News Flash

Retailers prioritise loyalty, personalisation over crypto, AR/VR tech

13 Apr '22

3 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Retailers think that investing in buzzy technologies like crypto payments and AR/VR is a much lower priority than investing in personalisation, navigation and discovery, and search in order to keep customers coming back, according to a survey. Marketers are focusing on existing customers to protect and grow their brand amid rising social media ad costs.

After a strong 2021, retailers are generally optimistic about digital sales this year and are looking to build lifetime value with customers through loyalty programmes and better, more personal customer experiences to mitigate rising social media advertising costs, continuing supply chain challenges and increasing inflation.

According to a recent survey of 118 digital marketing and e-commerce executives conducted by CommerceNext in partnership with CommX, developing more meaningful customer relationships through loyalty programmes is a top priority for brands, with 52 per cent of respondents planning to either launch a loyalty programme in 2022 or expand their current one.

“Paid social will remain the top acquisition channel in 2022, but its high costs have retailers looking for models that will generate higher ROI in 2022,” said Scott Silverman, co-founder of CommerceNext. “Brands looking to endear their customers to them are prioritizing loyalty, experience and personalisation and we’ll see retailers focusing their money and marketing efforts on either launching or expanding loyalty programmes in 2022 in order to build better, more enduring brands.”

Among all executives surveyed, supply chain challenges continue to be seen as the primary risk to achieving desired sales results, cited by 61 per cent of respondents, while 75 per cent of digital-first retailers surveyed said rising customer acquisition costs were their primary concern. Inflation concerns are top of mind, too, with 56 per cent of respondents anticipating a minimum 6 per cent increase in prices and 20 per cent expecting an increase of over 10 per cent. In terms of opportunities for 2022, retailers see the on-site consumer experience as a high-impact priority and are ramping up personalisation efforts and upgrading site search and product discovery tools. Added revenue streams, like international e-commerce, are clear areas of focus as well, while brand executives’ views on social commerce are mixed, with 45 per cent of respondents saying they are still “considering it,” but not prioritising it.

“With a number of headwinds ahead for retailers in terms of the supply chain, inflation, and world events it’s now more important than ever for brands to invest in opportunities that allow them to own their own data and build that lifetime value for customers,” said Brian Walker, chief strategy officer of Bloomreach, a founding member of CommX. “The more brands prioritize the customer experience and retention through diversified efforts beyond acquisition and paid social, the better they’ll fare throughout the year and the more sustainable their business will be.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)