Clienteling

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Clienteling is a technique used by retail sales associates to establish long-term relationships with key customers based on data about their preferences, behaviors and purchases. [1] Clienteling is intended to guide associates to provide more personal and informed customer service [2] that may influence customer behavior related to shopping frequency, lift in average transaction value, and other retail key performance indicators. [3] From the customer's perspective, clienteling "could add a layer of personal touch" [4] to the shopping experience.

Contents

Clienteling software

While at its core, clienteling is a sales technique, the term is commonly used today to describe the related assisted selling software tools used to support relationship-building activities between store associates and their customers. [5] Software-based clienteling has been said to have the advantage of collecting data about clients across different interaction channels in a searchable and retrievable database for later use. [6] Clientbook is an example of such a software. [7] Clienteling software may also provide digital tools on mobile devices or fixed workstations aimed at enabling retailers to establish long-lasting learning relationships with their customers. [8] [9] While sales history collected in customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can provide some insight into a customer’s tendencies, this insight can be augmented by data collected by an associate working directly with a customer, who can improve the customer profile through each face-to-face interaction. [10] This information can then be used to further personalize future interactions. [11] [12] Capabilities such as notes, wish lists, preferences, alerts, and purchase history are sometimes used to enable associates to enhance client profiles in ways that purchase history and e-commerce activity alone could not. [2] [13] Clienteling can also be an effective means of selling excess inventory without resorting to discounting by pairing products with the right consumers, using their past purchases to predict what they are likely want to buy. [9]

Use in retail stores

In 2014, a software-based clienteling solution was deployed on iPad to over 3,500 associates at Saks Fifth Avenue. [8] Ralph Lauren has also used clienteling to invite select shoppers to special shopping events. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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E-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shopping</span> Buying goods

Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scholars which identifies one group of shoppers as recreational shoppers, that is, those who enjoy shopping and view it as a leisure activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail</span> Sale of goods and services

Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point of sale</span> Time and place where a retail transaction is completed

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Personalized marketing, also known as one-to-one marketing or individual marketing, is a marketing strategy by which companies leverage data analysis and digital technology to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to current or prospective customers. Advancements in data collection methods, analytics, digital electronics, and digital economics, have enabled marketers to deploy more effective real-time and prolonged customer experience personalization tactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Best Buy</span> American multinational consumer electronics retailer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online shopping</span> Form of electronic commerce

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brick and mortar</span> Class of organisations or businesses

Brick and mortar is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term brick-and-mortar business is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory production facilities, or warehouses for its operations. More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerce businesses in the 2000s, brick-and-mortar businesses are companies that have a physical presence and offer face-to-face customer experiences.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail marketing</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual merchandising</span> Marketing technique emphasizing 3D model displays

Visual Merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of optimizing the presentation of products and services to better highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage, and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.

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A touchpoint can be defined as any way consumers can interact with a business organization, whether it be person-to-person, through a website, an app or any form of communication. When consumers come in contact with these touchpoints it gives them the opportunity to compare their prior perceptions of the business and form an opinion.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendor</span> Supplier of goods or services

In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms refer to a supplier of any goods or service.

Trade marketing is a discipline of marketing that relates to increasing the demand at the wholesaler, retailer, or distributor level rather than at the consumer level. However, there is a need to continue with Brand Management strategies to sustain the need at the consumer end. A shopper, who may or may not be the consumer themself, is the one who identifies and purchases a product from a retailer even though they might not purchase the goods at the end of the day. To ensure that a retailer promotes a company's product against competitors', that company must market its product to the retailers as well by offering steep discounts versus competitors. Trade marketing might also include offering various tangible/intangible benefits to retailers such as commissions made for sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Customer experience</span> Interaction between an organization and a customer

Customer experience, sometimes abbreviated to CX, is the totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral consumer responses during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase stages. Nihat Tavşan and Can Erdem bring an extensive elucidation to the customer experience, encompassing the dimensions of consciousness, subjectivity, and interactional nature and define customer experience as the sum of subjective ideas regarding a product or service that occur at a conscious or subconscious level due to direct or indirect interaction of a customer with brand-related stimuli. Pine and Gilmore described the experience economy as the next level after commodities, goods, and services with memorable events as the final business product. Four realms of experience include esthetic, escapist, entertainment, and educational components. Tavşan and Erdem divided the customer experience into four categories based on the levels of cognitive and physical involvement of customers. These four categories are euphoric experiences, captive experiences, mellowing experiences, and conductive experiences.

Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".

References

  1. ↑ "clienteling" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "How to Deliver Great Customer Service" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Reda, Susan. "Making Mobile Happen". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Joseph, Alex. "iPad Clienteling at Retail Stores: Cool or Creepy?" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Ginsburg, Rachel. "Retail Evolution: Building a Tech Enabled Environment". Archived from the original on 24 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Eisenberg, Lee (3 November 2009). Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What. Free Press. ISBN   978-0743296250.
  7. ↑ "Clientbook · Client Management and Engagement for Retail". www.clientbook.com. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  8. 1 2 Garry, Michael. "New Clienteling Tool Empowering Saks Associates" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 Mahoney, Sarah. "Thanks To Mobile, More Retailers 'Clienteling'" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Rhodus, Matt. "Clienteling Enriches the In-Store Experience" . Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Richter, Nathan. "Making Excess Exclusive By Clienteling" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Shanker, Martin C. "Pull—Don't Push—Your Way to Clienteling Success". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Ritzer Ross, Julie. "Facing Fears in Omnichannel". Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
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