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It is no secret that relational shopping is becoming very important to grow a retail business from local to international clients, and anyone not aware of it learnt it the hard way during the pandemic. Mobile and web solutions are now helping sales associates understand their customers better and increase sales thanks to a single tool pulling in consumer data points from various channels. The IADS’ role as an expert body is to be aware, explore, and inform its department store members about every aspect of innovation in retail, which is why the Association invited Arnaud Barbelet, COO of Clientela, and Thomas Meyer, CEO of Mobile Now Group to share the importance of relational shopping.

Clientela is a software company based in New York City, with global operations. They aim to reinvent the store as an engine for growth, with a complete suite of Acquisition, Loyalty and Retail Operations solutions. Arnaud Barbelet is COO and co-founder, in charge of European markets. He focuses his expertise on clienteling, consumer experience and product strategy for key brands and retailers including Chloé, Diptyque and Magasin du Nord.

Mobile Now is a leading, full service, mobile development studio, with a focus on digital experiences, products, and platforms. Founded in 2009, it is now present in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Changsha, China and Singapore. An international team of 90, Mobile Now provides consultancy through to UX and UI design, as well as development across all the key mobile platforms. Thomas Meyer, CEO and co-founder, started the company in 2009 after realizing to what extent mobile phones could disrupt consumers’ and retailers’ existences.

Together, they presented examples (Magasin du Nord, Lane Crawford) in order to generate a very lively conversation.

Clientela business case: Magasin du Nord and relational shopping solutions

Overall presentation

Clienteling is seen as an opportunity to provide every tool that a sales associate needs to help clients buy products in a more automated and seamless way.

Magasin du Nord decided to implement Clientela’s solution in order to drive digital innovation around business needs, especially in the middle of the pandemic when there was a need to build bridges between online and offline (through online booking features, for instance). Following the pandemic, there is a need to focus on better understanding clients and prospects to improve their experience online and in stores.

Clientela offers rich data capture, an advanced booking engine and scheduling service, event management, 360-degree client profile details for store staff, and full integration with other applications. These key features allowed Magasin du Nord to get a comprehensive view of data related to sales and their customers.

Clienteling allows retailers to get to know their customers

Clientela’s in-depth data capture capabilities allow retailers to understand why customers are coming and thus generates more opportunities to create value so customers will return. The system implemented enables customers to book personal shoppers for any occasion. Historically, this service was reserved for weddings and special occasions, but now retailers can extend this service to help shoppers find the right products they will need to start a new job or go to a party.

Communicating with customers across various channels and frequencies helps build relationships with them and fosters loyalty. Communications can include sending personal messages such as reaching out to them on their birthday, if they haven’t visited the store in a while, or if the products they have bought need to be refilled soon.

All of these communication channels help sales associates gather more information about their customers in order to offer efficient advice that is valuable, through one single set of tools which are simple to use.

Since Magasin’s partnership with Clientela, the department store has seen year-over-year bookings increase by 17%, returning client engagement up 13% and staff engagement up 68% on the app.

Future challenges

Clientela is now working with Magasin du Nord on a few problems aiming to simplify the processes even further:

-    Online bookings need to be easily configurable in order to adapt to a variety of product categories, client typologies and languages,

-    Data should simplify the life of the sales associate, and be also easily used by the marketing department to create dedicated communication and event without too much complexity,

-    Personal touch should be injected into the processes: the current solution allows the connection of two people (a customer to a sales associate) and, the future one should focus on how to always connect to the most qualified person in a given customer context. All in all, taking context into account is the next step for the solution in order to enrich the variety of responses and possible interactions.

The aim is to move from a Customer Relationship Management to a Prospect Relationship Manager:  the question now is not to help “if” the customer is buying, but to anticipate “when” the customer will do so. In other words, work on occasion automation (for instance, the system remembers when the customer last purchased a cosmetic cream and is able to send a reminder when the product is reaching its end of life).

Mobile Now business case: Lane Crawford WeChat O2O Commerce & CRM in China

Thomas Meyer shared how technically advanced the Chinese market is when it comes to its digital climate. WeChat, is mistakenly seen as similar to WhatsApp by Western observers, and is much richer as it offers users many capabilities within the app that allows users to even browse the internet and access apps without leaving WeChat. This integration allows retailers to serve their customers better.

WeChat Mini Program Membership and Loyalty Service

The example of Lane Crawford’s WeChat loyalty program allows synchronization between clients and sales associates. Clients can easily access and edit personal data while the tool continuously learned more about the customer as they use the tool. The sales associate can also contribute to a client’s profile by creating prospecting cards and can better serve their audience by accessing their personal data, transaction history, and communication preferences.

The sales associate is able to share recommendations via email, SMS, chat apps, or social media. Clients can then buy online and engage with the sales associate through the various channels while all the information is retained in one singular place. There is also the possibility to livestream events and commerce events to learn more about products and services. Sales associates even have the possibility to craft a shopping cart that customers can validate with a few clicks.

Lane Crawford has managed to achieve 1.5 times what they used to do with e-commerce during a full year, in the first 6 months of the launch of their WeChat account. In 2022, each month so far has doubled the 2021 performance on similar periods, with May 2022 even multiplying the sales by 6 times compared to the previous year.

Relational shopping can help global brands prepare for the return of Chinese shoppers

When Chinese customers return to shop internationally, they will be expecting WeChat-level connections and capabilities from retailers on a global scale. The rest of the world needs to be ready in a variety of ways: retailers will need to have an advanced technical landscape, and sales associates will be expected to speak Chinese. It is also important for retailers to understand that in Chinese culture, consumers shop to celebrate travel. European retailers will need to be ready to welcome Chinese customers and serve them in the same mediums that they have become accustomed to in China.

Retailers that are wanting to welcome Chinese shoppers when they return will need to focus on their customer experience, make sure that technology and digital innovation are at the core of the business, and the business needs to be ready to innovate in order to keep up with expectations.

Thomas Meyer mentions that most of the issues to overcome are cultural (this was the case at Lane Crawford, which is first and foremost a retailer which owns real estate) and human, and not technical. It is all about making sure that these projects are supported by a key sponsor close to the CEO, with an organisation able to deal with legacy systems and salespeople’s new incentivization. It also includes:

-    A shared understanding of the available tech and what it can offer,

-    Linguistic competencies,

-    Specific product offerings.

Conclusion: Customer data can create new opportunities for existing customers

Relational shopping data empowers brands and sales associates with all of the information needed to create new sales opportunities. Whether it be serving a loyal customer in a new market (as seen for Chinese customers that tend to shop while traveling) or for local customers that frequent a shop only when they need to repurchase a good, relational shopping allows brands to offer upscale services to ensure the customers are always thinking of the brand and the experience. By harnessing customer data to communicate effectively with clients, retailers can save a lot of time and effort on prioritizing the right products to ensure a five-star experience through all channels and store visits.

Credits: IADS (Selvane Mohandas du Ménil)