Customer Retention

More and more brick-and-mortar retailers are jumping onto the subscription bandwagon. Take Sephora, for example. When the makeup retailer launched its subscription box, PLAY! by Sephora, customers felt like they were pushing “play” on a customized mix from someone who knew all their favorite songs. Each box includes five deluxe cosmetic products, from old favorites to…

The holiday selling season is shaping up to be all about convenience and control for consumers. Successful retailers will deliver on this wish list by using the right strategies to capture holiday sales and win over consumers. Based on our work with many of the world’s most recognized brands, Alliance Data recently looked at how…

Fans of the 80’s cult-classic movie "Gremlins" will remember that it takes place around the holidays, as the cute little mogwai “Gizmo” is given as a gift. However, the exotic mogwai comes with three important rules: Don’t expose the mogwai to light (or it will die), don’t get it wet, and definitely don’t feed it…

Retailers have mastered the art of curating a superior customer experience up to the point of purchase, but new research indicates they're missing the mark when it comes to delivering the superior aftermarket experience today’s customer expects and, as importantly, they're missing out on new revenue opportunities. Ikea's recent acquisition of TaskRabbit, a sharing economy…

Having a short adventure may seem fun at the beginning, but building a long-term relationship is far more rewarding.  Lighters can’t warm you for good. If you're short-sighted and don’t maintain the fire burning, you’ll end up freezing. In the game of retail, it’s exactly like romance. You start building relationships with people looking to…

"If you don't put your people first, and invest in your people, I don't think you can have that customer experience that customers are going to want to be attracted to and loyal to."

Successful businesses must be customer-centric. Retail marketers know it’s important, but they’re confused about how to make it happen. This is understandable, considering some of the challenges they face. Retailers still have a myopic view of customers, and thus they're lacking answers to basic questions such as the following: Where is most revenue coming from? What are the challenges associated with generating repeat purchases from loyal customers? Where do we need improvements to our customer marketing, channels, products and services?

Consumer loyalty reward programs across every facet of retail are antiquated and ineffective. Seventy-seven percent of adults in the United States participate in loyalty programs, however, more than $100 billion in loyalty points have gone unclaimed as trust in loyalty program benefits plummets. These rewards points go unused because consumers either don’t know how to claim…

There's nothing more important than building up confidence for your brand. However, it won’t happen fast and it won’t happen easily. It will likely take some incremental investments, but it doesn’t need to break the bank. Here a few ways that will help: Authenticity One of the most important elements of building confidence is authenticity.…