Cater to the Fashionista in Every Consumer 5 Proven Personalization Strategies for Fashion Retailers
Contents Introduction 3 Deliver Individualized Product Recommendations 4 Beyond Product Recommendations, Personalize the Entire Experience 6 Tap into Every Shopper's Buying Mood 8 Make the Mobile Connection 10 Take Advantage of Email to Promote, Remarket & Re-engage 12 About Certona 14 About Retail TouchPoints 14 Page 2
Introduction Today s consumers are technologically savvy and digitally connected and they count on their retail brands to be the same. When shopping across channels, they expect seamless and personalized experiences that make it easy for them to find what they want. Fashion retail is unique in that it s highly subjective and inherently personal. Shopper traits vary widely among brands, styles, price points and other preferences, and fashionistas aren t just looking for product; they are looking to retailers as the experts who can guide them in curating their individual style and fashion identity. Adding to that complexity are the different types of shoppers in the fashion space: 94% of businesses believe personalization is critical to current and future success. Compare Metrics, Shopper-Centric Discovery: The Missing Piece of Your Personalization Strategy, 2013 Mainstream Shoppers: Those who interact with more affordable and readily available brands; tend to favor price benefits and palatable promotional offers. Luxury Shoppers: Those who lean toward high fashion; tend to be more driven by cutting-edge trends and overall styling. In Between Shoppers: Those who fall in the middle and span mainstream to luxury, and are even redefining the luxury landscape. According to Ipsos, In the last few years, consumers desire for luxury has increased and they are seeking less expensive ways to experience it. So how do fashion retailers break through these complexities and engage consumers with individually relevant and tailored experiences? Answer: by leveraging customer data with actionable intelligence, using an advanced personalization engine that combines real-time behavioral profiling, contextualization and predictive analytics. Here are 5 ways this technology can help you cater to the fashionista within every consumer. Cater to the Fashionista in Every Consumer 5 Proven Personalization Strategies for Fashion Retailers Page 3
1 Deliver Individualized Product Recommendations Tapping into personalization types such as trending, new products and hot sellers can help guide shoppers in their fashion choices. Including strategies for mixing and matching pieces and accessorizing, helps them complete the look and polish their individual style. By combining context such as location, weather and time of day with continuous profiling, which tracks historical behavior and real-time activity, retailers are able to dynamically deliver recommendations within each category that will best resonate with the individual shopper. Suzy Professional Fashionista Sally Loves Layers Sarah It s All About Flow Refine For Different Types Of Shoppers MAINSTREAM AND IN BETWEEN Set a different personalization type for each product slot within the recommendations area to deliver and test a variety of options, such as the most relevant trending product, hot seller, co-purchased and new product. Include business rules that show sale items and use strike pricing and badging such as limited offer, sale and BOGO (buy one get one) to draw attention. Set merchandising parameters that align at least one recommended product with your promotional goals. Consider tabbed recommendations to give shoppers personalization choices. Pull in geo-targeting and other contextual factors. LUXURY Define a list of ideal cross-sells for source products to create an "associated" list that delivers the most relevant cross-sell items based on each visitor's preferences. From NY Shops professional wear, most often suits From NY A fan of layering tops, edgy pieces and skirts From CA Goes for lightweight materials with flowing style Pull in accessories to accomplish the polished styling intended for high fashion looks. Place a higher weighting on products that you want to promote based on ratings, brand or other features. Consider rules to show discounted offerings that appeal to luxury-seeking in-between shoppers. Page 4
Example: Individualized Recommendations Suzy is searching for a blazer from New York in the winter. Combining locational and seasonal context with her profile and current activity, recommended with the blazer are slacks, a long sleeve blouse and an accessory item that aligns with a jewelry promotion. All of these products complement the blazer while leveraging personalization to fit and perfect her individual style. Tabs for "Trending" and "Hot Sellers in NY" provide choice for additional personalized recommendations. 75% of consumers want retailers to use personal information to improve the shopping experience Compare Metrics, Shopper-Centric Discovery: The Missing Piece of Your Personalization Strategy, 2013 Page 5
2 Beyond Recommendations, Personalize the Entire Experience Today s fashion consumers are seeking more from their brands than just product. They are looking for guidance a demonstration of fashion expertise, as it pertains to them. To best engage with every shopper and build true customer loyalty, retailers must optimize all of their digital assets to deliver a completely tailored experience that includes personalized imagery, content and offers. A best-in-class personalization solution enables you to deliver not only individualized product recommendations, but the most relevant hero shots, articles, expert advice, videos, offers and more. Refine For Different Types Of Shoppers MAINSTREAM AND IN BETWEEN Include areas on key pages for personalized offers, hero shots and content to be dynamically populated with digital assets that are most relevant to each shopper s profile and current activity. Include an area that dynamically lists brands according to each visitors brand preferences. increase in average order value (AOV) Personalized Shopping Experiences Produce: 50% 33% 200% more items per order higher conversion rate Certona Apparel benchmark comparison of responders (those that interact with recommendations) against non-responders. LUXURY With visual sites that showcase multiple pieces of photography, it is especially important to leverage personalized imagery. Set a category strategy that might include tops, bottoms, shoes, jewelry, etc., to deliver imagery that is targeted to each customer's profile. Include expert advice from designers, video from recent fashion shows and other content that demonstrates industry leadership. If the design of any of your pages doesn t flow well with an overt area for product recommendations, consider using category navigation with a roll-over drop-down box for product recommendations or other assets. Page 6
Example: Personalize the Entire Experience Sally s shopping history has shown that she is a fan of layered tops and skirts. When she hits your site the imagery delivered should be a reflection of this personal style. Targeted content, such as tips for pulling together an impeccable layered look and videos that demonstrate your fashion expertise should be delivered throughout her shopping experience, as well as individualized recommendations. This tells Sally that you understand her, makes it easy for her to find just what she s looking for, and keeps her coming back for more. Personalized Media and Messaging Delivers: 56% 56% 55% Improved Response Rates Stronger Brand Perception Increased Sales Conversant, What s Driving Marketing In 2014, 2014 Page 7
3 Tap Into Every Shopper s Buying Mood When shoppers reach the cart page, you know exactly what they want and they are in the mood to purchase. At this point, every effort should be made to move them through the checkout process. But that does not preclude cross-selling. This is the perfect opportunity to present shoppers with special offers and help them complete the look with complementary pieces and accessories those impulse items they just can t ignore. However, the last thing you want is for them to leave the cart page. To avoid this, add a quick-view roll over to product recommendations that opens a pop-up product detail window and includes direct add-to-cart functionality. Refine For Different Types Of Shoppers MAINSTREAM AND IN BETWEEN Display promotions that are relevant to the items being purchased, such as brand discounts, free shipping, and BOGO offers. Set personalization strategies to deliver product recommendations that help shoppers take advantage of these offers. This can be accomplished with gap pricing, associated lists and a variety of personalization types and business rules. of shoppers are looking for the site experience to be as simple 64% and seamless as possible. LUXURY Use associated lists to demonstrate expertise and provide styling guidance by recommending pieces that polish off the look. This could be the right shoes, belt, purse, scarf, jewelry, etc. For the luxury-seeking in-between shopper, consider including offers targeted to profiled preferences and align with product recommendations. Compare Metrics, How To Meet The Modern Shoppers Demands, 2013 Page 8
Example: Tap Into Buying Mood Sally has placed a skirt and top in her cart. This is the perfect time to show her other products and accessories that can be layered with her look and that fit her individual style. Quick-view makes it easy for her to consider and add more items without leaving the cart page. Displaying relevant offers aligned with recommendations can increases cross-sell conversions. of shoppers who have experienced personalization believed it had a noticeable influence on their 59% buying behaviors Infosys, Rethinking Retail, 2014 Page 9
4 Make the Mobile Connection The explosion of smartphone and tablet adoption has propelled mobile into the spotlight. Consumers are demanding enhanced mobile interactions and retailers are seeking ways to deliver. An advanced personalization solution that combines continuous customer profiling with contextualization and real-time delivery, and that shares data across channels to deliver seamless experiences, provides retailers a competitive advantage. Understanding who each customers is, what they ve done in the past and what they are doing now, enables intelligent predictions and delivery of true in-the-moment experiences. In an industry where the product is so personal and visualization is a necessity, fashion retailers that use this technology to provide targeted content, creative, offers and personalized product recommendations through mobile and tablet sites, as well as look-books, wish lists and other fashion apps, will elevate mobile interactions and build loyalty. Refine For Different Types Of Shoppers MAINSTREAM AND IN BETWEEN Set up personalization types that weigh heavier on contextual data for offers, content and creative as well as product recommendations. Provide a personalized area for easy access to top brands based on individual customer brand preferences. Add personalization to look-books, wish lists and other fashion apps. Use geo-fencing to deliver special in-store offers when customers are in the vicinity of a brick-and-mortar location. Don't stop there! Extend personalization into the store with sales associate tablets and kiosks to keep the experience consistent. 20% increase in business transactions on mobile web sites during the past 18 months for 67% of retailers. LUXURY In addition to the above, leverage high-end imagery, video and content to keep shoppers engaged, checking back for more and looking to you for expert guidance wherever they are. Retail TouchPoints, Survey Report: It s An Omnichannel World. Is Your Business Ready?, 2013 Page 10
Example: Mobile Connection Sarah from California, who has a lightweight flowing style, is searching for a jacket on her smartphone from Colorado in the winter. Sarah usually buys lightweight blazers and jackets that work for mild California winters. An advanced personalization solution will incorporate contextualization and adjust for location and season to deliver recommendations that still fit Sarah s brand, price and other preferences, but result in warmer options that are more relevant to what her current situation demands. When near a brick-and-mortar store, an offer can be delivered to encourage Sarah to visit the store. Forrester Research calls out contextualization as a must have for advanced personalization and defines this as "a tailored, adaptive, and sometimes predictive digital customer experience." Page 11
5 Take Advantage of Email to Promote, Remarket & Re-engage The customer experience does not end with one visit to your site, or even a sale. To build customer loyalty, retailers must continue to engage shoppers with experiences that speak to them. This means promotional emails with imagery, content and product recommendations that are relevant to their most recent activity; browse and cart abandonment emails that address common reasons for abandoning with offers and similar products; and transactional emails that thank shoppers for their business and include loyalty offers and cross-sell recommendations. Best-in-class personalization tools empower retailers to do this by dynamically delivering personalized elements when an email is opened, pulling in the most relevant experience based on the customer s profile and recent activity. Profile Based Personalization Over Non-profile Based Personalization 240% 150% 2% Increase in Click Through Rate Boost in Conversion Lift in Total Site Revenue Refine For Different Types Of Shoppers MAINSTREAM AND IN BETWEEN Set strategies that deliver available discounts that are most relevant to the individual shopper. Message free shipping thresholds. Use gap pricing to show recommendations that help the shopper take advantage of offers and reach the dollar amount for free shipping. LUXURY Finish the look by delivering recommendations that pull a polished outfit together. Use category recommendations such as, shoes, tops, bottoms and accessories, that will populate the product in that category that is most relevant to each shopper. When selected, the category will deliver additional individualized recommendations. Choose personalization types such as trending, best sellers and co-purchased to provide guidance, and/or include recommendations with associated lists to provide styling expertise. Consider showing relevant offers for luxury-seeking, in-between shoppers. Certona, internal data, for personalized email vs. non-personalized email 2014 Page 12
Example: Promote, Remarket & Re-engage Suzy mixes and matches a blazer, blouse and slacks. She saves them in her cart but doesn t complete the purchase. A cart abandonment email is triggered. Between receiving and opening the email, Suzy goes online and browses skirts and pumps. When she opens the email the personalized areas are dynamically populated with imagery of ladies' suits, a designer skirt promotion and individualized recommendations for skirts, pumps and accessories that match the other pieces in Suzy s cart. email has quadrupled over Customer acquisition via the last four years. Custora, E-Commerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot, 2013 Page 13
About Certona Delivering personalized customer experiences for the world s most popular brands, Certona is the leader for true omnichannel personalization. Trusted by more than 500 top ecommerce sites, Certona s cloud-based personalization platform increases engagement and conversions by leveraging one-to-one behavioral profiling, Big Data insights, and predictive analytics to serve up individualized content, promotional offers and product recommendations across all customer touch points. Combined with a flexible decision engine and contextualization, marketers can harness the power of real-time behavioral profiling while maintaining control over their personalization strategies. Internet Retailer's (IR) Top Tech 2014 lists Certona as the fastest-growing vendor in terms of adding new clients in the IR Top 1,000. The company has the highest number of retail clients in the IR Top 500. US Office: 9520 Towne Centre Dr., Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92121 P: 858.369.3888 F: 858.369.3880 E-mail: info@certona.com 411 State RT 17 S, Suite 410 Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604 About Retail TouchPoints Retail TouchPoints is an online publishing network for retail executives, with content focused on optimizing the customer experience across all channels. The Retail TouchPoints network is comprised of a weekly newsletter, special reports, web seminars, exclusive benchmark research, and a content-rich web site featuring daily news updates and multi-media interviews at www. retailtouchpoints.com. The Retail TouchPoints team also interacts with social media communities via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. P: 201.257.8528 F: 201.426.0181 E-mail: info@retailtouchpoints.com