Amazon is the leading retailer for cultivating shopper engagement and retaining a loyal customer base, according to a study conducted by analysts at retail insights company, Edge by Ascential.
The ‘Shopper Engagement and Retention Winning Strategy Report’ analysed 25 of the top omnichannel and pure-play retailers around the world, scoring them out of 100 for their efforts to build an effective shopping experience that helps to cultivate shopper engagement and retention. The analysis showed that Amazon scored the highest – with 64.4. This was attributed to Amazon’s extensive product assortment and leading own brand portfolio, as well as the development of its sophisticated Prime offering with exclusive membership and benefits.
Amazon is one of three pure-play ecommerce retailers in the top five; the others are JD.com (51.2) and Alibaba (50.5). French supermarket giant Carrefour achieved second place overall, scoring 59.3, largely due to its transformation plan that is pushing forward a range of engagement initiatives, including in-store digital integration and its increasing efforts in sustainability. Waitrose came in at fifth place, scoring 48.8.
Edge by Ascential analysts assessed retailer performance across four key characteristics in order to determine the results. These are:
- Tangible – how retailers execute the basics to provide a reliable and impactful everyday shopping experience.
- Convenient – assessing how retailers deliver a simple and efficient path to purchase.
- Emotional – retailer efforts to build a personalised and genuine connection with consumers.
- Interactive – how far retailers successfully engage with consumers in collaborative and distinctive ways.
The report also looked at identifying how retailers and brands can achieve loyalty over the next ten years, as technology and consumer engagement evolve. This includes placing more investment in personalisation strategies, as consumer demand for convenience continues to develop.
Mars is given as an example of a brand that is currently leveraging this strategy successfully. The brand has used data insights from Alibaba on local customer preferences to market the most preferred flavour of its Snickers bars, resulting in 92% of customers giving a positive review.
As well as this, Edge by Ascential highlights that retailers must also ensure they are keeping up with shopper trends – such as growing demand for sustainability – as retailer values play a bigger role in driving customer loyalty. Retailers are starting to take note of this, with Carrefour launching its pioneering sustainability programme ‘Act for Food’ last year. This both promotes the French retailer’s commitment to food transition and healthy eating, whilst fostering trust and transparency – an important factor which will has significant impact on customer loyalty in the long-term.
Boris Planer, Director Go-to-Market Insight at Edge by Ascential, said: “In a time where there is increasing competition – and cost – for retailers and brands within the retail sector to win and retain shoppers, Amazon, Carrefour, JD.com, Alibaba and Waitrose show they have a strategy in place to maintain a loyal customer base. They have developed capabilities that allowed them formulate a new formula for loyalty, to win in a landscape where increasingly fickle consumers, enabled through multiple touchpoints created by the digitisation of retail, are no longer as loyal to brands or where they transact.”
Florence Wright, Retail Analyst at Edge by Ascential, added: “Shopper loyalty is cultivated through two main aspects – the emotional bond created through the shopping experience, and the act of repeat purchasing that is encouraged by loyalty schemes. It is therefore essential that retailers and brands get this balance right, ensuring they are building a rapport with the customer. This can happen through a variety of avenues that factor in the four characteristics of shopper engagement and retention. Executed correctly, both brands and retailers will reap the rewards by fostering high value, long-term customers that will have the potential to drive sustainable sales in the future.”
NAM Implications:
- Scary, even for Amazon…
- Meanwhile, a pointer for others (Amazon’s extensive product assortment and leading own brand portfolio, as well as the development of its sophisticated Prime offering with exclusive membership and benefits)
- Also 3 out of top 5 being pureplay ecommerce says everything…
