How Business is Getting Personal

You know the score. Customers increasingly shop online. And big retail real estate continues to shrink.

But as modern commerce finds its equilibrium, one common denominator stands out. Customers crave experiences tailored to their personal preferences. And businesses increasingly respond by getting personal.

Personal Space

We see this more and more in the physical realm. Market research indicates that when customers shop in stores, they care less for the impersonal spaces and queues associated with big box retail.

They’re looking for a memorable, pleasant shopping experience. They want to engage with knowledgeable staff and they want the store to have a unique flavor. In many cases, they want to feel as if they are supporting the local economy. And, for particular verticals, especially apparel, they want to try on the product for size.

Big retailers have taken notice. Retail chains have already started to move away from the sprawling big box store format that is now leaving so many malls in the US vacant. Chains are experimenting with smaller formats. And that does not just save them money in overhead and reduced carried inventory. It conforms to how customers want to shop.

Getting Personal and Virtual

eCommerce may find getting personal easier to execute than physical retail. Because it centers on accumulating using data intelligently, online channels are by nature more readily adapted to personalization.

A recent article in Forbes asserts that personalization starts with how a business remembers its customer. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems help businesses sell online and in stores. But adding analytics tools to the data pooled in CRMs—what the company “remembers”—helps anticipate what customers want to do next.

And that’s particularly applicable to eCommerce websites, platforms, and marketplaces. Businesses can offer personalized online experiences that cater to the individual customer based on past behavior.

And big companies invest in artificial intelligence for this precise reason. Apple recently acquired a company called Lattice Data for its AI-enabled inference engine that turns unstructured data (ie, the body of an e-mail message or web page content) into more usable structured data.

Getting Personal Pays

Among marketing professionals, the consensus is positive about personalization. According to a study cited by the Forbes article, 95% of marketers agree personalization advances customer relationships.

Only 33% of those surveyed use something as the advanced as Apple seems to be investing in. But one-third of them plan to. And they are already personalizing using the data and tools they now have at their disposal. Particularly, for email campaigns and websites.

All commerce in the future will increasingly rely on what seem like big-ticket items now. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, but most of all big data, will become an integral part of the supply chain sooner than later.

But you can start right now with the data you have. When you know what your customers prefer to buy and you have the tools to analyze the data, you already be in a better position to personalize their buying experience.