NEW YORK (June 20, 2018) - Historically, online retailers have accumulated massive amounts of customer data, but have lacked the human touch. Physical stores, where 80 percent of retail sales still occur, have actual contact with shoppers, yet typically have little access to the in-depth information that can be leveraged to increase engagement and sales. Connecting data from different channels, devices and departments is now becoming less challenging, as Spring Marketplace provides a new platform that allows retailers to see customer purchase activities beyond their own stores, says "Innovator Intelligence: Spring Marketplace-Leveraging Real-Time Purchase Data to Provide Robust CRM and Marketing Across Online and In-Store Retail," the first in a series of sponsored profiles of emerging companies from global think tank Coresight Research.
The gulf between the physical and the virtual is being bridged thanks to new customer analytics solutions, including Wi-Fi that brings the information together from various sources to create an overview of the customer's journey. This allows retailers and shopping center owners to discover who their customers are, and what marketing strategies will engage them, writes Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig.
"Our clients are asking us to marry our team's knowledge of the issues retailers face and retail technology today with an incisive analysis of their roles and solutions," Weinswig said. "This report provides useful data for all on industry trends and the gap between customer analysis and engagement for omnichannel retailers. It also describes how Spring Marketplace's platform is helping to close that gap while creating powerful marketing programs. We're excited to produce more of these reports as companies like Spring create innovative solutions to retail's challenges."
The closure of apparel and department stores, combined with a foot traffic drop of 7.9 percent in 2017 in specialty and large-format stores, resulted in a 0.7 percent decline in retail sales per square foot in U.S. malls from January through October 2017, according to Coresight Research's analysis of data from the International Council of Shopping Centers. To fight back, a number of mall owners and retailers are adopting in-store consumer analytics and tracking technologies that augment their customer communication and engagement efforts, the report notes. They are using a combination of different technologies that span Wi-Fi, the Internet of Things, Bluetooth, payment transaction data, beacons and video to track and analyze in-store consumer behavior.
"We expect more retailers will seek to close the gap between the insights they are able to gather from consumers' behavior online and those they are able to gather from consumers' behavior in physical stores," Weinswig writes."Retail real estate firms will also likely seek further insights into how consumers are using physical retail environments and who is visiting their shopping centers."
The Spring platform offers two core tool sets: 1) Customer Insights, which offers a complete view of customer spend behavior both online and in-store, and 2) Customer Engagement, real-time smart messaging and incentives designed to change customer behavior. The platform works with a retailer's existing infrastructure via cloud technology, and through partnerships with payment networks, it links consumers' payment cards to customized retail loyalty programs. Shoppers opt in to the programs at checkout. Using real-time purchase activity across online and store channels, Spring creates an identified customer profile that is connected to an actionable marketing platform. The Spring platform collects each customer's identifying information as well as where the customer shops and how much she or he spends. It then identifies opportunities to increase revenue and customer engagement.
"It's very clear that e-commerce, physical retail and shopping malls are rapidly evolving to meet the changing needs of customers. Spring has proven that having a healthy channel mix of in-store and online creates the most value for the customer, giving them choice and convenience while growing more profitable revenue for retailers," says Jonathan Dyke, COO and Co-Founder of Chicago-based Spring Marketplace. "We are seeing rapid adoption of our platform as retailers seek smart customer insights to understand channel mix and the incremental revenue opportunity when that mix is optimized. And the ability to communicate with customers in real-time ultimately yields greater revenue conversion in-store and online."
Working with large retailers and top U.S. mall operators, the Spring platform has processed transaction volumes totaling more than $300 million through its platform and has run more than 5,000 marketing campaigns that have delivered 100% attributable ROI, exceeding performance targets. The company has also signed pilot contracts with 700 unique brands, covering more than 3,500 store locations.
"Modern customer analytics solutions enable companies to bring all these data together into a single, big-picture view of the customer journey, at both the individual and aggregate levels," Weinswig writes. "Companies can collect data that show who their customers are, where they are in the buying journey, what they want and which marketing strategies affect them most. The company's platform helps retailers increase customer engagement, which drives traffic, and reduce the in-store data deficit by tracking shoppers when they visit physical stores."
The report, found here, is the first in the "Innovator Intelligence" series of sponsored reports focusing on emerging companies that are disrupting traditional retail and fueling innovation across the retail value chain. Other recent reports from Coresight Research include its weekly update on U.S and U.K. store closures, "Deep Dive: The Mall is Not Dead, Part 3-Five Predictions for Five Years Out," "Retail Real Estate M&As: A Sign of Renewed Confidence in US Retail?" and "Who Shops Where for Fashion-A Look at US Apparel Shopper Demographics."In addition, reports are available at www.DeborahWeinswig.com.