SDL's latest in customer experience research, “The Retailer’s Imperative: A Strategic Approach to Customer Experience.” In conjunction with Econsultancy, our study reveals that retailers are no longer debating the importance of CX and plan to increase their focus and spend in 2015. In addition, retailers recognize the importance of implementing a CX strategy to increase profits, but in order to do so, must integrate their technology and offering both mobile applications and mobile-optimized sites to their customers.

1. 03 February 2015 Copyright © Econsultancy
The Retailer’s Imperative: A strategic
approach to customer experience
In association with SDL
Stefan Tornquist
VP Research (US), Econsultancy
@MarketingStefan

2. Speakers
03 February 2015 2Econsultancy / Sitecore Customer Lifetime Value Report
@SKTornquist
Lauren Turner
Product Marketing Manager, eCommerce and Retail
lturner@sdl.com

3. Background
• More than 220 online retailers with over $100 million in
annual revenues
– 40% of respondent companies have more than $500 million in
annual revenues
• Respondents were based in North America
• All had the position of Manager or above:
– 43% are in senior leadership (VP or above)
Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 303 February 2015

4. Three themes
• The goal of integration is simplicity
close
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 4

5. Three themes
• The goal of integration is simplicity
• CX is about acquisition as much as retention
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 5

6. Three themes
• The goal of integration is simplicity
• CX is about acquisition as much as retention
• The pace of CX investment increases the
pressure on marketing
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 6

7. “OUR CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE IS OUR
BRAND”
03 February 2015 7Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

8. Retailers are past the stage
of debating the importance
of customer experience
management.
Now they have to master it…
03 February 2015 8Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
Strongly
agree
47%
Agree
42%
Neutral
8%
"Our customer experience is our brand"

9. 03 February 2015 9Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
Our customer experience is our brand
How does it feel?
- Tone/Voice
- Design
- Content
- Presentation
- Brand elements

10. 03 February 2015 10Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
Our customer experience is our brand
How does it work?
- Choice
- Navigation
- Delivery
- Pricing
- Issues/conflicts

11. 03 February 2015 11Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
Our customer experience is our brand
What does it mean?
- Character
- Loyalty
- Consistency
- Trust

12. COMPLEXITY REQUIRES
SIMPLICITY
03 February 2015 12Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

13. Senior marketers appreciate the importance of
integration
03 February 2015 13Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
“How important
is integration
across your
customer
experience
management
technologies?”
97% -
customer
experience
management
integration is
important

14. 03 February 2015 14Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
“What is the
level of
integration
between your
current
customer
experience
management
technologies?”
Customer-facing industries move to marketing
technology integration

15. Held back by lack of testing
03 February 2015 15Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
“Which
customer
experience
management
technologies do
you currently
have in place?”

16. CX IS THE PATH TO
HIGHER PROFIT
03 February 2015 16Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

17. 03 February 2015 17Harris Interactive, 2014
60%

18. 03 February 2015 18Econsultancy, 2015
#1

19. Customer experience and personalization
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 19
What are the
primary ways
you believe your
company can
differentiate
itself in selling
to and retaining
current
customers?

20. Product offerings key method for attracting new
customers
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 20
“What are the
primary ways
you believe your
company can
differentiate
itself in
attracting new
customers?”

21. MOBILE CX IS AN
UNTAPPED RESOURCE
03 February 2015 21Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

22. 03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 22
How well does
your
organization
understand the
'customer
journey' for the
following
audiences? –
Strong
understanding
Understanding of the mobile customer is
growing

23. However…only a third differentiate using mobile
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 23
What are the
primary ways
you believe your
company can
differentiate
itself in
attracting new
customers?

24. THE NEAR FUTURE OF
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
03 February 2015 24Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report

25. Tying revenue to customer satisfaction is vital
03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 25
“How is the
impact of
customer
experience
measured?”

26. 03 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report 26
“How is the
customer
experience
budget
changing in
2015?”
CX budgets are increasing in 2015
>80%
plan to increase
CX budgets

27. Requirements
• Create the most engaging onsite experience
• Be truly global
• Deliver highly efficient retailing
• Put visual merchandising team in control of
customer experience
Profile
Asos is a global fashion destination for 20-
somethings with over 98 million visits per
month and 9.1 million active customers

28. Shoppers can sort and refine by:
• Dress Type
• Dress Shape
• Length
• Color
• Size
• Price Range (slider)
• Brand (alphabetically)
A Comprehensive Plan for Visual Merchandising
Recommendations/Details
Include:
• Accessories to match
• Similar styles
• Fit
• Video of dress on runway
• Zoom

29. 29
***SDL Internal Only***
Profile
• 108 year old premium UK department store
• 4 major department stores
• Leader in its category online
• More than a quarter of business outside of UK
• Sales doubled year on year online since 2010
• £1b+ revenue

30. Enabling Retailers and Brands to Work Together
Note: Cartier is not shown, because it has its
own landing page, per agreement with
Selfridges

31. 31
***SDL Internal Only***
10% increase in visits to product
pages in less than a month
3 x faster response of site
40% increase in productivity of
merchandising team
“Improvements to site search
and navigation are impressive”

32. Click here for video
Profile
• Leading Motoring and Leisure Retailer
• 460 Stores
• 300 auto centres
• 30,000 products
• £871m revenue

33. Taking In-Store Experience Into the Digital World
Navigable
content
Content linked
to products
Searching for “road bikes”
delivers articles and advice on
bike selection, in addition to
displaying the road bikes for sale.
Combining car data with online search and
merchandising for personal experience

34. 03 February 2015 34
Profile
• Owned by Urban Outfitters
• Women’s clothing retailer with
182 stores worldwide
• $1.3B in revenue for 2014

35. 03 February 2015 35
Where Marketing Meets Merchandising
Splash page sign-up for email deals
and alerts
• Limited promotion creates
urgency
• Promo code can be tracked and
measured
Pick, pack and ship: Products
purchased online are shipped
from the buyer’s nearest store.

36. 36
***SDL Internal Only***
New categories based on customer
shopping habits
Fewer Markdowns
8% Growth in 2014

37. 37
***SDL Internal Only***
Key Takeaways
1. Customer experience is the most critical lever
retailers can pull relative to driving revenues and
consumer loyalty
2. Integrate all your sources of customer data for better
insight and analysis
3. Connect the visual merchandise to relevant content
4. Pay attention to local language/culture/preferences
and update content accordingly
5. Test your assumptions to find out if a particular
ecommerce strategy is working

38. Questions?
3803 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2015.
@SKTornquist
@SDL

39. Thank You!
3903 February 2015 Econsultancy / SDL The Retailers Imperative Report
All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2015.