your customer feature digital marketing Know

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1 Know your customer Tech-savvy customers are now demanding access to products and offers anytime, anywhere. As a result, marketing services need to be tailored for customers to provide personalised offers across all channels. Amber Stokes finds out more Developments in technology have changed how people shop today. Consumers are used to multi-channel retailing, but retailers must now also ensure they implement more targeted, personalised marketing services across all these channels to fulfil the expectations of their value-driven customers. Independent market research across all geographies and demographics show that the consumer journey to the point of purchase is increasingly digital, even when the point of purchase is the traditional retail store, says Colin Masson, worldwide solution director for consumer goods and retail at Microsoft. During the past eighteen months, more devices, better plans and faster access have changed the way consumers interact. For example, many consumers are using their devices in the stores to comparison shop, read reviews or poll their friends, says Chris Lybeer, vice president and general manager of marketing and mobile solutions at NCR, which specialises in self-checkout solutions and has developed converged retailing c-tailing a solution that enables a personalised experience based on consumer preference through multichannel solutions, whether in-store, online or mobile. Web sites that were once viewed on a computer or laptop screen are now reduced to a handheld device or repackaged for an application; the consumer is no longer simply viewing at home they can be in the store, holding the product. With this in mind, marketing departments must stay connected with media-centric consumers. Buyers have more choices and more opinions to consider, says Nate Barad, director of product marketing at Sitecore. The company s software consists of enterprise web content management and customer experience management solutions, which includes website solutions and integrated automation of marketing tasks and e-commerce. As the balance of informational power has shifted to consumers, retailers must earn and own audiences across , mobile and social channels. The retail brands that can best leverage their consumer touchpoints to build, nurture and grow their customers will likely accomplish the Holy Grail lifetime customers.

2 During the past eighteen months, more devices, better plans and faster access have changed the way consumers interact. For example, many consumers are using their devices in the stores to comparison shop, read reviews or poll their friends Chris Lyheer NCR Multi-channel retailing is certainly giving consumers more control over retailers. But what does this mean for the marketing departments? It is no longer enough to have a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing, says Justin Calvo, global director at Avanade. Effective marketing campaigns are incorporating all forms of communication and are based on individual customer needs. Marketing departments therefore need to get to know customers to deliver marketing services that are personalised. Putting the customer at the heart of the business, means delivering customer experiences that are personal, seamless and differentiated, so that customers choose the retailer, brand, airline or hotel first; spend more; recommend to others; and want to keep coming back, adds Masson. Digital marketing services are endless across these new channels, including the web, social media, tablets, mobile, PCs and even games consoles. Companies like popular chocolate brand Reese s, which recently turned to Microsoft Advertising to implement Xbox LIVE to deliver its marketing strategy and build brand awareness, are thinking of new ways to reach new and existing customers. Marketers need to be increasingly mobile, engaging, relevant and aware, says Barad. Being relevant to your customer in every context improves brand loyalty and enhances engagement. Smart marketers should follow, predict and create customer journeys using personalised campaigns with relevant offers/content at the right time. In order to make such predictions and drive increased sales through specially tailored multi-channel marketing services, 29

3 retailers need to analyse customer data in order to understand what customers want. Owned by leading analytics data solutions company, Teradata, Aprimo has been helping marketers overcome the challenges they face for more than 12 years. According to Aprimo CMO, Lisa Arthur, data has in the past been stored departmentally within businesses and has therefore been hard to analyse and use, meaning retailers had less visibility into their customers needs. It needs to be not only managed but leveraged, because what s generally hidden in a company s data is a tremendously valuable trove of insights, information and intelligence that can be used to strengthen customer relationships and competitive position, she says. First, you need to develop a full perspective of customer Viewpoint: JustEnough promotion management solution JustEnough s promotion management solution offers a social and mobile advertising management component that bridges the gap between offline and online promotions. Now, marketers can extend existing promotions to Facebook and other social channels, and then reach even further by going mobile, using one solution to manage it all. This online presence creates a rich environment that draws in shoppers and keeps them interested by displaying relevant promotions and allowing social interaction, while the solution s specialised mobile application reaches shoppers on the go with the latest promotions tailored to their preferences and location. JustEnough s solution allows users to improve the efficiency and results of their online and mobile advertising by connecting campaign management, creative library, target market segmentation and bid optimisation. Once campaigns start, users can track the performance of each promotion by channel to access their effectiveness. This profiles so you can connect with them and understand what that data is telling you. This means leveraging all enterprise data to drive decisions, with a complete view of the customer regardless of channel used. Analysing this data is essential for retailers to be able to provide a targeted and personal marketing service to customers. You need to use that intelligence to gain meaningful customer insights, confirms Arthur. This concerns the ability to evaluate past behaviours. Then, in an ongoing and interactive way, you need to touch the customer with relevant messages. By establishing what the customer wants and across which channel, retailers can deliver more effective marketing services across all channels and, ultimately, keep hold of customers in Promotion management How to reach new customers and retain existing ones with social and mobile advertising allows users to make changes mid-stream to improve performance, and predict and plan better future promotions. The solution can integrate with Microsoft Dynamics, allowing companies to take promotions that are already planned and publish them online and on mobile channels without redundant data entry. This unique capability streamlines the process and greatly expands the reach of promotions. The JustEnough solution helps marketers to improve the effectiveness of online and mobile advertising campaigns an ever increasingly competitive market. Consumers expect to be communicated to via their preferred channels, and companies need to monitor all of the data that comes back in through them, says Arthur. Because if it isn t made relevant, personalised and meaningful to them, consumers will switch brands in an instant. Today s consumers expect to be known. Aprimo and Teradata are working together to bring powerful business analytics with integrated marketing solutions to enable companies to improve and optimise marketing performance with data-driven insights. As Arthur explains: Information workers can use familiar tools such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Windows and SharePoint, which seamlessly integrate with the Teradata-Aprimo solutions. This allows businesses to gain control over their data, increase their performance and reduce their total cost of ownership. Microsoft is dedicated to providing solutions for campaigns that help retailers better connect information, systems and people to gain a real competitive advantage through enhanced online customer experiences, easy-to-manage web sites and improved integration across all channels. With one of the largest partner ecosystems in the world, Microsoft and its partners can help retailers move their and business strategies into the future, says Sitecore s Barad. Microsoft s approach is comprehensive. It spans what you are doing to build that personal, seamless and differentiated experience across channels, the toolsets that your organisation uses to be operationally efficient, and the analytics (including big data) that give you a better understanding of what the consumer is doing, Masson concurs. Microsoft provides the broadest consumer reach, with breadth of popular media sites and unique channels, such as Xbox and Windows 8 Marketplace and applications. The Microsoft platform provides companies with an agile foundation for that brings together content management, customer relationship management, business intelligence and application development, says Avanade s Calvo. Through its public cloud platform, Windows Azure, Microsoft is focusing on delivering massive scalability

4 and improved global connectivity. Working with Sitecore, Avanade delivers solutions and services that help marketers more quickly and efficiently manage and analyse campaigns across all marketing channels. These services are available on premises or on-demand through Microsoft Windows Azure. Leading retailers are already using Microsoft technology to deliver effective campaigns. Dierbergs is an upscale supermarket chain in the St. Louis, Missouri, metro area in the US, which has been in business since The company implemented Sitecore s.net web platform to create an online presence that complemented and supported its noted, in-store retail experience. Dierbergs saw impressive sales returns, a growing newsletter subscription list and an everexpanding database of qualified online customers ready to accept future marketing campaigns. Sitecore s web platform provided the foundation to move a 150-yearold, family-run business and its traditional, high-quality values into a high-touch online shopping experience, says Barad. The importance of personalised offers across multiple channels will only grow in years to come. The evolution towards personalised, one-to-one communication will continue, says Barad. Mass marketing is no longer a viable strategy. Retailers need to keep in mind that product quality, availability, consumption experience and visual branding are all still key to consumer engagement. I expect to see a dramatic increase in the investment in both to capture a share of the increased online spending by consumers, but also in technologies such as digital signage, interactive kiosks, mobile clienteling, loyalty management and mobile POS to further differentiate the store shopping experience, adds Masson. We re already seeing the blend of and in-store experiences from pioneers like Build-A-Bear Workshop, which invented experiential mall-based retailing 15 years ago. They ve just started rolling out their newly imagined stores that use Microsoft technologies, including a Kinect-based interactive storefront to entice people into the store and PixelSense touch tables for children to interact with as they make their personal bears. The experience and further marketing opportunities continues as children bring their bears to life at Bearville.com. New product launches from Microsoft will extend developments in targeted and connected, services. We re creating new ways to engage with users in a simplified powerful platform such as Windows 8, combined with the ease of use of the modern touch-friendly user interface, contines Masson. The operating system Customers don t like to be sold to. They will find their own ways to get advice and increasingly they do so online and only at a later stage in their purchase process do they reach out to solution providers for assistance. The trend at Honeywell Scanning & Mobility is to invest more time and focus on delivering information and tools that are valuable to our customers and prospects. Examples of this are sponsored research reports, success stories about innovation and short webinars by industry experts. Ultimately, we try to deliver more value to our customers through relevant marketing services. Earlier this year, we set a goal to create a simple online communication tool that provides the right information to the right people at the right time for all the industries we serve and it had to be fast and easy to use. The result is Stripped of marketing jargon and product sales messages, this virtual city is designed to give customers a bird s eye view of the information they need. As a result, we see our inbound marketing flourish, retailers and other industry will seamlessly integrate across all channels, providing marketers with the perfect tool to deliver innovative and personal services to customers across all channels. Plus, with upcoming ads in apps, you ll be able to reach consumers across screens and devices at scale. Advertising in Windows 8 will take advantage of both the functionality of the app platform and properties like MSN, Windows Live, MSNBC, Skype, Bing and more across all screens. This will give you the ability to reach users at home, work and play wherever they are through a consistent content experience. Viewpoint: Marcel Dijkkamp, EMEA Marcom Leader, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility HSMcity Honeywell Scanning & Mobility provides a personalised marketing tool that appeals to a demanding online audience, says Marcel Dijkkamp specialists know where to find us when they need help. Until that time, they can get news and trends about barcode scanning, enterprise mobile computing and data and asset management at their leisure online. Our increased focus on online marketing does not mean that the traditional marketing techniques have disappeared. On the contrary, we see that they are becoming more effective and efficient. For example, pro-actively calling out to customers and prospects can still provide value to both sides even more than before because this personal interaction now typically comes at a more convenient and relevant time for the customer. Marcel Dijkkamp, Honeywell

5 Viewpoint: Guðbjartur Páll Guðbjartsson, Developer, LS Retail Taking intelligent marketing to new heights Guðbjartur Páll Guðbjartsson explains how services can enhance customer relationships and cut costs Recent developments in technology have enabled retailers and hospitality organisations to understand customers even better. Companies are now able to tailor their marketing efforts to each individual customer using calculations based on their purchase decisions. In essence, has taken intelligent marketing to new heights. Today with mobile phones, , internet and social media websites, companies can reach their customers more directly at a fraction of the cost. They can interact with them in real time, see what interests them and what they like. This also means that companies can plan their purchasing better buying and selling the products customers actually want, resulting in less surplus stock with high markdown. Technological advances will continue to help companies in retail and hospitality understand the customer better. Web cookies are becoming more intelligent; they can follow customers web activities to determine what kind of buyer they are. In-store technology such as body measurement sensors helps retailers know their customers even better and determine what they prefer. And, as was revealed not so long ago, customers can try clothes on digitally in the store to see how it would fit. Retailers will be able to use those experiences to market directly to the customer through , mobile and direct mail. As a Microsoft partner, LS Retail offers complete end-to-end solutions for retailers, including customer intelligence via member management and mobile loyalty. Guðbjartur Páll Guðbjartsson, LS Retail