|
Consumers are becoming more critical and demanding. Consumers shop more often but buy less per shopping trip. In addition, the competition is killing. As a retailer, you therefore need to be able to stand out and optimise the customer experience. But how do you create an ideal customer journey?
Changes in shopping behaviour
How customers shop has changed considerably compared to a few years ago. Where shopping in a physical shop used to be the norm, nowadays there is an increasing demand for online shopping. In addition, you can no longer separate physical from online stores. More and more customers start their customer journey online, after which they purchase the product in a physical store. It also happens the other way around, where consumers start shopping in a physical shore after which they buy the products online. In addition, consumers increasingly use apps or social media (Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook) during the purchase process. It is therefore becoming very common for customers to use omni-channel shopping.
Increased competition
Competition within the retail sector has also increased significantly in recent years. This is mainly due to the fact that it has become much easier to sell things online. This means the market has grown significantly. Where it used to be common to sell only to the Dutch market, many stores now sell items outside of the Netherlands as well. This also happens the other way around, which has led to an increase in numbers of suppliers. To still be able to stand out among all competitors, it is essential to differentiate yourself from other retailers by optimising the customer experience.
Data to optimise the customer experience
To optimise the customer experience, retail analytics are necessary. Data makes it possible to provide insights into the bottlenecks of the customer journey. This allows you to solve these bottlenecks, for example, by optimising the walking route or by deploying staff at the right time and place. These data are also important in order to set up the marketing of your store effectively.
Data from your physical store
Although online sales have increased significantly in recent years, more than 90 percent of purchases still take place in the physical store. Therefore, offline data are necessary to get an overall picture of your customers. By using online and offline data, you ensure that all touch points in the customer journey are included. A people counting system, for example, can provide insight into the traffic in your store. These data can be used for occupancy management. |
