Respect the Shopper

Welcome to a new era of retail where the shopper is in charge. With competitors literally a click away, total transparency in the purchase experience and the ability to instantly price check from a mobile, today’s consumer is fully in command of the shopping experience. With this in mind, RichRelevance has launched a new campaign: Respect the Shopper. The purpose is to (with tongue in cheek) remind merchants who is really in charge and how we can meet the needs of the shopper throughout her retail shopping experience, across all channels.

The campaign upholds the belief that consumers expect a seamless experience, tailored to personal interests, where shopping translates smoothly from one channel to the next. Reflecting shoppers’ appreciation for a consistent, streamlined experience, a recent Forrester study found that favorite online brands (topped by Google, Yahoo! and Amazon) share three primary attributes—trustworthiness, helpfulness, and relevance. With these three objectives in mind, this campaign is thus intended to represent the…

• 52% of online buyers who believe it is a hassle to return items that they purchased online.
• 70% of US online consumers who display multichannel behavior, having researched a product online and then purchased it offline.
• 35% of US online adults who have searched for a brand or product as a result of viewing an online ad.
• 42% of online buyers who expect to be able to return/exchange items purchased online in a physical store
• 27% of shoppers who want to be able to order products online and pick them up in a brick-and-mortar store.

Through the point of view of our shoppers, the “Respect the Shopper” campaign asks retailers to take a second look at how customer experience plays out across all channel(s). Retailers who offer multiple channels of interaction—Web Site, IVR, Call Centers, Email, and Mobile—struggle to maintain the fidelity of each individual channel let alone synthesize these silos into a cohesive experience. By integrating multi-channel customer data retailers can deliver that idyllic experience that Forrester calls “Experience-Based Differentiation”: obsess about customer needs; reinforce brands with every interaction; and treat customer experience as a competence.

So, what does a “Respect the Shopper” mentality deliver? A shopping experience so streamlined, so problem free and so incredibly customized to the individual shopper that it fundamentally differentiates a brand. A shopping experience that generates the zealous consumer response “I want more of that.”