There is no doubt that day by day digital retail industry is gaining more and more ground against the traditional retail one.
Nevertheless there are certain sectors of retail industry that physical presence and the power of a sales person or a merchandiser are key success factors. Even the shopping research or the marketing is targeted when shopper is online, the final decision to purchase is still made in store. At the dawn of the new year there are the main innovations that are going to penetrate even more the retail industry. The differentiated customer engagement, the struggle between personalization and privacy in digital marketing and finally the connection between the physical and the digital world.
The differentiated customer engagement
During the recent years many, lets say, traditional habits changed due to mobile and “smartphone” penetration along with the IoE , Internet of Everything as I am used to say.
The way we communicate speak and exchange messages changed (Messenger , Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat), the way we book our trips, changed (Uber, Expedia) , the way we are accommodated when out of home, changed (Airbnb) and many more examples are coming to our mind. So the traditional commerce can’t be the same any more and the modern retailers are trying to differentiate in order to redefine in store experience of their customers. Loyalty and proximity technologies are becoming clever and personalized in order to deliver interesting content, correlated and useful. You don’t need any more to look for someone to help you in store, or you don’t even need to think what you need to buy for your favorite vegetarian dinner. The power is in your hands and your mobile devices provide personalized and up to date information during your in store journey.
The struggle between personalization and privacy
The digital marketing is going a step ahead and budgets are becoming more efficient as the content is personalized, and the modern omni-channel marketing tools are tracking the consumer and suggest personalized content. There is a “red thin line “between personalization and privacy retailers need to identify and become aware. It’s a “Big Thing” in the era of “Big Data” to leverage the digital footprint of clients. Using the right tools retailers can increase their customers involvement and perceive positive on the differential factors such as meaningful deal, customized products, clever cross-selling, beneficial up-selling and a responsive customer selling. Customers will save time and money with clever follow-up – having in their hands the control of their personal data and security as well.
The connection between the physical and the digital world
Modern cutting edge marketing solutions can provide the perfect connection between the digital and the physical world, the e-shop and the modern retail stores. Sometimes the limited time or the stressful shopping parameters may drive shoppers out of their shopping track. Differentiated, targeted and modern solutions are providing helpful information to customers to shop smart, gain time and money but also get rewarded for their loyalty. Taking advantage of all above modern digital marketing and selling tools and efforts the digital marketer acts proactive for his boss and his brand. As the marketing budget isn’t unlimited and cloning customers is still an illusion, the only way to generate ROI and revenue is to sell more on existing customers.
If a shopper is in the battlefield of the retail store having decided to spend, the mission impossible is to make him spend more time and more money. With smart cross selling tools like MiiPharos, shopper are spending their time more effectively in the store, are driven to offers and updated opportunities but mainly they generate more revenue due to differentiated approach of digital marketing. The most impressive issue is that the profits generated from the digital cross selling channel are much more impressive than ordinary.
Know your client is no more a banking terminology, is a must have in digital marketing time and loyalty correlated with buying speed and visit frequency are from now on critical KPIs for the digital marketer. Fresh CRM data, targeted email campaigns, social media engagement and the last but not least traditional Google AdWords and other PPC campaigns are now more efficient and targeted.
If you are asking that ROI and revenue can be increased thought targeted, proximity based and cross selling campaigns, the answer is YES!
As you need to salute all your customers one by one with their name, remember their last visit and theirs birthday you need a super sales person omni-present in all your digital and physical stores or a simple and efficient self- financing tool to help you increase revenue and profits?
