The Growth of Personal Shopping at Scale

There’s a classic scene in Friends where Rachel, newly employed as a Bloomingdale’s personal shopper, leaves this voicemail for Monica: “I just helped an 81-year-old woman put on a thong, and she didn’t even buy it!” Affluent shoppers are used to receiving personal attention when shopping at high-end stores. But technology is now ushering in a new age of mass personalization at scale (meaning personal interactions with all or a large segment of customers), giving shoppers the personal attention they demand and saving the Rachels of the world from embarrassing thong encounters. 

E-commerce personalization delivers personal experiences (product recommendations, cart abandonment marketing emails, etc.) based on previous actions, browsing behavior, purchase history, demographics, and other personal data. And thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), machines can crunch data quickly, enabling real-time optimizations and scalability. Companies can then utilize the data to recommend personalized products to every customer in real-time and design an individual, user-oriented shopping experience. AI can also help direct content creation, quickly identifying topics customers are interested in without us mere humans spending all of our time reading through thousands of search terms to pull out trends. We're happy to introduce you to some of our experts that can help you with this.

Benefits

80% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a company that offers personalized experiences. But customers want personalization throughout their retail interactions and across multiple touchpoints. In the best-case scenarios, retailers make the customer part of the dialogue and leverage data to create one-to-one personalization. Customers in turn receive offers that go beyond broad segmentation with companies providing products, offers, and communications uniquely relevant to them as individuals. The benefit? 44% likely will become repeat buyers. 

In addition, marketers see an average 20% sales increase and can reduce marketing and sales costs by 10%–20%. Personalization at scale delivers a 1%–2% increase in sales for grocery companies and even higher for other retailers. A positive customer experience yields 20% higher customer satisfaction rates, a 10%–15% boost in sales conversion rates, and a 20%–30% increase in employee engagement. 

Personal shopping in action

But even with all these benefits, 53% of companies lack the right technology to personalize experiences. Some technology companies like Dynamic Yield and Evergage have stepped up to help retailers provide real-time personalization for their customers. Others are creating their own. 

In 2019, Amazon launched Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe, a styling service for women’s fashion products, including 7 for All Mankind, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Rebecca Taylor, Champion, Adidas, and Amazon Essentials. For a $4.99 monthly fee, Prime members create a profile based on style, fit, and budget, then Amazon stylists curate outfits that fit their individual preferences, budget, and fashion needs. Customers can sample the items at home for up to 7 days and return items they don’t want. 

Sephora uses its mobile app to offer an omnichannel personalized experience for its customers, giving the customer the ability to book in-store makeovers and fashion consultations, find a store, check in-stock items, try on products, and receive recommendations based on their personal beauty traits. The customer’s profile on the app also includes data on the customer’s in-store purchases, online browsing and purchasing patterns, and interactions with in-store salespeople. For instance, at in-store makeup appointments, the makeup artist inputs each product into the customer’s profile for later purchase. This information also provides the company with data that will allow further personalization for the customer. 

Nike has taken personalization to a new level, allowing customers to configure their own clothes and shoes. The company also has a 3-D sneaker-customization platform that enables shoppers to generate real-time, shareable snapshots of finished footwear. With Nike Shop the Look, NikePlus loyalty members can use QR-code-scanning to determine the availability of their preferred sizes and colors and to request delivery to their selected pickup location or dressing room. Members can also use Instant Checkout to skip the cash-register line, check out directly from their stored-payment device, and access Nike Expert Studio to book personal, one-on-one appointments with Nike experts.

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95% of retail CEOs say personalizing the customer experience is a strategic priority for their companies, but only 15% of retailers have fully implemented personalization strategies. The personalization of the shopping experience will look different for every company, and we can help!

Creatives On Call has experienced creatives to help with your personalization strategy, from content creation and design to customer engagement, digital technology, and more. Give us a call!

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This is a time for marketers to step up to the challenge and get creative in meeting current demands and behavior changes. Creatives On Call supports your business through this. Contact us here.  We have Marketing professionals ready to start in areas including:

• Strategy & Advisory

• Design and Production

• Content Creation & Management

• Customer Engagement & Experience

• Learning & Knowledge Management

• Digital Technology & Transformation

Learn more here.