What drives—and deters—customer loyalty?
According to a recently released Market Track study, customer loyalty (or lack thereof) is strongly affected by promotions and merchandising. Customers are price-sensitive and promotion-sensitive. When prompted, they may speak of brand loyalties, but when it comes to purchase decisions, their actions say otherwise. Take a look at the study’s eye-opening findings about the influence of promotions on purchase behavior:
- 80% of shoppers surveyed said they would change stores or brands when offered a compelling promotion.
- 83% said they made an unplanned purchase based on a promotion they received, with 65% saying they made the purchase in store.
- Over 80% said they use more than one promotional media type—most frequently print and websites—to make purchase decisions.
Shopper behavior is significantly influenced by promotions, and thanks to the Internet, customers have greater visibility—and thus, purchasing power—across the market to comparison shop and hunt for promotions. In light of these results, merchandisers must ask themselves: what’s the optimal way to embrace these trends, build brand loyalty, and develop appropriate merchandising strategies?
Without question, companies must devote efforts toward promotion and customer retention strategies. Personalized and tiered rewards programs are liable to increase transaction frequency, and special benefits reserved for customers in these programs, such as discounted shipping, can generate loyalty. And as the Market Track study indicates, shoppers are consulting various media types when making decisions, so it is crucial to embrace marketing initiatives that span multiple shopping channels, retail enterprises, and contact points.
It’s also important that brands ensure compliance with marketing plans by prioritizing retail promotion data collection and measurement. Businesses that use GoSpotCheck are able to confirm promotion execution by obtaining real-time intelligence on the status of marketing initiatives. Not only do such field insights vastly improve operations, but they also confirm that consumers are taking advantage of all the benefits your brand is offering.
