Retail Bulletin Customer Loyalty findings

With the 2012 Retail Bulletin Customer Loyalty having just taken place in London, the focus was how in this tough economic environment, retailers have honed in on customer acquisition supported by the indiscriminate offering of

money-off coupons, which have taken the focus away from rewarding loyal customers.

Such has been the profusion of coupons that Gary Topiol, managing director for EMEA at Empathica, told delegates at The 3rd Retail Bulletin Customer Loyalty Conference 2012, sponsored by the Logic Group,in London that 61% of consumers now regularly use them and he suggested it has reached the point whereby in some stores “you can feel as if you are being ripped off if you pay the full price.”

Furthermore, Topiol believes it is only “great experiences” that build long-term loyalty and that retailers should look to understand what it is that makes customers loyal – and then take the next step of enticing the into being brand advocates.

And whilst aligning themselves to a charity has proved valuable to retailers with enthused customers keen to be part of ethically driven campaigns, personalisation must still be noted as an important tool.

This is a focus for Bernard Page, head of CRM at Shop Direct Group, who says: “We are now identifying customer behaviour on our company’s websites and serving up tailored relevant experiences to get greater conversion and advocacy.”

Crucial to this exercise is “matching your efforts to the customers’ worth” as he says Shop Direct was spending a disproportionate amount on lower value customers and missing out on investing in the top quartile.

Whilst retailers continue to debate what is invested in CRM and what benefits they can deliver; Emma Hamblin, content and social media coordinator at Joules, agrees: “We might end up selling through other stockists (trade customers) down other channels so there is no point measuring what sales come directly to us as a result of our social media activity.”