Implementing a complete retail customer engagement solution built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform

Transcription

1 Implementing a complete retail customer engagement solution built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform How retailers can increase traffic, customer conversion, and average transaction size

2 Executive Summary The retail world is constantly evolving and recent economic events are reshaping the consumer s notion of value. This shift has retailers struggling to redefine their businesses as they respond to increasing customer demands and lower transaction values. Cost-cutting measures, while prudent in the short term, simply do not drive comp store sales. Today s digitally empowered consumers expect their shopping experiences to be personalized, relevant, and enjoyable. To increase revenue, retailers need to improve store traffic, convert more customers, and increase average transaction size. A proven way to accomplish this three-part objective is by implementing customer-centric strategies that enable retailers to build lifetime value with their most profitable customers. Creating a culture of repeatable customer excellence requires a pervasive, unified solution that leverages every customer touch point and connects the entire retail operation with a goal of knowing, engaging with, and serving their customers better. Retaligent, the leaders in clienteling and assisted selling software, has developed this end-to-end solution built on Microsoft Dynamics xrm. Charisma 1:1 seamlessly integrates back office marketing and analysis functions with in-store clienteling and loyalty tools, delivered on a proven computing platform. This combined Retaligent-Microsoft solution enables retailers to empower their associates to build better relationships, engage their customers, and elevate their sales profitability to new levels. 2

3 INTRODUCTION Boosting revenue by improving customer experiences Historically, retailers have invested heavily in transaction systems, merchandising systems, and supply chain technologies in order to drive down costs through increased efficiencies. Having maximized possible savings to labor and operations, retailers are now focusing on increasing top-line revenue and customer lifetime value. This is being enabled by a new generation of in-store sales technologies that allow retailers to deliver a superior shopping experience. As noted by Forrester Research, defining and executing the ideal customer experience is critical. A recent study shows a high correlation between customer experience and loyalty. Loyal behavior is defined as willingness to buy more, reluctance to switch, and likelihood to recommend. The study indicated that customer experience leaders have a 14 percentage point advantage over customer experience laggards across all three areas of loyalty. But loyalty is only part of the equation. From a practical perspective, boosting retail revenue means moving one or more of these three levers: Increasing traffic: Bringing more customers into the store Increasing conversion: Getting customers to buy today Increasing transaction size: Getting customers to buy more Unfortunately, retail employees those who are most directly engaged with customers often don t have the information and selling tools needed to positively affect the three revenue drivers. Perhaps more important, retailers generally have not developed an all-encompassing customer engagement methodology that focuses on moving these three levers. This results in dissatisfied customers and diminished store performance. 3

4 Today s consumers expect the brands they shop to understand their needs and to be served consistently across all channels (e.g., in-store, online, social networks, kiosks, and consumer mobile devices). Understanding the customer requires monitoring customer activities, extracting knowledge from each customer touch point, aligning business processes, and building loyal learning relationships during each interaction. Making this happen consistently requires integrating the entire retail operation from front of store to back office with a cohesive solution that addresses three key aspects of increasing retail performance: Increasing customer insight and brand communication supported by data analysis tools and back office multichannel marketing capabilities Empowering the front-line associate with in-store clienteling, and loyalty tools Gaining insight from information to improve decision making, assortment, and business building activities All areas of the business can be enhanced by providing enterprise-wide access to data, analysis, and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities on a proven, comprehensive, retail computing platform. This white paper describes a new product from Retaligent, the leaders in clienteling and assisted selling solutions. Retaligent s Charisma 1:1 provides an end-to-end solution built on a Microsoft Dynamics xrm foundation. Charisma 1:1 enables retailers to offer the kinds of customer experiences that are proven to boost top-line revenue growth and long-term profitability. 4

5 SITUATION ANALYSIS The challenge facing retailers: enhancing customer loyalty while improving top-line revenue The Situation: Today s digitally empowered consumers are changing. They expect their shopping experience to be personalized, relevant, and enjoyable. They re demanding more from retailers because they are now armed with more information than ever before. They use mobile devices and the web to access abundant information to learn, shop, and communicate in new ways. What s more, the recent recession has taught them new budget discipline, which has made them more demanding and more likely to defect if another retailer or associate provides better service or more options. To succeed in this new reality, retailers must also change. If retailers hope to keep customers and gain market share, they must connect people, insight, and customer relationships in new ways. They need to learn and understand more about their customers distinct needs, wants and desires, and deliver on them with personalized differentiating experiences and new forms of communication that consumers prefer. Unfortunately, most businesses need to face another new reality: the need to do more with fewer resources. Today, retailers need to meet three fundamental business challenges: Personalizing the customer experience Differentiating their brands based on service and the relevancy of communication Building customer loyalty in the digital age developing repeat customers at a time when it s easier than ever for them to switch stores, or avoid stores altogether by buying online The Challenge: Power has shifted to the smarter consumer. One thing has become very clear: retailers will need to become more customer-centric if they hope to compete in this new evolving retail landscape. What is customer centricity? One definition says the term refers to the orientation of a company to the needs and behaviors of its customers, instead of internal drivers, such as short-term profit. Traditionally, retailers have maintained a merchant perspective directing the focus of the business around a portfolio of products. Their single objective was to attract more customers to buy from that portfolio. 5

6 However, twenty-first century retailing is fundamentally different. Retailers now need to think in terms of a portfolio of deep customer relationships, in which trust, loyalty, and personalization yield opportunities to develop and sell new products to their best customers. This kind of unrelenting customer focus has been difficult to attain for many retailers because traditional tools are not up to the job and lack the capability to effectively support new operational and sales processes. But now the necessary enabling technologies have come of age, changing what until recently was theoretically possible into achievable today. As a result, today s retailers can look to increasingly powerful, user-friendly business software solutions for help. These solutions build on the foundational technologies of CRM. Retailers are discovering that the best results come from the intersection of marketing with sales execution. In other words, from a full lifecycle customer engagement solution. The Recommendation: Retaligent s Charisma1:1, built on Microsoft s Dynamics CRM platform, enables the organization to synchronize corporate objectives with store execution and makes every associate a sales and relationship specialist. Charisma1:1 puts the knowledge of the enterprise into the hands of the associate at the point of decision. In addition, this customer engagement application will: Help the retailer gain a 360-degree view of customer and foster a learning relationship between the customer and the brand that cannot be easily replicated by other retailers Provide a way for best practices of the organization to be institutionalized, guaranteeing a consistent in-store experience Analyze customer buying behavior to create personalized promotions targeted to specific customers and favored channels Equip the sales associate with easy to use POS, PC, and handheld devices that are integrated with back office systems and customer touch points Provide relevant customer data to the sales associates, integrating with customer profile, preferences, lifestyle information, and various customer interaction systems Manage store-level and outbound customer contact Provide the ability to promote two-way communication between all areas of the enterprise Provide detailed product availability information and product recommendations through access to backend merchandise and fulfillment systems Reduce associate training requirements, offsetting high turnover costs Offer integrated management dashboards and reporting across all channels of customer interaction 6

7 THE ROLE OF CRM/CLIENTELING The importance of CRM tools in today s retail environment A recent Aberdeen Group research document reviewed customer centricity by evaluating customer needs, wants, and preferences before, during, and after the sales process. In that report, Aberdeen stated, CRM tools are pivotal in the before the sale stage of customer-centric retailing. However, they are also used in stores and channels in the during the sale stage of customer experience to update customer information, customer record look-up, and fulfill loyalty couponing related functions at the POS. When executed well, CRM is both tactical and strategic, putting the customer relationship at the center of business focus. Accordingly, an effective CRM initiative should combine back office marketing tools (such as analytics, campaign management, loyalty, and offer delivery) seamlessly with in-store clienteling tools (such as customer profiles, preferences, associate tasks, gift and wish lists, and letters/ capability). By bringing together all of the data and insight related to marketing, sales, and operations, retailers are armed with an end-to-end customer engagement platform capable of leveraging data across channels and enabling a flexible approach to various customer strategies. Retail Customer Engagement Platform 7

8 Above all, the clienteling or customer experience component is key to the successful execution of any customer engagement strategy. Forrester Research defines clienteling as, using data about an individual customer s buying habits and preferences during interactions in the store. Aberdeen Group is also defining clienteling when it reports that, More than half of Best-in-Class retailers collaborate internally for creating a sales and service culture that addresses customer needs at all times, and are twice as likely as Laggard retailers to measure customer preferences and lifestyle information, leading to more targeted customer-centric retailing. Clienteling puts the power of personalized selling into the hands of sales associates at the point of decision. It enables sales associates to better connect and strengthen their relationships with their best customers, leading to greater customer intimacy and loyalty. As a result, clienteling is the primary enabler of a personalized customer-centric shopping experience, providing insight into customer purchases, preferences, and lifestyle while prompting associates to interact through the most effective channel at the ideal time before, during, and after the sale. Clienteling integrated with analytics, marketing, loyalty and offer delivery capabilities provides the foundation that enables retailers to implement effective in-store and online strategies. However, in the realm of CRM, retail poses some unique challenges. Customers wants and needs are diverse, in-store employee skill sets and roles are varied, product categories are vast, and consumer interaction practices vary by department and store. Addressing these myriad requirements requires a solution with an underlying context- aware architecture. Context-aware means that the solution understands the unique nature of each interaction and can customize the experience for the user or customer while leveraging a common set of business rules. Understandably, users in different departments on different devices have differing roles and use requirements. The application must be aware of the unique context of each interaction and provide a simple logical workflow that addresses each specific need. By combining back office marketing tools with in-store clienteling tools, retailers can gain greater visibility into the key operational metrics of the store, region, and enterprise. All levels of management can create custom dashboards to easily see how behavior and performance within specific stores is impacting corporate financials. 8

9 This table highlights the key roles and types of functional capabilities contained in an effective enterprise-wide customer engagement technology architecture. Role Required Capability Potential Benefit Sales Associate Store Manager Retail Operations Corporate Marketing Executive Management Client book with customer profile Tasks, appointments and activities Outreach tools telescript/ /letters/texting/ social networks Customer purchase history Shopper preferences & sizes Gift & wish lists Product knowledge and availability Product recommendation and coordination Customer service items and requests Sales associate performance Task and communication completion rates Ad hoc query and reporting Customer sales metrics Store level metrics, UPT, DPT, recency/frequency & other KPI s Assignment of tasks to team Creation of lists for outbound customer contact Customizable dashboard reporting with drill-down to individual store or associate level execution Push tasks and messaging directly to managers and store associates Real-time monitoring of campaigns and associate performance for store, region, section or enterprise Compare stores using both corporate KPI s and aggregated behavioral metrics of staff Analysis of campaign and best practice performance Create rapid multi-channel campaigns using print, or text Analyze and segment customers based on sales and lifestyle data Create customer-specific offers and campaigns available across multiple channels Queue offers for execution at the store or online Monitor campaign effectiveness and compliance Manage total campaign costs and ROI Customizable dashboard for KPI reporting with drill down to any level of enterprise Comparative region and store analysis Monitor compliance to corporate CRM initiatives Provide scorecard of corporate relevant metrics Improved customer relationships Improved associate productivity Improved sales responsiveness Improved traffic as a result of outreach Increased up/cross sell and conversion Increased customer satisfaction Increased revenue/upt & DPT Improved customer service and retention Monitor, manage and influence associate behavior Easily identify sales coaching and training opportunities Resolve customer problems quickly with automated follow-up Improve sell through, margin and store revenue Improved compliance with corporate initiatives and campaigns Monitor and manage quality of customer contact Identify best practices from high performing stores and institutionalize Reduce product training costs Create campaign once and use across channels Improve ROI by selecting the ideal channel by customer or offer Monitor real-time sales execution against marketing campaigns Improve customer response rates by driving the next best action with the customer Immediate access to meaningful enterprise data Improved decision support Customizable views to meet ad hoc requirements 9

10 SOLUTION DETAILS Retaligent Solution Architecture: About Retaligent and Charisma 1:1 Retaligent Solutions, Inc. provides many of the world s most respected retailers with clienteling, assisted selling, loyalty, and gift/wish list solutions. Retaligent s applications are designed to improve associate performance while enhancing the customer s in-store experience, at the point of decision. Founded on Retaligent s unparalleled retail expertise, the company s solutions enhance customer knowledge, automate sales processes through task and communication tools, deliver product knowledge, and improve operations on a common integrated platform. Working closely with Microsoft, Retaligent has recently launched Charisma1:1, a complete end-to-end customer engagement solution built on the Microsoft Dynamics xrm platform. Charisma1:1 enables retailers to improve their shopping experience and create ongoing learning relationships with their best customers. It also allows them to synchronize back office functions with in-store execution, driving relevant, timely customer communication and recommendations while building lifetime value with their customers. Underlying Charisma1:1 is a powerful, retail-specific analytics, marketing, and campaign management platform that is integrated with the solution s loyalty and clienteling capabilities. The system specifically supports the needs of the four primary actors of retailing: customer, associate, product, and (operational) process. The result: an enterprise-wide, full customer lifecycle solution that supports multi-channel marketing initiatives and guides sales associates to execute proven best practices with customers across multiple channels. Charisma1:1 drives increased customer traffic, improved conversion, and leads to higher average transactions size. Solution Details Charisma1:1 was designed to fully leverage the Microsoft Dynamics xrm platform, as well as a suite of additional Microsoft products that include Microsoft SQL Server /SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Active Directory, and Microsoft SharePoint. The solution enhances features of the powerful xrm platform specifically for retail and combines it with a powerful, easy-to-use clienteling and loyalty interface for the in-store user. The state-of-the-art presentation layer leverages the latest Microsoft Silverlight 4 technology. These products, in conjunction with xrm s robust application platform, has allowed for the development of a fully extensible application that delivers critical business features needed by the corporate marketing department, retail management, and in-store sales associates. 10

11 Charisma 1:1 Logical Architecture Foundation Charisma1:1 is designed and architected around the Microsoft product stack and leverages the latest product and architectural features. The solution provides an engaging and customized user experience for every type of user, including the store associate, store manager, mid-level executive, and corporate executive. Underlying the clienteling solution is the Dynamics xrm Application Platform. This robust platform provides the key elements needed to rapidly implement an extensive enterprise solution through a variety of components, including data and metadata services, access and security infrastructure, advanced search engine, and a comprehensive workflow runtime. Retaligent has designed the solution with system integrators and corporate IT in mind, and has provided a solution that is easy to configure, enhance, and deploy. This development approach allows for seamless product upgrades and future enhancements, whether provided by Retaligent or a system integrator partner. To manage an array of complex clienteling and CRM business rules, the solution leverages plug-ins that address retail-specific synchronous requirements and reusable workflow components that manage the configuration of common best practice activities. 11

12 Presentation Layer The presentation layer is fully extracted from the business logic, making it easy to modify, brand, or redesign the interface without changing any of the business logic. Entities are wrapped in a series of web services and exposed for consumption by a variety of platforms and applications. The core of the front-end clienteling client application is developed in Microsoft Silverlight to leverage support across multiple platforms, including point of sale (POS), kiosks, PCs, and Windows Mobile Devices. This approach allows the application to offer visual Web Interface elements that can be componentized to meet other specific requirements. Product Feature Overview The Charisma1:1 comprises the following integrated components: Business Process Engine Clienteling Loyalty Offer Delivery Campaign Management Analytics & Segmentation Performance Dashboard Social Networking Designed to parallel retail business strategies Perhaps the best way to understand the potential for Charisma1:1 is by looking at the four primary actors of retailing. 1. The customer. By capturing customer information, transaction history, preferences and wish lists, Charisma1:1 gives retailers the building blocks to drive relevant communication and personalized value propositions. 2. The associate. Associates can leverage the information Charisma puts at their fingertips to provide a higher level of service. Charisma s task and communication tools enable associates to make relevant recommendations and communicate regularly with top customers. 3. The product. Armed with mobile devices, associates have unprecedented access to product knowledge and enterprise availability. For complex products such as TVs and home appliances, Charisma 1:1 provides access to detailed specifications, accessories, alternate selections, and real-time specials that can be delivered to customer cell phones or associate handheld devices. 4. In-store processes. A retailer s unique set of processes can be integrated into the Charisma solution and incorporated into workflows for management and store associates. Examples include product holds, repairs, shipments, or custom product configuration for items such as furniture and apparel. 12

13 These eight components have been designed to leverage the Dynamics xrm platform, in either a standalone application configuration or as a combined solution. The solution suite also leverages Microsoft SQL Server, including SSAS, SSIS, and SSRS, as well as SharePoint with advanced PresentationPoint capabilities. The solution provides hooks into other key Microsoft products such as Microsoft Exchange, a key component for the integration with corporate tools. Lastly, Charisma1:1 is developing pre-built integration adaptors to several products, including Microsoft s RMS application, Microsoft Dynamics product suite, and many other popular third-party retail systems. Business Process Engine/Best Practices Wizard The Best Practices Wizard provides overlay functionality across all components. This Wizard is the cornerstone of the Charisma1:1 offering and provides robust features that drive the best practices of retailing through an easy-to-use business process flow. The Best Practices Wizard provides a front-to-back, configurable solution that allows the retailer to focus on very specific business needs while helping the retailer develop all of the elements necessary for the particular initiative. Areas of focus include: Increasing traffic Increasing average transaction size Increasing repeat visits/frequency Increasing associate productivity Increasing items per transaction Increasing margin Other relevant retail business metrics Once the appropriate initiative has been identified, the wizard walks the retailer through a step-by-step process to identify a targeted solution. Based on the specific initiative, the application will also help the retailer prepare the needed items to execute the program. Clienteling/Client Book Retaligent has leveraged the Microsoft Dynamics platform to deliver a world-class, in-store CRM/Clienteling module that incorporates decades of Retaligent s clienteling application expertise. The Client Book, which replaces the little black book used by some retailers, is built on the Dynamics xrm platform, leveraging the flexibilities of the CRM entities, as well as key elements of the Business Intelligence (BI)/Analytics and Workflow features. The solution supports global deployment, with multi-language and multi-currency capabilities and a robust role/permission-based architecture. Developed in an ASP.net and web-services environment, the application has a highly interactive, state-of-the-art retail user interface built with Microsoft Silverlight. This module works seamlessly with the other seven modules and comprises three primary components: 13

14 CUSTOMER The Customer elements of the Client Book module include key data elements related to a client, as well as the ability to augment this data after each customer interaction. The key elements of the Customer Module include: Customer Profile: provides a view of the core client data, including contact information, sales summary, and an interaction summary. Purchase History: displays all purchases related to a client and enables the user to filter purchases on various product, department, and associate attributes. Interaction History: includes all interactions that have taken place through the Client Book module and is supplemented by a history of customer touch points initiated from Charisma s seven other modules. This feature provides a holistic view of all client interactions. Preferences: enables retailers to capture and display specific client preferences at the business unit level. Preferences are created, published, and managed by the retailer and can be viewed by all or by only relevant user groups. Social Networking: displays a history of online interactions with a client, captured on various social networking sites. In addition to allowing an associate to communicate directly with an identified customer, the component also enables interactive outreach such as posting items for a customer to consider, and allowing the friends of the customer to vote on the most popular item. SEARCH Critical to any in-store experience, the retail user must have the ability to effectively search against an array of customer data to identify the right client to review or contact. The solution supports both basic client text-based name search capabilities and complex ad hoc query capabilities that search on virtually any customer data elements. ASSOCIATE The Associate component has four functional elements: At-A-Glance: the equivalent of an associate dashboard, with flexibility to provide associates with relevant news or corporate updates. This component supports day-planner functionality to view and manage the work needed for the day (with access to week/month/year). Tasks: driven to associates in the form of either operational tasks or customer communication tasks. The customer communication tasks represent the essence of clienteling. These tasks are supported by communications tools and are populated in several ways: 14

15 through various back office functional modules (Campaign Management and Business Process Engine); by the associate accessing the client profile and setting a task; and through manager team-related tools. Task completion is dynamically updated through the use of the system, allowing for a wide range of manager reporting capabilities. Appointments: enable an associate to create, update, and complete an appointment that is either tied to a task or is a standalone agenda item. This is often used for scheduling in-store events and appointment sales. All appointments are tied directly to a client, allowing for click-through access to a client profile, and all appointment information is tied directly to sales data, allowing a retailer to see the success rate and productivity of their associate s appointment sales. Appointments can be one-time or recurring. Communication Tools: in order to deliver a seamless user experience for the associate on the store floor, Charisma1:1 incorporates communication tools that guide the sales associate in daily customer interaction. The solution provides templates for text, letter, and as well as scripts for outbound telephone calls. The interface will also track the completion and outcome of all customer communications for single or multi-step campaigns. Loyalty Charisma1:1 supports various loyalty schemes and in-store programs. The loyalty components of the solution are tightly integrated with the rest of the solution, providing one key Identifier that is leveraged throughout the application for various programrelated processes. The loyalty components are based on a single-client entity, so households can share loyalty cards or retain different cards per user. Loyalty information can be leveraged by the BI/Analytics, Campaign Management, Dashboard, and Clienteling components of the system. The loyalty management system is designed to create and manage loyalty accounts as either a pointsbased or non points-based solution. It facilitates multi-channel customer value management with functionality such as points accrual, rewards thresholds, customer value rewards, promotions, points to next tier, and points redemption, as well as points reporting and customer statements. Features include: Create member online or in-store Manage and calculate accrual of points Create customer status based on thresholds Provide appropriate data for monthly, quarterly, and yearly statements Redeem points via POS, ecommerce, or marketing communications Multiple/Flexible calculation rules for special rewards events 15

16 Offer Delivery Charisma1:1 leverages BI/Analytics, plug-ins, and workflows to create customer offers such as discounts, coupons, incentives, or special buys. Offers can be delivered across multiple channels through the offer delivery components and can be extended based on a data-driven triggering event, such as a multi-step campaign or attaining a loyalty program threshold. Features include the ability to display queued and real-time offers and messages across channels such as POS terminals and kiosks; track response to the offer; and make offer details available to campaign management. The Offer Delivery system includes: Tracking frequency of offer display by channel Prioritizing offers and offer types based on channel and client-specific segments and/or preference data Setting redemption rules Tracking response and activity Analytics, Campaign Management, and Workflows Analytics incorporated in Charisma1:1 allow for segmentation of the customer base by demographics, spending habits, and lifestyle, as well as by affinity, cross-shop metrics, and other criteria. Segments include lifestyle segmentation based on purchase history, preference data, demographics, and potential third-party data; deciles segmentation based on spend; psychographic/demographic segmentation; buying habit segments; and preferential segmentation. The analytics feature can be used to perform three main retail-focused activities: 1. Determine those clients who belong to an existing or newly created segment. 2. Provide a list of likely customers that will respond to an offer or to receive a campaign. 3. Uncover relationships that can be used to create lists of customers to be leveraged through offers or campaigns. Each type of segmentation will be stored as a customer attribute and will be leveraged by the additional modules of the application. Features include: Save/update/combine segmented lists for future use or reference Publish segment to Clienteling as status i.e., notify associate on the floor of a relevant customer segment, such as Sale Only customer or Tier One Query against segments to create executable lists for store- or associate-driven campaigns and offers Provide data for detailed actionable reports through Reporting and Dashboard Provide client specific cross-shop metrics for main profile Provide Spend Profile for clients, including profitability measures and return rates Charisma s Campaign Management and Workflow capabilities enable users to create multi-step campaigns for client outreach. Campaigns can leverage a specific channel or multiple channels simultaneously. Features include: 16

17 Multi-step campaign capabilities driving next best actions Real-time and trigger-based responses Ability to attach telescript, letter, text, and templates Campaign response rates by campaign type and by campaign creator (e.g., in-store campaign versus corporate campaign) Visibility into specific campaign results via Dashboard Dashboard The Charisma1:1 Dashboard provides a graphical display of relevant business metrics and highlights possible areas of improvement. Retailers can customize the experience with the data they find most relevant. The tool can be configured to provide specific targeted interfaces based on the needs of the myriad user types within a retail environment, including executive management, marketing, store operations, training, call center, and store managers. Leveraging the latest capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint, this solution is designed to reside on a host of different device types, including POS terminals, online, kiosks, and mobile devices. Types of Dashboard items include: Specific campaign metrics by campaign type and associate type Segment metrics Customer aggregate and detail metrics (i.e., cross-shop, affinities) Overall profile metrics for clients Possibilities for improvement (Analytics and Best Practices Wizard) Store Performance and Associate Performance Metrics (i.e., benchmarking to plan) Application Usage Metrics (components as well as clienteling usage) Exception Reporting Social Networking This component utilizes Microsoft s Social Networking engine to enable associates or marketing teams to view and manage communications directly with their customers and to gauge sentiment of their communication across the most popular social networking sites. Social Networking can be used to create a new customer profile or can be appended to an existing profile. Retaligent leverages Microsoft s Social Network engine to complement the following retail programs: Branding to tap into target communities to increase share of voice and obtain feedback on brand perception and to immediately gain feedback on advertising in traditional media Community building to help refine target demographics and find new or emerging demographics by closely monitoring friending relationships Extending customer intelligence gathering by mobilizing voluntary surveys that provide a way to gain deeper insights that can affect promotional and merchandising planning and consumer profiling, create new psychographic profiles from rich personal interests information, and offer a forum for customer feedback 17

18 Real-world benefits from Retaligent Solutions Retaligent customers benefit from the company s retail expertise and experience in a number of ways. The following benefits have been derived from an amalgamation of several of Retaligent s department and specialty store customers. The representative company is an internationally renowned retail department store or specialty store specializing in an array of fashion, lifestyle and home furnishing categories with annual revenues of +$1 billion, an estimated IT budget of $50 Million (2008), and approximately 12,000 associates. This amalgamated retailer experienced: A 1000%+ increase in the number of outbound s and calls to prospective customers by sales associates A 9% Increase in total sales revenue by associate over a period when new customer acquisitions were down 12% A 33% increase in the number of repeat customers A 21% increase in average spend per transaction over three months with customers that were clienteled A times increase in annual spend with customers that were clienteled versus their average customer A 15% increase in re-activation of clients A 6% increase in total traffic directly attributable to associate outbound communication An 8% increase in margin Individual conversion rates of up to 90% with associate-driven product recommendations A double-digit increase in conversion due to inventory visibility and recommendation tools Dramatically improved customer satisfaction, based on exit surveys 18

19 MICROSOFT DYNAMICS The value of leveraging a proven platform Retaligent Charisma1:1 is built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform. Microsoft Dynamics business software offers the retail community a comprehensive, fully integrated set of solutions with rich CRM capabilities that help retailers connect people, processes, and systems to achieve greater customer centricity. Microsoft Dynamics solutions: Are familiar they work like and with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SQL Server database software, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, and other Microsoft products that people already know and use every day. This can simplify development, deployment, and training, and encourage user self-service. Help connect departmental systems and data to create an end-to-end view of a retail business and the unified customer view that produce the premium experience customers demand. Fit into current technology environments, so they deliver value today. Particularly where installed solutions are based on Microsoft products, this can allow companies to leverage technology and licenses they already own. Deliver value tomorrow by making it possible to cost-effectively integrate new, more robust functionality as it becomes available. This helps retailers realize an attractive total cost of ownership and long-term value. Discover the power of Charisma 1:1 Retaligent Charisma1:1 enables retailers to improve their shopping experience and create ongoing learning relationships with their best customers. By synchronizing back office functions with in-store execution, it also facilitates relevant, timely customer communication and recommendations, building lifetime value with customers. This powerful combination drives increased customer traffic, improved conversion, and leads to higher average transactions size. To learn more, contact Retaligent at or info@retaligent.com. 19

20 About Retaligent Retaligent provides the world s premier retailers with Clienteling, Assisted Selling, Loyalty, Marketing and Gift Registry/Wish List applications. Founded on Retaligent s unparalleled retail expertise, Retaligent s robust solutions allow retailers to leverage state-of-the-art information technology to increase topline revenues and improve the effectiveness of their most critical employees with their most important customers.visit for more information. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq MSFT ) is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Retaligent Solutions, Inc Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 300, Atlanta GA voice fax Retaligent Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. Retaligent, Clarience 1:1 and Charisma1:1 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Retaligent Solutions Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. SPECIFICATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. For system, product or services availability and specific information within your country, please contact your local Retaligent office or Business Partner.