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Happy customer – Happy retailer

In times of online trading, strengthening customer loyalty is an increasingly important aspect. Retailers have to stretch out — but the customer also wants to be enticed.

Do you coll­ect loyalty points? No? But you certainly have a loyalty card? And if you don’t have a loyalty card, then you like to use the discount promo­ti­ons and buy three for two, don’t you? In German retail, adver­ti­sing for custo­mers is in full swing. Three quar­ters of all shop­pers use at least one loyalty programme. And accor­ding to a study by Acquisa, this is higher than the Euro­pean average. But how can the custo­mer be made really “happy”? Are bonus programs and discounts really the secret of custo­mer loyalty?

In order to get to the bottom of the ques­tion, various studies have exami­ned and evalua­ted various purcha­sing factors in more detail. This has resul­ted in many inte­res­t­ing results:

For exam­ple, the expe­ri­ence culture plays an immense role for custo­mers. Shop­ping is no longer just about paying for goods and taking them home. Custo­mers want to expe­ri­ence some­thing. Accor­ding to a Walker study, 86 percent of shop­pers are willing to pay more for a product if they have a special shop­ping expe­ri­ence. The way leads through the senses to the customer’s heart and is thus memo­ri­zed in the mind.

And if the custo­mer is initi­ally convin­ced of the company, then he is, in most cases, also a loyal compa­n­ion. He is the best critic the retailer can wish for. The custo­mer deli­vers impro­ve­ment requests one-to-one to the retailer and the retailer can ther­e­fore react promptly. If the wishes or sugges­ti­ons are taken seriously, the rela­ti­onship between the custo­mer and the retailer is streng­the­ned enorm­ously.

Thus another point is found to the “Happy custo­mer”: Service. Most custo­mers are annoyed by tele­phone consul­ta­ti­ons or chat cont­acts. Waiting for hours in the tele­phone loop is percei­ved as annoy­ing. If a problem occurs, profes­sio­nal help is needed and this should take place best in person. Those who know the cont­act person and feel they are in good hands will always return to their trus­ted retailer.

The retailer‘s inter­ac­tion with the custo­mer seems to be the key to success. If the retailer takes the custo­mer seriously, knows his wishes and can respond to them, an opti­mal symbio­sis is crea­ted. The custo­mer feels comfor­ta­ble because he is noti­ced and the retailer has a good feeling because he can also tailor his actions comple­tely to the custo­mer. The most beau­tiful marke­ting campaign is of little use if it leads past the shop­per.

In summary, this means: custo­mer loyalty is not = coll­ect loyalty points! The real connec­tion happens on many deeper levels. The ability to put ones­elf in the customer’s shoes and to take his wishes and criti­cism seriously is of far grea­ter bene­fit than a pure marke­ting campaign. If the custo­mer feels comfor­ta­ble, the decis­ion for a company is an easy matter. And the well-being feeling atmo­sphere does not neces­s­a­rily mean that there must be a “lounge” or a “quiet area” in every company. Opti­mum visi­bi­lity and easy access to the products on the shelf, no out-of-stock situa­tions, easy removal and also an over­view of the market are the simple tips that make both the custo­mer and the retailer “happy” in the end.

Photo: © puhimec/stock.adobe.com

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