Love the first half of the year. It’s the time I get to speak our customers on their initiatives to grow their digital revenues via experience personalization. If there’s one thing that’s different than last year, it’s the shift in the key challenges as personalization moves from helping shoppers BUY, to helping them SHOP!
Initially due to logistical reasons, as well as consumer proximity to physical stores, groceries were not a natural fit for digital buying. However, many consumers find the convenience of online ordering, payment and delivery options, preferable to shopping in physical stores.
Segmentation is a fairly age-old approach to personalize marketing campaigns. Segmentation basically is grouping individuals into ‘buckets, called segments based on pre-determined interests, geography and/or demographics. For example, in grocery, a segment might be defined as “People over 50 who typically spend £50 a week in-store” or “Families with children under 5,” etc. Segmentation used to help marketers cope with the abundance of data and plethora of consumers, and allow them to “personalize” experiences at scale. The one problem with this is segmentation is never a truly personal experience.
NRF 2019
It was just two years ago in 2016, that headlines everywhere were talking about the demise of retail, but this year at the annual National Retail Federation 2019: Retail Big Show, which opened on Sunday, January 13th, NRF Chairman Christopher Baldwin, chairman, president and CEO of BJ’s Wholesale Club stating what we all know to be the more accurate truth, “retail never went away”, and that today the “industry is more healthy, vibrant, innovative and exciting than ever.”
With the holiday season fast approaching, are you prepared for the biggest holiday season in more than a decade?
eMarketer predicts that the 2018 holiday season will be even bigger than the last given that according to some measures, consumer confidence in the US is at its highest level since 2000. With more money to spend due to rising wages, tax reform, and low unemployment, you should be doubling down on your efforts to deliver on the customer demands of seamless, shopping experiences.
Digital is without a doubt the growth driver in the retail industry as a whole. Merchants seeking validation for investments in online and mobile offerings need look no further than the recent holiday season: Cyber Monday alone generated more than $6.5 billion in sales, more than $2 billion of which were transacted via mobile devices.
Yes, there is Black Friday and Cyber Monday and even Super Saturday, but the real question is are you ready?
Black Friday is four months (and some change) away and retailers who have not yet turned their attention to peak spending season should do so now.
While it is not the time for major redesigns or replatforming, there is ample time to shore up security, optimize forms, consider alternative payment methods, cater to customers’ expectations and set up shipping options.