Back to the Future: Customer-Infused Retailing – Interactive Marketing

When projecting how consumers would shop in the future, the magazine envisioned housewives browsing merchandise in department stores on their TV screens—a fairly accurate guess. Today, most retailers would be hard-pressed to predict the next five years, let alone the next five decades. That is why they need to become “customer-infused.” Find out more in the following article from Accenture Interactive.

Developments in technology are accelerating exponentially. With each new application, customer behavior changes too, making it nearly impossible to set long-term, and in some instances, even short-term strategies. Virtually every aspect of the purchase process has changed—from product research to purchasing and through to customer service.

Not only are customers changing, so are competitors—there are more of them, and they are exceptionally nimble in their ability to respond to potential buyers in this new, hyper-frenetic, integrated environment. Predictability is gone. Flexibility is everything.

To get it, organizations should become “customer-infused” or centered on key personas and relevant “micro-segments,” adjusting to the ever-changing needs and behaviors of the buying public. Companies will do well to increase marketing granularity to address customers at the “moment of truth” when the decision to buy is made.

Traditional retail models, based on functional areas working in siloed fashion, are no longer relevant for the digital age. They are inherently rigid instead of flexible; primed for old school “push” marketing that’s eschewed by today’s consumer who demands relevance and “what’s in it for me.” The key is to obtain the characteristics of a customer-infused organization.

Here is a look at how key aspects of business will likely change in the near future for customer-infused retailers:

• The retail organization. For starters, the internal structure of retail organizations should change radically. Today, they are organized around functional areas with buyers, marketers and operations working side-by-side. This siloed approach serves as a barrier toward creating unified and relevant customer experiences since valuable insights are “locked” within the walls of each function. Customer-infused retailers will have cross-functional teams that identify top-down customer value, strategy growth objectives and customer key performance metrics.
  
  
• Technology. Seamless internal structures are only possible through seamless technology solutions. Retailers should leverage centralized customer databases through cloud computing, accessing data from it and running customer data management applications through it to allow a clear understanding of the customer.
  
  To prepare for future technologies today, retailers should first and foremost develop reliable sensing capabilities to illuminate customers on a much more granular and real-time basis—flexible micro-segments—instead of the old school static and rigid segmentations. Analytics are recommended to marry those insights to specific offers, and execution capabilities are recommended to support organization-wide sharing of insights at scale and across multiple channels.
  
  
• Suppliers. Increasingly, suppliers will not only continue to be collaborators but will also become competitors. While P&G supplies Tide detergent to your store, it will also be competing with Tide Laundromats, Mr. Clean Car Washes and Art of Shaving stores that sell Gillette razors. A successful retailer should team up with its suppliers to offer relevant brand selections or potentially “stores-within-a-store.” More important, suppliers should work with retailers to drive the right customer to the right channels based on the customer’s value and needs.
  
  
• Branding. A retailer’s brand must evolve to deliver a clear and compelling brand promise. Target is family fashion apparel and home goods at low prices. Best Buy is the latest in electronics. Wal-Mart meets everyday needs at the lowest prices. Zara is “fast fashion” at affordable prices.
  
  Branding that is not distinctive or playing on cost-only is likely a loser’s game. The store brand should provide a compelling difference in an era when smart phone applications can compare prices and consumers can scan any item in a store and learn quickly where their money gets the most traction.
  
  
• Stores. Offering everything in-store is not necessary, or necessarily profitable for that matter. Supplying relevant items every day likely is. Physical stores should match the space needed to meet the demand of the customers who shop it. Other products and services can be offered via in-store kiosk or on the Internet for pickup or home delivery.
  
  The digital presence should offer all products so that customers can quickly and easily find them. Stores will begin to appear when and where needed through vending machines and “pop-up” seasonal outlets.
  
  
• Digital. Brands will communicate with consumers at the relevant point of need. That includes social media like Twitter and Facebook and indicates moving away from passive research to active involvement, understanding what motivates a buyer. Digital and mobile media will be significant to reach customers at the point of sale, offering them time-sensitive offers and discounts on items when they’re in-store or near retail outlets.