging with their customers.
Everyone wants to shop anytime, any how, anywhere be that in the high street during their lunchtime, from their mobile phone on the commute to work, or their desktop PC or iPad in the evening.
The Internet Retailing Conference takes place on October 9, 2012.
Customers have been further empowered by Facebook, Twitter and ratings websites, voicing their opinions in a public forum that retailers just can’t ignore.
Brands are more exposed than ever before, meaning retailers have to be transparent and bring their key brand attributes to every touch-point.
But with so many contact points, how do retailers maintain a consistent on-brand message in all forms of engagement with customers?
A good place to start is ensuring everyone in the organisation is really living the brand message. Our forthcoming Internet Retailing Conference takes place on October 9, 2012, and draws on the expertise of brand leaders across various industries, to examine the challenges of the ever-changing internet retail environment.
Forrester Research
Martin Gill, chief analyst from Forrester Research, has been closely watching the changing nature of digital consumers. His data-driven insights will show retailers the right devices for successfully engaging with consumers across various touch-points.
His research suggests which organisations are adapting successfully to win the loyalty of their customers, with one such company being O2, which uses customer design to translate brand value into tangible service, satisfaction and engagement across all channels and touch-points.
“Everything at O2 derives from our brand values and we turn this value into brand experiences for both customers and employees,” says Simon Smith, head of multichannel experience at O2 UK. “We believe creative design is leading the way to big changes across our business – and we can measure this in our customers’ satisfaction.”
Martin Gill has observed how transforming the way in which retailers market, transact and serve their customers enables them to stay ahead of the competition at a time when the economy is weak. The key is to modify the organisation to improve its customer experiences.
High street photography retailer Jessops has recently evolved from operating in divisional silos to delivering a consistent customer experience across the web, call centre and stores by cross-mapping the customer journey.
Simon Joseph, associate director of e-commerce at Jessops says: “Jessops has undergone an organisational change caused by consumer behaviour. We will be constantly evolving to adapt to our customers’ behaviour and over the next 12 months our next phase of changes will be crucial for our organisation.”
Brands now have a two-way communication with their customers and none is more personal than mobile. Priya Prakash, head of a mobile phones design project at Nokia, believes a good interface can mean more than brand loyalty: A good user experience created by strong design and retailers’ constant development of interfaces can build an immediate and long-lasting affinity between brand and people.
A cross-channel marketing campaign is fundamental in acquiring new customers and maintaining brand loyalty. E-commerce leadership is combining with cross-channel analytics and metrics to measure business in a variety of touch-points, not just channels to transform retailers into customer-centric businesses.
Digital consumers are more empowered by social media and online shopping, but internet retailing is also giving organisations key analytic information on how and where consumers like to engage with brands and ultimately make a purchase.
Offering a user experience led by consumers’ preferences brings a lasting loyalty, but it is important retailers interact with their customers regularly. A constant assessment of consumers’ digital habits, combined with the ability of an organisation to easily adapt to change, can bring retailers many opportunities.
- The Internet Retailing Conference takes place on October 9, 2012.