For retail loyalty programs, 2014 is the year of the “seamless” transition between brick and mortar, online and mobile shopping. With advances in mobile and online technology making it possible for consumers to have a complete virtual shopping experience – one that includes fast and free shipping, returns and exchanges, and the ability to return online items to the nearest physical location. To stay ahead of the trends, more retailers are hosting platforms for mobile loyalty programs to track customer purchases and document preferences, facilitating mobile payments, and using GPS technology to send relevant offers to shoppers’ mobile devices. When tracking these purchases, smart retailers are also using the data they collect to learn more about individual customers, offer personalized shopping recommendations and ultimately connect with shoppers in store. Most prevalent in customer loyalty today is the integration of social media. According to the Walker Sands’ 2014 Future of Retail study, 78% of modern consumers interact with social media channels like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter to learn more about the brand, get discounts and special offers, and read other customer reviews.
Success Story:
One popular online retailer, Amazon.com, has mastered the art of personalized recommendations with customized pages like “Related to Items You’ve Viewed,” “Inspired by Your Shopping Trends” and “Recommendations for You.” By doing so, Amazon is capitalizing on the fact that users are more likely to purchase products based on relevant offers – a business practice that has industry experts predicting Amazon to bring in $100 billion in revenue in 2014 alone.
Want to know how you can keep up with this year’s loyalty trends? Drop us a line at info@kobie.com.
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