Challenge: engaging consumers across all channels

Steve Jones

This requires a movement away from the tendency in today's highly competitive market for businesses to look for growth by adding new products to their mix, adding more stores to their network or by spending more money on advertising campaigns.

The trouble is that these efforts are relatively 'easy' to execute and are often done in isolation, resulting in short-term growth spikes that do little to create value. It is much harder to re-evaluate the total brand offering and make meaningful changes that lead to sustainable and profitable growth.

Developing relationships

Retail in South Africa is experiencing a radical shift: the industry is evaluating and coming to terms with new channels because of the ever-changing expectations of more digitally empowered and global thinking consumers. The opportunity to develop more meaningful and loyal relationships with consumers can only be achieved with strategies that focus on designing better experiences and services accordingly, instead of the usual product, store or campaign-based activities.

When we learn the real meaning and value of life-long customer relationships, whether in store or online, we soon come to realise that the job of the organisation (and everyone in it) is not only to sell product, but also to appreciate how the customer journey and the store environment influence the transaction and the experience.

With as many as 8 million brands in the market, the transaction is now much more than the exchange of money for product. The factors of time, cost and anxiety need to be written into the equation to determine proper assessment of the experience. In restaurant terms, the food, the service and the ambience are the difference between a good, bad or amazing experience.

People strategies needed

When we understand this, the store is no longer just a place to purchase product, but rather becomes the product, and should be seen as an experience delivery centre. The measures of success will no longer be the traditional monthly foot traffic and sales, but be replaced by what percentage of customers made a purchase on any particular day.

A good marketing strategy, however, is not enough - and more often than not the missing piece is people, not technology. People strategies are needed to pull off a good experience: intelligent, trained, empowered people are the glue that holds the entire experience together. There is a real danger in this digital age to want to 'mechanise' the system. I have not yet met a device that can outplay a spirited, helpful and attentive store assistant or manager.