An integrated approach for retailers

As consumers become increasingly busy, retailers are looking at the most effective tools available for building cross channel interaction. One vital tool will be an intelligent communication platform for delivering targeted campaigns to its customer base. This approach not only results in a rich source of data that shapes marketing strategy, but also creates a stronger bond with the customer through a more personal shopping experience.

We're seeing a shift in the way shoppers interact with retailers online, with an increasing proportion using smartphones to check prices, find nearby offers and place orders while out and about. The success of social media channels using a user's location to provide context, like Foursquare and Facebook Places, are testament to the desire for consumers to interact with brands to gain an enhanced shopping experience.

With this development there are now three main channels through which we're able to observe consumer behaviour, collect data and deliver engaging marketing experiences - on websites, on mobile phones and in-store.

Every day consumers are interacting with each of these channels providing invaluable insight into their needs, purchasing patterns and general behaviour. Taking a fully integrated approach, our aim as an agency is to enable retailers to bring all three of these channels together to create a unified profile - one central collection of a user's information.

Data collected across these three channels can be used to create customer profiles, accessed both digitally and in-store, allowing the retailer to tailor offers and promotions. This can then be fed back into the loop allowing the retailer to react quickly and effectively to the customer's needs. Creating an open communication between all three customer touch points allows the retailer and strategic brand partners to draw on the one pool of data, enabling them to move away from untargeted broadcast messaging to highly targeted 1:1 messaging, improving customer experience and conversion rates.

So what does this mean for customers? Retailers offering targeted promotions, products and services that you as a customer are genuinely interested in.

The advantage for the retailer? With so much data at your fingertips, an integrated approach guarantees that you're gaining the highest return on investment from tools that you've heavily invested in, from websites and mobile services to in-store promotions.