Discussion on how brands can adopt a customer focus approach to build loyalty and ensure customer retention.
Tesco this week announced moves to simplify its customer service operations. It is to bring them together into one single expanded contact centre operation in Dundee, where 250 extra staff will be taken on, while closing its Cardiff centre with the loss of 1,100 jobs from next February. The decision (more…)
Ahead of this year’s InternetRetailing Summit in Berlin we’re speaking to senior retailers taking part in the event. Today we hear from Regis Koenig, director, customer services, at French electricals retailer Darty. The InternetRetailing Summit runs from July 3 to July 5 2017. It brings together senior figures from leading (more…)
In 2016, UK shoppers turned online to buy more of their groceries, used the internet more frequently to buy fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and spent more when they did so, new analysis suggests. Kantar Worldpanel’s quarterly FMCG E-commerce Index found that 7.3% of UK grocery sales took place online during (more…)
Most (90%) consumers have taken themselves off retailer mailing lists in the last year – and 46% say they do so because they just get too many messages, a new study suggests. Nearly a quarter (24%) of 1,531 consumers questioned in research for customer engagement specialist Engage Hub said they (more…)
It’s now just over a month until the second annual InternetRetailing Summit takes place in Berlin. The event, which runs from July 3 to July 5, brings together senior figures from leading retailers from across the European Economic Area (EEA) plus Switzerland for an immersive three-day event spent focusing on (more…)
UK shoppers have already spent more than £2bn on Christmas 2017, new research estimates. ICM questioned more than 2,000 UK adults on behalf of performance marketing technology company Criteo and found that one in five had already brought their first Christmas present while more than 15% had already spent more (more…)
More than a third of UK consumers (38%) still shop in-store as often as they did a year ago, according to a ShopperTrak research study. Meanwhile, a survey from Omnico finds that 70% of shoppers aged under 35 would like to see store hours extended. The ShopperTrak study, Redesigning retail: (more…)
More than half (53%) of UK consumers believe that UK retailers provide a disconnected shopping experience that does not adequately join online and the store – and 61% say that they would consider changing retailers due to a disconnected shopping experience. “Today’s customers are now expecting more than a transactional (more…)
Customers buying groceries online at Tesco will soon be able to see at a glance which foods work for their diet, whether they eat vegetarian, kosher, halal, gluten-free or paleo food. From next week, shoppers will be able to filter their food searches, reflecting intolerances, allergies or other dietary requirements (more…)
When UK shoppers buy groceries online, the chances are they’ll be doing it over their phones, according to a new study out this week. Forty per cent of all online grocery shops now take place on mobile, according to the UK FMCG Deep Dive – Taking Stock of the Future (more…)
Missguided is set to put digital centre stage in its new store at the Bluewater Shopping Centre, where it promises the “ultimate” customer experience. The store, the brand’s second, aims to be an “extension of the brand’s online expression”. That means a prominent role both for social media and for (more…)
Retailers need to tackle the speed and downtime of their websites in order to provide customers with the online experience that they now demand, two new studies suggest. Some 40% of UK retailer websites experience downtime during seasonal peaks, according to a new study from Cogeco Peer 1. Meanwhile, a (more…)
Speaking at IRX 2017, Michael Braybrook, director of enterprise solutions at intelligent mobile engagement company mGage, listed his top five mobile innovations. Here are his choices, and the reasoning behind them. Chatbots Chatbots, says Michael Braybook of mGage, can help businesses answer common questions around the clock. By interacting with (more…)
As Instagram this week reached the total of 700m monthly active users, we take a look at how retailers and brands from IRUK Top500 traders to smaller businesses, are using the site. As to why they might use the image-led social media site, Instagram says that 80% of its users (more…)
Supermarket chain Waitrose , a Leading retailer in IRUK Top500 research, celebrated this year’s Pancake Day with a Facebook Live Video session. Jake Ward, business development director at Groovy Gecko, told us how they did it, and what the results were. Here are the highlights. The event Food writer and (more…)
When are UK consumers most likely to be browsing for bargains via their smartphone this Bank Holiday weekend? It seems the answer is at 3am. Data from PCA Predict suggests that 61% of all ecommerce webtraffic is generated at this time during the weekend. Mobile traffic remains higher, at between (more…)
Shoppers are expected to turn out to buy across all channels over the coming Easter weekend. PCA Predict forecasts that online transactions will rise by 17% over the three Easter trading days, with Easter Monday sales expected to be up by 20%. Almost half of all online sales are expected (more…)
Tesco this week announced growing sales following a strategy closely focused on putting both the online and store channels at the service of the customer. Tesco revenue of £55.9bn in the year to February 25 was 3.7% up on the same time last year, when currency fluctuations were taken into (more…)
Michael Kliger of mytheresa.com explained the upmarket fashion retailer’s approach to customer service when he spoke at IRX 2017. Here’s what he said about selling to a group of women that’s famously difficult to target. Find the right partners Developing partnerships with mytheresa.com women is important to the retailer’s efforts (more…)
Almost three quarters (74%) of shoppers are ready to share basic personal data over in-store Wi-Fi if it means they will receive discounts on products they are interested in, according to new research by Hughes Europe. Some 85% said they were most likely to share details on the kind of (more…)