Article
Revolutionising the customer experience
Published
21 May 2024
Imagine a world where every shopper feels like the store was designed just for them, from personalised product recommendations to tailored marketing messages. Welcome to the new era of retail, where the retail experience is being rewritten one customer at a time.
Navigating a new landscape of customer expectations
Brand loyalty is no longer a win-win. In 2023, we saw a clear “loyalty shift” – consumers increased their expectations of brands to cater to their individual preferences while offering little loyalty in return. In fact, Implement’s own reports show that 49% of consumers have left a brand they had been loyal to in the last 12 months due to a poor customer experience.1
As a result, 80% of companies expect to compete primarily based on customer experience. This means that a forward-leaning customer experience will no longer be a differentiator; it will be a required licence to compete.2
Reconnecting with your customer obsession
Building a competitive customer experience starts with a customer-obsessed mindset – not customer-centric, but customer-obsessed. This means putting customers and consumers at the centre of your company’s “being” and planning your entire value chain accordingly. And it pays off: recent studies show that 41% of companies with a consumer-obsessed approach achieved at least 10% revenue growth in the last fiscal year.3
Unlocking the value of customer centricity requires an honest look at what your company actually delivers. While 80% of companies believe they offer a truly customer-centric experience, only 8% of their customers agree.
Questions to answer
We often advise clients to revisit the following questions:
- Do you have a culture of customer obsession across your entire organisation?
- Do you actively ask for and listen to feedback from your customers?
- Do you strive to exceed expectations with exceptional experiences?
- Are you diligent in tracking key customer KPIs?
- Are you able to learn fast, fail fast and scale fast to meet new customer demands and preferences?
Revolutionising the customer experience
Many companies will need to recalibrate their customer experience to become truly customer obsessed. Implement’s way of testing your customer experience is to unfold it using the 5E approach, which focuses on essence, emotions, experience, edge and enablers.
Recalibrating the customer experience for the new generations
The future is largely driven by the new consumer and new consumer behaviours that are changing the current approach of retailers and brands. The consumer base we face today is changing rapidly and significantly. Many of the new businesses being created today are born digital and born to cater to the new generations, leaving well-established companies with a challenge. It is estimated that Gen Z currently holds USD 360 billion in disposable income. Adding Gen Alpha to the equation, their total disposable income will soon surpass that of Millennials and Boomers.
We believe that three main themes will be important for brands to consider when reassessing their customer experiences. We call them the key drivers of success in the future of retail:
The three key drivers of success in the future of retail
At Implement, we see several leading FMCG and retail companies already experimenting with new ways to tailor their customer experience to the drivers above. When advising our clients, we often recommend starting with the following steps:
- Establishing or leveraging loyalty programmes as a means of collecting the necessary customer data to test and drive personalisation (special offers, discounts etc.).
- Testing new AI technologies to ensure that the required insight and foresight stay “on trend” and informed about new customer behaviours, e.g. Gen Z.
So, if your company is not already customer centric, thereby optimising your customer experience to meet new customer requirements, it is time to get started. Dare to fail fast, learn fast and find your way. And if needed, Implement has the experience and expertise to support you on your journey.
This article is part of a series published on the topics covered in our 2024 Retail & Consumer Goods Viewpoint, where we introduce our take on the five most critical trends shaping the FMCG & Retail industry and how companies should adapt to face these head on. If you would like to receive the viewpoint to learn more about this and five other important industry topics, please complete the form below.
References
1. Emplifi (2024). 11 key things consumers expect from their brand experiences today
2. SuperOffice (2023). 32 customer experience statistics you need to know for 2024
3. Burch, M. (2024). Deflieze, M. & Writer, S. (2024). Good, H. (2023)
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