Retailers Look to Customer Data to Survive Uncertain Economy, Study Finds

Despite growing concerns about the impact of continued economic uncertainty, retailers are still focused on differentiated customer service and on providing targeted offers and communications to consumers, according to a new research report published by RSR Research. Highlighting the importance of customer data, retailers are increasingly interested in "customer experience organizations" and in getting better insights out of the customer data they already have.

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Worse yet, absolutely no poorly performing retailers self-identified that they do. If you don't know who your best shoppers are and develop targeted ways to engage them, you won't stand a chance at keeping them.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) August 27, 2008

According to a new RSR Research report, Loyalty and Personalization: The Next Generation of Retail CRM, Benchmark 2008, released today, customer data has become more important to retailers than ever. Retail respondents to RSR's survey on the topic indicated that despite increasing concerns over the impact of economic uncertainty, they are continuing to focus on customer service and on provided targeted or personalized offerings to consumers.

The study, sponsored by Retalix, SAP, and SHC Direct, also finds that retailers are doing more to align their customer relationship programs with objectives that drive repeat visits and purchases rather than just top-line sales. However, a lack of ownership over customer data and few measures of programs' effectiveness impede retailers' ability to derive insights about customers.

"I was shocked to see that only 20% of survey respondents strongly agreed that they know who their best shoppers are," says Nikki Baird, Managing Partner at RSR Research and author of the report. "Worse yet, absolutely no poorly performing retailers self-identified that they do. If you don't know who your best shoppers are and develop targeted ways to engage them, you won't stand a chance at keeping them."

According to the report, retailers are responding by investing in the execution of customer programs, focusing on rules-based promotion engines for offer delivery, and better channel integration to make sure that the right offer makes it to the right customer.

To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, click here or follow this link:

http://www.retailsystemsresearch.com/_document/summary/645

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