By Anastasia Lloyd-Wallis
COO & Head of Insights, Retail Doctor Group
After numerous years filled with uncertainty due to constant lockdowns in a turbulent landscape, retailers are constantly asking themselves: How can I improve the customer experience? What can I do to differentiate myself from competitors so that customers will choose me?
As coexisting with COVID becomes a reality, customer expectations continue to shift. This has prompted retailers to consider how they can leverage insights to build loyalty with existing customers, whilst also attracting new ones. Keeping customers at the centre of all business functions will prove to be beneficial in reducing churn and increasing the frequency of purchases.
With customers, retailers will realise that it is not just about the transaction, but instead it is important to personally recognise customer needs to ultimately build a genuine relationship. This concept was shared throughout all finalists at the 2022 Australian Retail Innovators Awards.
Let’s take a look at our top performers in the Customer Experience category:
- Retail Prodigy Group’s key focus is to ‘provide the ultimate customer experience’ which is done through embedding a customer centric culture into all levels of the business and their purpose. The business effectively utilised insights to determine what their target customers want, concluding that being on a first name basis and connecting with the customer in a genuine manner led to a higher conversion rate and higher average transaction value.
- Aqua Gardening implements a proactive approach for their customers who have ‘dropped’ during the customer journey by asking them how their garden is and whether they have experienced success with the products they have bought. This is done to gain a deeper understanding of their customers and learn how to improve for future transactions.
- BCF provides solutions and experiences that allows them to pursue their passion, delivered by team members who share those same passions.
- Breeze Furniture established themselves in the market as Australia’s first furniture subscription service with a direct aim to simplify the process of obtaining furniture. By placing the customer at the centre of their operations, Breeze Furniture was successful in effectively delivering all of their customer’s needs and wants.
- IGA Locali is a conveniently located restaurant-hybrid store with the aim to provide customers with the same quality and experience that they would get going to a restaurant but with the ease of it being all in one place.
- MILKRUN is a Sydney-based grocery delivery start-up that delivers groceries direct from Australian farmers in 10 minutes or less. The business aims to reduce the need for weekly grocery shopping or the last minute dash to the supermarket by providing convenience alongside reliability in a market that offers some of the slowest delivery times.
- Chatswood Chase: Edit Collection is an evolving concept store that leverages new technologies to create an immersive retail experience for a selection of sustainable online fashion brands by integrating both the digital and physical experience. This unique concept demonstrates a further leap into omnichannel retail, meeting customer demands whilst supporting the growth of these small businesses. Customers are able to experience the benefits of online brands while feeling connected as well as having a personalised in-store experience.
- Vitable personalises each customer experience by simplifying their information search and purchase process of the customer journey through their website. Furthermore, by personalising each order with the customer’s name addition on each sachet of vitamins, Vitable aims to make each customer feel valued.
For the future, customer experience will still continue to be an integral part of every business. At RDG Insights, we help retailers and brands leverage consumer insights to understand your customer’s behaviours, drivers and motivations through our Limbic Insights™. These are then deployed to help you differentiate yourself in the market and be the best of the best by helping you target your customers more effectively.
Talk to our Insights team to find out more about how you can improve your business’ customer experience. To find out more, contact us on businessfitness@retaildoctor.com.au or call us on +61 2 9460 2882.