CX Education 09: How to manage customer loyalty with Andrew Busby from Retail Reflections
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Retail stores play a crucial role in our daily lives, helping consumers access a variety of products, and they can track customers' likes, needs, and values to offer relevant and timely experiences.
But how consumers make purchasing decisions has changed dramatically. People stand in stores and use smartphones to compare prices and product reviews; they make purchasing decisions through social media, and when they're ready to buy, they have a growing list of online retailers at their disposal.
In this episode of CX Education, our host Sunny Dhami welcomes Andrew Busby, the founder of Retail Reflections. Andrew describes his retail journey and gets into the changes the retail industry faces. Andrew and Sunny discuss customer loyalty to retailers and brands, the future of brick-and-mortar versus online stores, and personalization in retail.
Guest speaker
In a retail career spanning over 23 years, Andrew held senior positions at Kingfisher and Superdrug. In addition to writing his own retail blog, Andrew is a member of the IORMA Advisory Board, a member of REAN, Advisory Board member at Retail Week, Founder of the Retail Advisory Board, and also an editor at large for Retail Technology magazine.
Andrew Busby
Host
Sunny Dhami
Key insights
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Customer loyalty is almost nonexistent
In today's global economic situation, finances are tight, inflation is affecting nearly every country, and there is a cost-of-living crisis. As Andrew says, it affects customer loyalty, and only a few brands can manage that customer loyalty. "Retailers and brands like to think that their customers are loyal. With certain exceptions, I think they're loyal in the moments of the transaction, but I don't think they're loyal. I've been saying for quite some time that the customer experience, whether online or in-store — but particularly in the store — is the number one thing."
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People in retail are much more attuned to what's going on
Modernization, the internet, and all things digital have changed people's habits and expectations - the retail industry needs to move with the times. Customers today are looking for an elevated customer experience, both during the purchase journey and afterward, and based on that, they choose which retailer to shop at. According to Andrew, the average consumer doesn't think and look at things the same way as those working in the retail industry. "Even though somebody perhaps can't articulate — in the way that we might be able to — why they either had a positive, good experience or a negative, bad experience, they'll certainly know it. They'll feel it. They'll feel something about it. They'll say, 'I didn't like that.' So I think this is extremely important for all retailers."
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The future of high street versus online
As a result of the pandemic, we’ve turned more and more to online avenues, and many high street stores have closed. On the other hand, there are many stores where you can see and try their products, but they still encourage you to buy online. Andrew notes the convergence happening now; and that people want to see the digital experience extend to the store. "If I'm buying a big-ticket item — let's say it's 500 quid for a widescreen TV — I might just go online and click buy, thank you very much. But I'm only probably doing that because I've done my research. I've done my research online, but I might have gone into the store; I might have looked and felt and touched and watched, and all the rest of it. They don't know that; the retailer doesn't know that. All they know is that we bought it online. But if the store hadn't been there, would we have bought it from that brand? Maybe yes, maybe no. So I think what we're seeing, which I think is a good thing, is that convergence."
Episode highlights
CX Education
