360 Degree View Of The Customer: Integrating Transactional And Research Data Into Customer Segments

Transcription

1 360 Degree View Of The Customer: Integrating Transactional And Research Data Into Customer Segments

2 360 Degree View of the Customer: Integrating Transactional and Research Data into Customer Segments Background A leading global sports goods retailer spends vast sums of money on multiple marketing channels and marketing initiatives to attract new customers. As all marketers, they also wanted to focus their marketing efforts towards a deeper understanding of their customers and how best to serve and market to them for an incremental share of wallet. Various segmentation approaches were suggested, but finally a unique cutting edge combination of transactional behavior blended with psychographics and demographic information was used to identify and profile various target segments. The paper will describe how better understanding of customers can help improve the match between benefits sought by them, with offers from marketers. It also shows how such segments can be optimally used by marketers to reach out more effectively to the consumers. Research Methodology Point of sale data for 12 million customers containing variables such as Purchase Characteristics (recency, frequency and monetary value of purchase) and Type of Goods/Category Purchased, etc was used to understand underlying buying pattern. A cutting edge, 2-step agglomerative and divisive clustering technique was applied to segregate customers into distinct market segments. A robust quantitative research was also carried out, which focused on understanding psychographics, needs and attitudes of customers. A survey among a representative sample of segmented customers was conducted that additionally captured customer opinions on purchase influencers factors, promotional offer response and brand perception. Key Insights Our segmentation of the customer database revealed that there are 11 distinct types of shoppers which can be combined to 3 broad segments.

3 Segment name Cherry Pickers % A leading U.S. sports goods' retailer population 1 Annual spend per customer ($) Attitude Important drivers of preference Negative drivers Demographics! gender! age! other Media, Over index (%) Media, Under index (%) Enthusiasts Winter Spring Training Summer Back to School & Team 12% 6% 6% 20% 19% 13% $1,128 $1,049 $1,099 $840 $985 $837! Over- index on most! Over- index on most! Participate in a lot of sports, especially running sports, especially running cross training sports and tennis! Weekend warrior!loyalty program!coupons! Relationships with other stores! Slight male skew! Higher income! Newspaper (18%)! Frequently view ad inserts! Competitive prices and! Status, Fashion and Brand! Competitive Prices wide assortment! Wide variety of size and! Wide Assortment! Do not expect high level color of service! Assortment - A leading U.S. sports goods' retailer does not carry the styles, brands or quality of products they are looking for! Higher income! Newspaper (19%)! Magazine (5%)! Frequently view ad inserts! They prefer specialty stores! Less likely to have kids! Participate in a lot of! Participate in a lot of team sports like baseball team sports like soccer! Family life revolves! Family life revolves around kids sports around kids sports goods' retailer doesn t carry the brands they want, especially in footwear! Slight male skew! Word of mouth (20%)! No media preference skews! Television (4%)! Word of mouth (9%)! Television (3%)\Newspaper (11%) Occasional/ Shoppers 1 This segments % of the general population may be different! Competitive Prices! Wide Assortment goods' retailer doesn t carry the brands they want, especially in footwear! No media preference skews! Do not participate in as many sports as other seasonal shoppers! Family life revolves around kids sports! Competitive Prices! Wide Assortment goods' retailer does not carry the styles they want goods' retailer pricing in workout apparel! No media preference skews!word of mouth (10%)! Television (3%)! Magazine (2%)

4 Mapping customer psychographics with the transactional segments revealed that although the retailer performs well on the key factors of customer value, so do many of its direct competitors indicating a big white space in developing a stronger relationship with existing customers. Business Impact The resulting segments which were much more well defined than all past exercises, have been used to define all strategic marketing activities including cross sell, refinement of the loyalty program, discount coupons campaigns, development of relationship building programs (such as free coaching of certain sports in store), merchandizing, etc

5 Opportunity Programs Target Segment Examples Capabilities Required Cross Sell Targeted Product offerings Spring Summer Winter Fall! Promote a Mom s and Dad s program which offers footwear, workout apparel and fitness equipment specials with purchase of kid s merchandise/team sports! Employ targeted footwear advertising! Increase impulse/trend product around BTS! E- mail and Direct mail marketing programs Increase visit frequency Relationship building Rewards Enthusiasts Cherry Pickers! Create an advisory panel to get direct and consistent feedback from customers and reward them by incorporating their suggestions into store offerings! Survey customers through e- mail to solicit feedback on specific things! Offer discounts in merchandise when they trade in at the end of a season to promote visits during customer s off- peak purchase times! Organizational capabilities to administer an advisory panel that is highly integrated with merchandise and marketing decisions! Store operations and system processes to support collection of used gear, administration of discounts, and resale of used gear Increase spend Focus on innovative /higher end shoes! Work with Nike and other top shoe vendors to get top of end from their existing lines or exclusive product innovations

6 Opportunity Programs Target Segment Examples Capabilities Required Rewards Program Shoppers! Offer notification of pre- season release of new product! Offer discounts on service contracts/extended warranties to get more spend from best customers and less margin deterioration! Customer loyalty program Customer Retention Used gear strategy Cherry Pickers! Offer discounts in merchandise when they trade in at the end of a season to promote visits during customer s off- peak purchase times! Store operations and system processes to support collection of used gear, administration of discounts, and resale of used gear Services forloyal customers Shoppers! End of season tune- ups (e.g. skate sharpening), purchase plans that allow for upgrades in equipment year over year to keep up with kids growth, annual shoe replacement plans! Program development for Services offerings! Store organization support Increase GM % Focus on innovative /higher end shoes Replace coupons with loyalty type programs Customers Cherry Pickers Enthusiasts Shoppers! Work with Nike and other top shoe vendors to get top of end from their existing lines or exclusive product innovations! Targeted promotions by segment will allow better utilization of promotional dollars! Send out free gift cards in the off- season valid with a minimum purchase amount to motivate an incremental visit! E- mail/direct Mail marketing program coordinated with customer loyalty program San Francisco Chicago New York London Dubai New Delhi Bangalore Singapore