Customer Retention

The holidays are just around the corner, and most merchants have already put a lot of thought into how they’ll try to maximize sales during the annual shopping blitz. But those with their eyes on the real prize will focus not only on sales volumes this holiday season, but also on how many of those…

Loyal customers are what every brand is after. Considering the cost to acquire new customers — as well as the challenge of identifying which of the multiple touchpoints drove them to purchase — many retailers are recognizing the value in spending to retain the customers they already have. From technology upgrades to improve the shopping…

Website and customer experience optimization aren't new. Both have been slowly and steadily evolving over the past decade and have become a key competitive differentiator for many retailers, especially global brands that have created a “culture of optimization” throughout their organizations. Along with this evolution comes new tips, tricks and techniques based on the previous…

Crowds are following Marvin Ellison around these days. The J.C. Penney CEO is spreading the word about what’s next for the department store chain after his predecessor, Mike Ullman, stabilized a company that had been on the brink of disaster. His strategy: focus on fostering customer loyalty.

Over the past few years, the media has painted millennials as a generation of high-maintenance, lazy and entitled people. Considering that there are more than 75 million millennials in the U.S. alone, it’s a bit faulty to lump them all together. These consumers vary drastically from one another. They’re the most ethnically diverse generation of…

The borders in retail have been broken. Would you agree that customer retention is less expensive that customer acquisition? To put it into perspective, a report by Bain & Company showed that increasing customer retention rates by just 5 percent could increase retail profits anywhere from 25 percent to 95 percent. How’s that for a…

Fact: most retailers simply aren’t doing enough to keep their customers engaged. While many retailers have taken significant strides toward optimizing their appearance and sales channels for omnichannel shoppers, when it comes to increasing customer retention, their strategies are largely still behind the curve. Before providing perspective about what organizations should be doing to increase…

The mixed success of Amazon.com’s Prime Day can teach us something about how customer retention works today. Any retailer can tell you that bargains alone don’t earn loyalty. But what specific tactics do turn deal-seekers into lifetime loyalists? I have some advice to offer about what works now. Before: Set the Table Making a good…

Starbucks is teaming up with ride-sharing service Lyft in the coffee giant’s newest effort to expand its loyalty program beyond its cafes. Under the deal, riders and drivers who use Lyft’s mobile app, which facilitates carpooling, will be able to earn Starbucks loyalty “stars,” which can be redeemed for food and drinks at Starbucks outlets.…

J.Crew has gotten a lot of flack from customers for how pricey much of its merchandise has gotten in the last few years. So to remedy that, the fashion retailer will open the first location in a new chain of lower-priced stores called J.Crew Mercantile later this month, the company announced on Friday. The first…