COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merkle (www.merkleinc.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately held agency, released the findings from its Retail Consumer Sentiment Survey, during the 2014 holiday shopping season. The results conclude that consumer expectations and behaviors signal the potential for retailers in 2015 to create the next generation of personalized digital interactions.
The Consumer’s Mobile Screen is Valuable “Real Estate” for Retailers
to Occupy
While mobile is already well on the way to becoming
the default channel for search, 67% of respondents under the age of 50
are also interested in a totally mobile path to purchase. Furthermore
46% under 50 would like personalized offers sent to their smartphones
while shopping in-store. “We have reached the point where delivering
personalization does not just refer to content, but will also need to
reflect time and location,” said Paul
Schottmiller, senior vice president, strategy, retail and consumer
goods. “Consumers expectations are high and retailers have never had
more options for using technology to deliver differentiated customer
experiences.”
Retailers Need to Reboot Loyalty Programs
Retailers have
only begun to tap into the vast opportunity that loyalty programs can
offer. While loyalty programs are designed to keep customers away from
competitors, less than one-fifth of consumers cite today’s loyalty
programs as a main differentiator between competitors, but many of these
programs are price and transaction based. In the emerging age of
real-time, consumer interactions, retailers that master a personalized,
omni-channel approach to loyalty generate results on the order of
magnitude of 10X the revenue of non-program customers. Loyalty done
right is fertile ground for retailers to create competitive advantage.
As retailers learn the lessons taught by consumers during the holidays in 2014, driving results with mobile and loyalty will be prominent on their lists for success in 2015.
For more information, visit www.merkleinc.com/digitalshoppersurvey
About Merkle
Merkle, a technology enabled, data driven
customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm, is the nation’s largest
privately-held agency. For more than 25 years, Fortune 1000 companies
and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to
maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete
range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines,
Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate connected CRM
programs. With more than 2,600 employees, the privately held corporation
is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland with additional offices in Bend,
OR; Boston; Charlottesville, VA; Chicago; Denver; Little Rock; London;
Minneapolis; Montvale, NJ; Nanjing; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh;
San Francisco; Hagerstown, MD and Shanghai. For more information,
contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com.