Engaging customers on their terms

For better shopping experiences we provide a data-driven approach to retailers rewarding them with consumer loyalty, states Dr. Anthony Kilili Capability Director, Communication & Media, dunnhumby India to Retailer Media. 

How your brand resonates with the needs of modern consumer?

As a customer science company supporting the retail industry, we are at the forefront advocating better shopping experiences and rewarding consumer loyalty. We bring a data-driven approach to retailers worldwide and put the customer at the center of all analytics. By doing so, we understand the customers' needs and preferences and quickly detect changes in behaviour, promptly reacting to their needs; sometimes even predicting their future needs!

We react by providing personalised and relevant communications to the customer and analytical insights to retailers, helping them drive their business thereby bringing the customer-first philosophy to life.

How the consumer has changed towards your industry/ product in the last few years? 

The modern retail customer has taken control of several key marketing aspects. They decide how to shop, which ads to look at, what to discuss on social media etc. They are ‘online all the time’ yet also have the power to ‘switch off’ an e-mail channel simply by unsubscribing. They are more technologically savvy and multi-channel in nature, often shopping in multiple channels before finally making a purchase decision. They now need more information and product attributes are becoming more important in making purchase decisions. They are more influenced by their peers and social ‘connections’ than mass advertisements. They want to feel valued, unique and understood by retailers.

They want personalised products and recommendations and a meaningful dialogue with the retailer through ratings, reviews, blogs etc. They are looking for convenience - anything that makes shopping fast, easy and pleasurable. They want more value and are constantly comparing prices and brands, yet do not want to compromise on quality. Our challenge today is to convert customers into fans by engaging them on their terms and in seamless environments.

How is e-Commerce as a market for licensing/CDIT/fashion products?

eCommerce presents a great opportunity and still has huge potential for CDIT and fashion products.  In my opinion, it has been a slow start. The most valuable customers in this space are still those who shop in both online and offline stores. Single format shoppers are still not fully tapped. A large majority of online purchase decisions continue to be price-driven. The eCommerce market for CDIT and fashion needs to get to a point where buying online is as natural as booking a hotel room or purchasing an airline ticket.

How physical distribution/ stores will change in your sector in the coming times? 

With the surge of big data, physical stores will be transformed into multi-channel hubs. There will be a fusion of worlds with the omni-channel customer being able to start their shopping online and seamlessly complete it offline and vice-versa.  Stores will join the Internet of things and become huge data generation ‘smart stores’ via surveillance videos, electronic pressure pads to detect traffic, RFID technology, geo-fencing, blue tooth capabilities, beacons etc. These data will be integrated with online behaviour data as well as third party data to get a 3D view of the customer. The shopping experience will be improved by use of big data and data science for personalised pricing and promotions, personalised real time in-store product recommendations and systems that recognise customer preferences.