BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 14, 2009) -
Aberdeen
Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS), surveyed 165 retail
enterprises between January and March 2009 and found that 90% of the
Best-in-Class indicate at least "some level of success to very successful
results" from their programs, compared to an average of less than a third
of Average and Laggard retailers, according to its latest research report,
"
Cutting Edge
Customer Loyalty: Retail Best Practices for Acquiring, Retaining, and
Re-engaging Customers."
What's worse is that almost half (47%) of Laggard retailers and more than a
third (35%) of Industry Average retailers indicate "no change in
performance" from their loyalty program. This indicates a null return on
investment on customer loyalty program dollars spent towards loyalty
process, IT tools, and service.
The top pressure facing 61% of Best-in-Class companies is the pressure of
survival in global recessionary conditions that have changed the consumer
spending landscape and made it more unpredictable than ever. Moreover, the
second highest business pain point for more than a third (35%) of the
Best-in-Class is the need to curtail customer acquisition costs in a
recessionary market that is characterized by the high cost of goods sold.
As a response to these pressures, "Best-in-Class retailers are currently
1.8 times more likely than Laggards to develop and implement a strategy to
improve personalized promotions that are created by using customer wallet
share and customer purchase behavior analysis," says Sahir Anand, Research
Director and chief author of the report. "These dollar value or
points-based promotions are directly tied to customer loyalty programs such
as rewards, merchant-funded loyalty programs, and referral-based
discounts."
Furthermore, according to Aberdeen data, 53% of all retailers surveyed
indicated that customers can join their loyalty program on the retail
website. While ecommerce is steadily growing, the bulk of retailers'
revenue and traffic comes from the store environment. The data indicate
that 52% of retailers surveyed indicated that they have the capability to
capture CRM data at the point-of-service or the point-of-sale (POS)
register. However, only 37% of retailers reported that customers can join
their loyalty program via retail POS, where the process is handled by the
store associates.
"This gap between the POS capabilities the retailers possess and POS
processes that enable loyalty program implementation show that retailers
are not taking advantage of the technology afforded to them," states Anand.
"Retailers need to raise the bar when it comes to customer loyalty
technology applications. They have the tools but they do not know how to
properly use them. Until retailers become more proactive, they will not see
the return that is possible from their customer loyalty programs," says
Chris Cunnane, Research Associate and co-author of the report.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Carlson Marketing, Smart Button, and Access
Development. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/5803-RA-customer-loyalty-retention.asp.
For additional access to complimentary
Retail Research,
please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-retail.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers
demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the
past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving
market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering
meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the
global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen Group for insights
that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen or call (617) 723-7890, or to
learn more about
Harte-Hanks,
call (800) 456-9748.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Sahir Anand
Research Director
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
Sahir.Anand@aberdeen.com
Chris Cunnane
Research Associate
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
Chris.Cunnane@aberdeen.com