The old adage, “the customer knows best” may be met with mumbles of disagreement from behind closed doors, but it points to a fundamental reality that remains as true today as it ever did: customer satisfaction is critical to retail success. In a world of endless choice and formidable competition, and in the age of social media where a brand’s reputation can be destroyed with a single post from a disgruntled shopper, keeping customers happy is now more important than ever.
Unfortunately for today’s retailers, the importance of customer satisfaction is matched in equal measure by the difficulty in achieving it. Prime amongst the challenges is understanding the complexity of customer behavior—a near impossible task for physical-only stores, whose ability to track traffic and log purchasing history is severely limited. But, there is an exciting way forward and it begins with the right technologies.
For retailers in the campaign to satisfy both customer and shareholder, digital platforms can provide detailed insights into customer behavior which allow them to cut through the complexity and tap a rich pool of data; from information on customer profiles, footfall, and transactions to traffic, weather and macroeconomic trends. This insight in turn allows digital-savvy retailers to personalize their offerings and earn themselves a competitive edge.
To truly get value from customer analytics, however, retailers must focus on not what analytics can do for them, but what it can do for the customer. Approached in this way, data can provide both actionable insights for retailers, as well as significant value for consumers by enabling the provision of smarter services and a seamless customer experience.
The role of data has never been greater in an industry where the advantages of brick-and-mortar stores, such as personalized service, are gradually being eroded as e-commerce grows in sophistication. The emergence of online giants including eBay, Amazon and Alibaba has created an expectation of excellent service when shopping online. Whereas once, shopping online might have been considered unconventional—even risky—investment driven by the big players in the retail field has raised standards to the point that it has become second nature to expect reliable, speedy service to rival the best physical retailers.
The onus is therefore increasingly on brick-and-mortar retailers to embark on digital programs that enable them to provide customers with a smooth, omnichannel shopping experience and create new revenue streams beyond the shop floor in the process.
Any urgency for retailers to adopt a digital approach may appear premature given that Middle Eastern appetite for e-commerce currently lags behind that in other parts of the world, but the region’s preference for online retail is growing apace. Furthermore, what MENA currently lacks in affinity for e-commerce, it makes up for in mobile connectivity—and where there’s connectivity, there’s data that retailers can turn to their advantage.
Keeping Customers Satisfied in a Mobile Economy
Written by Dr. Raymond Khoury, Danny Karam, and Jad Rahbani
Source: Booz Allen Hamilton Viewpoint ‘Beyond Customer 360 – Understanding the Decision Environment
