How important is customer centricity for retailers? Stationary retail businesses have been under pressure for quite some time now. And there is no end in sight. This warrants the question what it takes for them to do better – or for a number of retail companies even what it takes for them to survive. Not very surprisingly, the answer is customer centricity. And that’s not just because our company’s name is ‘What About The Customer’. It’s because the concept of customer centricity includes a number of valuable levers a retail business can pull in order to improve its position.
A recent article by Ron Jacobs on ‘Retail Customer Experience’, a web portal specialised on the topic, lists four steps for a retailer to become customer-centric and hence more successful:
- Investing in data and data analytics
- Personalising customer experiences
- Building emotional connections with customers
- Rethinking loyalty programs
As a regular reader of our blog, you will know about the importance we place on fact-based decision-making, on an inclusive organisation and on mutual value creation. We would therefore fully support the first point about investments in data and analysis. Points two to four are definitely crucial for creating value both for the organisation and for its customers. So, there is another tick mark. The elements we are missing, though, is the cultural aspect. In retail, the coordination and cooperation of all involved stakeholders – namely suppliers, business enablers, staff and customers themselves – is both particularly important and especially complex. Hence, it is vital for retail businesses to put special focus on this cultural aspect. In addition to the four valuable points brought forward by the author.
If you would like to read the article mentioned in this blog, please click here. For another interesting blog post on customer centricity for retailers, follow this link.
