Any successful retailer will agree that a great marketing tool is rewarding your most frequent shoppers and loyal customers. But are these two groups actually the same people? Ask your retail sales software before you make assumptions and start nurturing the wrong group.
A Cardlytics study, after looking across restaurants, apparel, grocery, general retail, and gas/convenience, discovered that buying behaviors exhibited by frequent customers and loyal customers were quite different. Frequent shoppers of specific stores are also often heavy “category spenders”--often buying from other retailers within the same channel. Loyal customers, however, who tend to shop less frequently in a category, typically shop at the same stores.
Keep this in mind when you’re creating your customer loyalty programs: 53 percent of apparel customers shop at the same store most of the time, while 75 percent are relatively light shoppers. Heavy spenders are much less loyal, coming in at 15 percent.
However, loyal customers still have value. They still shop at your store, but just as importantly, they spread the word about you—so you need to reward that loyalty. Referral programs might be a good approach for this group.
Regardless, a solid loyalty program is about more than just money. It starts with making your customers remember you—then you build on it with creating a culture and creating a feeling with your customers.
Once you’ve determined who you should reach and how you should reach them, the next big—and important—step is to ensure your solutions, such as your CRM and ERP. Your CRM will track and measure your marketing and automate workflows. Your ERP can use your marketing data to streamline operations, including inventory management.
In the end, customer loyalty is about creating an emotional connection as well as financial incentives. It’s also about investing time and resources into nurturing relationships with key customers who are willing to serve as evangelists for your brand or company. This process requires thoughtfulness and people skills, as well as a solid foundation of retail sales software to keep all of the pieces in order and working together optimally.
Learn more about how to integrate customer loyalty programs and retail sales software by scheduling a free consultation with .
by ArcherPoint LLC
