
It’s going to be an interesting year ahead for the retail world-this is what emerges from the 13th annual technology trends report compiled by Deloitte.
After going through the black crisis related to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the retail sector seems ready to rise from its ashes, preparing to face new challenges and espouse new paradigms.
In a context where, according to data released by the Retail Report 2020 by Ayden, more than 37 percent of Italians say they will increasingly buy online and more than 73 percent increasingly expect seamless and fluid shopping options from companies between online and offline (phygital model), it is evident how the only way forward is through synergistic collaboration with the eCommerce world.
Synergistic, but above all, active collaboration: it is not enough to open an eCommerce channel, it is essential to design new experiences and introduce new services in a truly omnichannel perspective.
Retail marketing: paving the way for digitalization
Click & collect services, online verification of product availability in the store closest to home, in-store return options: if the big players in the retail world are leading this process of innovation and digitization, other small and medium-sized companies are ready to follow suit. Data released by the Milan Polytechnic Observatory in February 2022 show an increase in investment in digital transformation by Italian retailers ranging from 2 percent to 2.5 percent of turnover. The driving force behind this transformation is above all the eCommerce channel, which, by contributing to the emergence of hybrid business models, has nonetheless given a new centrality to the point of sale, which has returned to being a relevant touchpoint in the consumer’s customer journey.

Omnichannel customer experience: the future is in personalization
Behavioral messages, product recommendations, personalized offers: if online the key to success of an effective personalization strategy lies in the ability to offer the user/customer “tailored” browsing and purchasing experiences, somewhat like a good in-store salesperson would do, offline what the user/customer expects is to have immersive experiences that are perfectly consistent with those experienced online.
Fidelity cards and loyalty programs are, even today, one of the main tools used to bind the customer to the brand or even the store and personalize offers and communications, but perhaps something more is needed.
Biographical data, interests, browsing behavior, products purchased, viewed, added to cart or removed, categories consulted, newsletters clicked and much more: how much information collected even online is important to personalize the experience even at the point of sale and thus provide even the good salesperson with a few more cards to play to engage and stimulate the person in front of him or her to purchase.
The key word also in retail marketing, as we anticipated, is personalization.
But how to field an effective personalization strategy, and more importantly, how to collect and make available to the point-of-sale clerk, all this information?
Customer data platform: the effectiveness of a data-driven strategy
Customer data platform: the effectiveness of a data-driven strategy
CRM, POS, checkout software, paper or digital forms for signing up for loyalty cards: even for those who run a point of sale, there are many tools to be used to collect customer data, not to mention the eCommerce platform. Too often, however, these tools do not talk to each other. The result? Fragmented, partial customer information that is difficult to leverage in order to get a complete view and draw a unique profile. But how to do it?
In a retail marketing context such as this, the adoption of a customer data platform, such as Blendee, is an important value-add because it allows user data from multiple channels/sources to be collected and integrated and normalized at the single customer view level.
All this translates into the possibility of deploying effective personalization strategies both online and offline. In the latter case, salespeople will be able not only to recognize the user, reconstructing the user‘s browsing and purchasing history, but also to offer him products more in line with his expectations. By analyzing the behavior of similar users, Blendee makes it possible to show the products most likely to be of interest to the customer.
Intelligence for salespeople, but not only: the ability to aggregate data and information on users within a single platform also provides a more complete picture of the effectiveness of one’s marketing campaigns from an omnichannel perspective, analyzing the contribution that offline channels can also make as a result of drive-to-store activities.
Creating a valuable and relevant experience for every customer or potential customer is also critical at the point of sale. A customer data platform like Blendee can prove to be a valuable ally!
Discover how you too can personalize the shopping experience in your store with Blendee!