MARKETING
The juxtaposition of Big Data analytics and communications technology have combined to make a high octane marketing fuel.Marketing has gone technical and digital;mass media is no longer enough - or even relevent. Instead, the new technologies allow communication to millions of individual customers, finding all the needles in the haystack and thus step by step enhancing the customer journey.
Customer experience has always been the key differentiator among Retailers;the difference now is that the customer can browse multiple sites and brands very quickly through mobile technology. A seamless Physical/On Line Retail environment can interact with the Customer in many different media as well as within the physical Store. To succeed in today's environment, the Retailer must be able to provide the customer with a seamless digital journey, from enquiry, through short listing, through to purchase across all On Line portals or in the bricks and mortar store - and select whether to deliver to customer address or Click and Collect.
So Marketing and Sales have to be organised for the customer's convenience - not the Company's. These new communication and sales routes are the key vehicles for the marketing and selling the Brand and its values, as well as for building customer loyalty.
BIG DATA MARKETING
Its back to Analytics.The essentials of competitive marketing - strong brands and relevent values - remain the same and creativity is always at a premium. But big data analytics is moving marketing into very technical targetting and sales optimisation capabilities,
allowing an understanding of the behaviour of the thousands of clusters of consumers that make up the brand's franchise. Marketing has gone digital and the business needs to ensure that its Marketing and Technology Departments have the relevent skills and processes. Its a big challenge.
CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION
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Digital has multiplied and accelerated communications a thousand fold, and the speed continues to increase. Communication is multiplex: customer to retailer, customer to customer. It may be voice, email, social media,video, or face to face in store. It may be mobile or laptop; it maybe gaming device or landline. Marketing has to be organised for communicating with thousands of individuals with specific messages. This requires a sea change in the way Marketing functions and interacts with IT and Channel Managers as well as high speed decision making and agility. The communications revolution is changing the marketing and sales game for businesses.
SEAMLESS RETAILING
Multi channel is not the same as Seamless Retail. As Businesses are learning, the Marketing and Sales effort has to match and shadow the customer journey, from initial enquiry to browsing and fact finding right through to purchase and then re-purchasing. Seamless customer service is paramount, whether it is from the Sales Staff on the Store floor or on line; whether it is from Technology or Accounts. Service standards must be the same and communication must be instant and easy, backed up by the real capability to fulfill and deliver, receive or exchange anywhere, anytime. This is another huge change in the Sales and Distribution system of retailers. Without this capability, businesses will not be able to compete.