Leveraging the combined prowess of Data, AI, and Omnichannel Experiences can help retailers strengthen their brand image and retain customers by delivering superior value.
The revolutionary potential of data and AI is very much apparent today. The tech is heralding sweeping changes in businesses across industry verticals. Especially their coming together with Omnichannel experiences is playing a crucial role in building loyalty for retailers. These approaches are becoming a strategic necessity for retailers in the current business scenario.
Today the global retail environment is grappling with flickering consumers’ tastes and dwindling loyalties. As a result, retailers are jostling with a high customer turnover ratio and reduced profitability. How Data, AI, and Omnichannel Experiences can rescue retailers in such a complex environment, here are complete details:
a) Customised Recommendations: Brands can significantly improve retailer retention by offering customised recommendations based on shoppers’ purchase history. As retailers play a crucial role in enhancing brand visibility and even impact consumers’ decision-making, these insights will benefit in maximising their sales and profitability. Brands can also design customised loyalty programs for retailers and automate rewards as per the specific preferences of retailers.
b) Accurate Targeting: AI can analyse vast amounts of data and can help brands accurately target retailers with specific offers and loyalty programs. AI can also reveal important insights related to end consumers which both brands and retailers can use to develop marketing and promotional campaigns. Further, targeted emails can also be used by brands for both retailers and end consumers to achieve superior efficiency in pitching their new products and strengthening their bond with these important stakeholders.
c) Hybrid Experiences: The coming together of data, AI, and Omnichannel formats enables retailers to offer customers the convenience of choosing the time, place, and format for their shopping experiences. For example, customers can opt to select the product online, place the order at the retailer’s store, and request delivery at home. By integrating different shopping formats on a single holistic platform, retailers can achieve higher levels of customer retention by lowering the customer churn caused by their inability to switch between different modes of shopping.
d) Virtual Support: By offering virtual support to customers round the clock, retailers can enhance customer convenience and reap rich dividends on customer loyalty. These enhanced interactions also help retailers create, communicate, and deliver superior value to shoppers. Unlike conventional CRM, bots powered by AI and ML are apt at handling customer queries. They can also answer the calls in the native language of customers and offer remedies at a faster speed by enabling fact-based, data-induced redressal of issues. These virtual assistants can analyse customer data from across retail formats and resolve queries with an efficiency that is hard to achieve through manual methods. As customers attach utmost importance to query resolving, the quick remedial capabilities of such retailers prove AI from significant in strengthening the retailer’s image and brand loyalty.
e) Predictive Analytics: The integration of Data, AI, and omnichannel experiences allows retailers to study, analyze, and predict the important parameters of customer demand on a real-time basis. This capability is strategically important to achieving superior efficiency in sourcing products, managing inventory, and optimizing the supply chain. The real-time changes also help merchandise placement within stores and prioritize products with high customer demand. Predictive analytics is also important for achieving higher cost efficiency and offering products to customers in a more cost-effective manner.
Combining data and AI with Omnichannel experience is opening new avenues of opportunities for retailers across the globe. The move is proving significant from the strategic objective of growth and expansion as it directly impacts the customer retention of retailers. The personalized experiences enabled by the combination of these strategies are extremely important and will help retailers turn over a new page in their customer retention and loyalty programs.
Arsh Kabir Singh Gujral is the Chief Revenue Officer, Genefied