The Data Conundrum: What Is Retail Doing With Your Information?
Posted by Marcus LaRobardiere on Feb 21, 2018
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In a world where data is king, it seems there has been a tendency to collect, collect, collect; yet, retailers aren’t necessarily putting it to proper use. If we’re not using the data to our advantage, what’s the point?
Many people (myself included) make a significant percentage of purchases online. At this point, even the purchases I make in-store often come after a bit – or a lot – of online browsing of a retailer’s website. Any browsing and certainly any purchasing, online should be tracked by the retailer to get to know me better as a customer. In addition to that, it’s a rarity that I make an in-store purchase without the associate asking for my email address to connect the purchase with my account. There are many retailers that should have no shortage of information on my style and purchasing patterns, but are they using this knowledge of my weaknesses to their full advantage? In most cases, the answer is no.
To give credit where it’s due, most brands (88%) do actually use this type of customer information to their advantage on their websites. And of course, it serves them quite well to keep showing me cozy sweaters all winter long or pointing out a skirt that would look great with the velvet top I had my eye on – I can only withstand temptation for so long. But this principle of cross-selling and upselling, while implemented reasonably well online, is essentially never employed in-stores. Researchers for our Omnichannel Report found that only 1% of store associates use past shopping behavior to encourage in-store purchases.
While it is absolutely crucial for brands to cross-sell and upsell through their websites and apps, it’s no less important for them to do so whenever one of their associates has the opportunity for personal interaction with a customer. I can try to ignore a photo of an amazing skirt online, but an associate bringing it to my attention in the store? Now that’s hard to resist. Retailers are missing a key opportunity to not only increase sales but also to empower their associates with the ability to build more meaningful and trusting relationships with customers.
