The Retailer's Imperative: A Strategic Approach to Customer Experience

03 February 2015 Copyright © Econsultancy

The Retailer’s Imperative: A strategic

approach to customer experience

In association with SDL

Stefan Tornquist VP Research (US), Econsultancy @MarketingStefan

Speakers

03 February 2015 2 Econsultancy / Sitecore Customer Lifetime Value Report

@SKTornquist Lauren Turner Product Marketing Manager, eCommerce and Retail

lturner@sdl.com

Background

• More than 220 online retailers with over $100 million in

annual revenues

– 40% of respondent companies have more than $500 million in

annual revenues

• Respondents were based in North America

• All had the position of Manager or above:

– 43% are in senior leadership (VP or above)

Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 3 03 February 2015

Three themes

• The goal of integration is simplicity

close

03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 4

Three themes

• The goal of integration is simplicity

• CX is about acquisition as much as retention

03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 5

Three themes

• The goal of integration is simplicity

• CX is about acquisition as much as retention

• The pace of CX investment increases the

pressure on marketing

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“OUR CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCE IS OUR

BRAND”

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Retailers are past the stage

of debating the importance

of customer experience

management.

Now they have to master it…

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Strongly agree 47%

Agree 42%

Neutral 8%

"Our customer experience is our brand"

03 February 2015 9 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

Our customer experience is our brand

How does it feel?

- Tone/Voice

- Design

- Content

- Presentation

- Brand elements

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Our customer experience is our brand

How does it work?

- Choice

- Navigation

- Delivery

- Pricing

- Issues/conflicts

03 February 2015 11 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

Our customer experience is our brand

What does it mean?

- Character

- Loyalty

- Consistency

- Trust

COMPLEXITY REQUIRES

SIMPLICITY

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Senior marketers appreciate the importance of

integration

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“How important

is integration

across your

customer

experience

management

technologies?”

97% -

customer experience management integration is important

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“What is the level of integration between your current customer experience management technologies?”

Customer-facing industries move to marketing

technology integration

Held back by lack of testing

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“Which

customer

experience

management

technologies do

you currently

have in place?”

CX IS THE PATH TO

HIGHER PROFIT

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03 February 2015 17 Harris Interactive, 2014

60%

03 February 2015 18 Econsultancy, 2015

#1

Customer experience and personalization

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What are the primary ways you believe your company can differentiate itself in selling to and retaining current customers?

Product offerings key method for attracting new

customers

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“What are the primary ways you believe your company can differentiate itself in attracting new customers?”

MOBILE CX IS AN

UNTAPPED RESOURCE

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03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 22

How well does your organization understand the 'customer journey' for the following audiences? – Strong understanding

Understanding of the mobile customer is growing

However…only a third differentiate using mobile

03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 23

What are the

primary ways

you believe your

company can

differentiate

itself in

attracting new

customers?

THE NEAR FUTURE OF

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

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Tying revenue to customer satisfaction is vital

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“How is the

impact of

customer

experience

measured?”

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“How is the customer experience budget changing in 2015?”

CX budgets are increasing in 2015

>80% plan to increase

CX budgets

Requirements • Create the most engaging onsite experience

• Be truly global

• Deliver highly efficient retailing

• Put visual merchandising team in control of

customer experience

Profile

Asos is a global fashion destination for 20-

somethings with over 98 million visits per

month and 9.1 million active customers

Shoppers can sort and refine by:

• Dress Type

• Dress Shape

• Length

• Color

• Size

• Price Range (slider)

• Brand (alphabetically)

A Comprehensive Plan for Visual Merchandising

Recommendations/Details

Include:

• Accessories to match

• Similar styles

• Fit

• Video of dress on runway

• Zoom

29

***SDL Internal Only***

Profile • 108 year old premium UK department store

• 4 major department stores

• Leader in its category online

• More than a quarter of business outside of UK

• Sales doubled year on year online since 2010

• £1b+ revenue

Enabling Retailers and Brands to Work Together

Note: Cartier is not shown, because it has its

own landing page, per agreement with

Selfridges

31

***SDL Internal Only***

10% increase in visits to product

pages in less than a month

3 x faster response of site

40% increase in productivity of

merchandising team

“Improvements to site search

and navigation are impressive”

Click here for video

Profile • Leading Motoring and Leisure Retailer

• 460 Stores

• 300 auto centres

• 30,000 products

• £871m revenue

Taking In-Store Experience Into the Digital World

Navigable

content

Content linked

to products

Searching for “road bikes”

delivers articles and advice on

bike selection, in addition to

displaying the road bikes for sale.

Combining car data with online search and

merchandising for personal experience

03 February 2015 34

Profile • Owned by Urban Outfitters

• Women’s clothing retailer with

182 stores worldwide

• $1.3B in revenue for 2014

03 February 2015 35

Where Marketing Meets Merchandising

Splash page sign-up for email deals

and alerts

• Limited promotion creates

urgency

• Promo code can be tracked and

measured

Pick, pack and ship: Products

purchased online are shipped

from the buyer’s nearest store.

36

***SDL Internal Only***

New categories based on customer

shopping habits

Fewer Markdowns

8% Growth in 2014

37

***SDL Internal Only***

Key Takeaways

1. Customer experience is the most critical lever

retailers can pull relative to driving revenues and

consumer loyalty

2. Integrate all your sources of customer data for better

insight and analysis

3. Connect the visual merchandise to relevant content

4. Pay attention to local language/culture/preferences

and update content accordingly

5. Test your assumptions to find out if a particular

ecommerce strategy is working

Questions?

38 03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior

permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2015.

@SKTornquist

@SDL

Thank You!

39 03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior

permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2015.