On Cyber Monday, most estimates are that over 120 million purchases were made online. And according to ComScore, about 15 percent of all holiday purchases will be made online vs. 10 percent of purchases during the rest of the year. These purchase shares will only rise in the coming years, and in fact may accelerate.
This puts enormous pressure on retailers whose physical investment in stores is significant. Many will recognize that retailers’ advantages over online purchasing have been significantly eroded in recent years.
Brick and mortar retailers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to selection, prices, and even convenience. Prior advantages in speed of acquisition and returns have been diminished, if not completely turned around.
However, there is something else that online retailers are doing that few brick and mortar retailers have focused on. They are creating real customer relationships! Yes, some retailers have created loyalty programs, but the individual data in many of those programs has been largely ignored, and used mostly for marketing purposes.
Most purchases are viewed as one-offs. Customer experience programs are minimalist at best. Few have hot alerts for customer recovery. Historically, many retailers have viewed these activities as too expensive.
If I purchase from Amazon or Zappos, do they know who I am? Do they customize their offerings? Do they follow up with proper customer experience measurement? Do they follow up with customers when needed? Do they make relevant suggestions based on purchases I have made? The answer to all of these is a resounding yes. And it’s not just Amazon and Zappos, it’s all kinds of online retailers, big and small.
Perhaps it’s time for retail leaders to start treating their customers as assets to take care of and manage. Perhaps it will even feed into strategies that can succeed in a new world that will bring fewer and fewer purchases through their physical doors.
