How to give the Christmas customer a better experience
Competition to win the peak season pound is hotter than ever and brands must offer unique buying experiences that captivate consumers to take a share of sales, explains James Barlow, VP Sales, UK and Ireland at Akeneo.
The best opportunity to stand out in a competitive retail landscape this Christmas season lies in the ability to provide exceptional customer experiences through all owned and unowned channels that customers engage with through product data quality and personalisation. Brands that can deliver on this will reap the rewards of enhanced customer loyalty and satisfaction.
However, the Christmas wins will not be easy; according to GlobalData, UK Christmas retail growth is predicted to rise by only +3.4% in 2023 and will be lower than 2022’s +6.2%. This is down to a fall in disposable income for most people due to higher mortgage and rent costs, a +9.3% increase in retail prices and the fact that post-pandemic savings have mostly been already spent.
As a result, retailers will need to inspire shoppers and emphasise value to encourage them to spend. The stakes therefore just keep on getting higher for customer experience, spurred on by changing expectations during the pandemic and even tougher competition. Consumers seek novel, engaging, and informative channels for product research, discovery, and purchase, which means brands must build unique product experiences that captivate them, through all owned and unowned channels that customers engage with through product data quality and personalisation.
In order to get their fair share of last quarter business, brands must confront three key challenges, all of which complement each other.
The first is having the right tools to keep pace. All online retailers have to deal with an often-overwhelming amount of data, and issues such as product listing anomalies, duplicates and incomplete descriptions, all of which make it hard to give a seamless and well-informed shopping experience, either on owned website or marketplace.
Key to solving the problem is having access to accurate and up-to-date product information based on clean and enriched data. Artificial intelligence (AI) can categorise products accurately within the product taxonomy, and enable easy navigation through accurate placement and systematic arrangement.
Up-to-date product descriptions, specifications and availability then reduce the chances of cart abandonment due to misinformation, thereby boosting conversion rates and customer trust.
AI can also help with recommendations, including ‘frequently bought together’ or ‘related products’ so that the right products are suggested to the right customer at the right time.
James Barlow, VP Sales, UK & Ireland at Akeneo.
Next, these customer experiences need to be consistent across all channels. This includes newer channels that, while they are unique in how content is presented, brand consistency is still essential. A perfect example is TikTok which has launched TikTok Shop in the US, important given the interest consumers with 53% of shoppers, aged 18-29 planning to shop TikTok for Christmas this year, according to data from ESW. TikTok claims to be building a new shopping culture rather than simply adding conventional ecommerce elements. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is designed to inspire people to discover and share the products they love and includes shoppable videos and live streams directly into feeds.
User profiles that contain known preferences around key product attributes such as colour, size, shape, material enable personalisation that can be delivered at every stage of the shopping journey, unique to the experience of each channel. Groups of users exhibiting similar preferences can then form a segment for targeting.
Thirdly, a great customer experience depends on a great product experience (PX), a point that is often missed resulting in the presentation dominating the actual product. However, it is the product that is the foundation of the perfect experience; if the customer doesn’t trust your product, they won’t trust the brand.
An efficient PX Strategy allows brands and retailers to offer consumers superior product experiences by delivering reliable and up-to-date product information that is personalised to each channel and market. Instead of tackling these issues channel by channel, a PX Strategy requires organisations to take a step backwards and work from the product information as the foundation; cleanse, organise and manage every piece of the product record first, and then activate this product story across every touchpoint of the customer journey.
For further insight into how to build a winning PX Strategy for the Christmas season, read our report here.
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