Trends in retail: from behavioral analysis to customer management

Author: Sergey Makarov - General Director of the RA “Profitator” (Kokoc Group).

Omnichannel (omnichanal) marketing
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This approach involves using the experience of multiple channels of interaction and communication with the target audience and current customers. A few years ago, many market players were wary of him, but over time, omnichannel marketing proved its effectiveness.

Today, it is used by many leaders of the retail market, one of the successful examples is the household appliances chain “MVideo”, which attracts customers to the online store and offline points at the same time. The company does not share sales channels and uses the same messages in online advertising, TV commercials and billboards, establishing communication with both live adherents and online customers. For example, the retailer's “Order and Take away” campaign allows the consumer to purchase goods in the online store and pick them up at the point of sale. Thus, “MVideo” simplifies the buying process, creates an associative connection between the real store and the site and expands the possibilities of interaction with customers.


Using “big data” in sales

The trend for analytics and BigData is a consequence of the interest in omnichannel marketing and appeared in Russia several years ago. Initially, this technology was used in e-commerce, allowed to conduct various experiments and confirm hypotheses. Recently, retailers began to actively use it.

The effectiveness of this approach is proved by the “Magnit” grocery network, each stage of its work is calculated and analyzed. 10 years ago, the company began to use its own information system "Thunder", which allows to monitor the movement of goods at all points of sale. For example, if the program determines that the intervals between purchases are shorter than usual, then a queue has formed at the checkout. Today, the retailer has its own development center specializing in Big Data, a competent system of product logistics, inventory management and suppliers, which allows the network to offer customers products at low prices.



At the same time, a couple of years ago, the retailer did not plan to develop sales on the Internet, because its management was convinced that their audience was not interested. However, on the basis of analytics of customer preferences in December of the current year, Magnit began testing an online store.

Work with CRM and retention marketing, active communication with the client

This trend is made up of the first two. In a crisis, retailers willingly redefine their approach to working with a customer base and loyalty programs. The demand for specialists and solutions that help build profitable discount-bonus programs has grown, and not just mindlessly distribute discounts, as it has been for many years.

The first retention-marketing began to use offline retailers, and in recent years the tool is in demand in online trading, for example, in online stores of clothing, shoes or cosmetics. Thus, they motivate customers to repeat purchases using emails, SMS and push notifications in mobile applications. In the segment of high-value goods with these communication channels, it is better to add phone calls to recipients, because talking to a “live” person is more motivating to spend a large amount of money than sending.



Retention-marketing tools for total costs are cheaper than contextual and display advertising and can provide up to 40-60% of total sales in some segments.

Growing interest in iBeacon technology in Russia

Apple's patented technology allows iBeacon radio transmitters and smartphones that support BLE to share data. It helps to track the movement of visitors through the store, guide them to certain areas and products, navigating inside the premises, engage in complex game mechanics, show special offers for goods located in the immediate vicinity of the person at the moment. So far, Russian retailers cannot boast of successful cases using this technology, but I hope they will appear in the near future.



Source: NewRetail .