Want to recruit and retain customers? Centralise your platforms to multiply your sales reach

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Want to recruit and retain customers?

Centralise your platforms to multiply your sales reach

With the rapid proliferation

of new channels and

partners, how do

merchants engage with

existing and prospective

customers cost eﬀectively

and without losing control?

BRIEFING PAPER

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We live in the age of digital customer

engagement.

Web, email, mobile, social

media all present new and potentially

transformational opportunities for

merchants to ﬁnd and keep customers

in ways that seemed unimaginable just

ﬁve years ago.

Inevitably however, with new marketing channels come new problems. Firstly, just how do I engage with my existing and prospective customers across so many channels and partners? Secondly, how do I manage this customer engagement cost eﬀectively and without losing control?

Let us look at the customer engagement problem ﬁrst.

How do I engage with my existing and prospective customers across so many channels and partners? Retail is now multi-channel. Multi-channel requires merchants to create a seamless approach across every brand experience for the consumer. That is a seamless experience across in-store, mobile, online and 3rd-party channels, including gift-card malls and B2B resellers. The driving force behind the need for a seamless experience is today’s “connected consumer”.

This seamless experience extends to the products and services that merchants use to engage customers pre-purchase, during purchase and post-purchase, a selection of which are detailed in the table below.

He wants to sell gift cards in-store, on his website and in gift card malls. He also wants to send coupons to customers’ smart phones and promotions via social media and email. That’s a lot of partnerships, systems and technology to run, manage and report on.

The Merchant’s Dilemma

Merchants increasingly need a Customer Engagement Toolbox. A centralised platform that issues and controls multiple forms of cards, vouchers, coupons, and in a secure cost effective manner. The toolbox metaphor is apt – a saw does a completely different job to a hammer as a 20% discount coupon does to a VIP Gift Card. Both fulfil different needs and objectives but you get them from one toolbox.

Gift cards Savings cards DCC

MPayments QR codes SKU based cards

Daily Deals NFC eSavings

Refund cards ECoupons Wallets

EVouchers B2B cards Reward cards

Social gifting ERefunds eReceipts

Gift card malls MPOS B2B coupons

Location based

marketing Mobile barcode scanning Promotional cards

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Starbucks had a very clear

and articulate customer

engagement strategy.

Source: Adam Brotman, Starbucks Chief Digital Oﬃcer

The Starbucks eﬀect

Starbucks have the most successful retail card programme in the world today. It is growing at 20% year-on- year. It now accounts for 25% of in-store transactions and $3 billion of card loads were completed in 2012.

Starbucks have a very clear and articulate

customer engagement strategy and they combine multiple digital channels to maximum eﬀect. All of these products act as tools serving the higher purpose which is recruiting and retaining more customers, more eﬀectively, for less.

Once the merchant has a customer

engagement strategy prepared, the next

question will be “how do I manage the

programme cost eﬀectively and without losing

control?” The explosion in digital customer

engagement over the past three years has

given multi-channel merchants a new set of

opportunities, but also brings with it some

problems.

The vast majority of players in the digital customer engagement space are new players. They bring excellent products and services designed to open up new sales channels and markets for merchants. There is social gifting, mobile gifting, mobile couponing, social marketing and more. There are a lot of buzz words, a lot of potential customers and a lot of players. Each player is competing for the merchant’s attention and the merchants marketing budget.

Where does that leave the multi-channel retailer? Without a co-ordinated centralised system approach, a pretty complex customer engagement eco-system can quickly emerge with multiple providers across their in-store, digital and third-party sales channels, all operating on independent systems, with no thought given to the centralised reconciliation and reporting across the merchants customer engagement programme.. Most participants in the digital space are also focused on consumer sales (voucher and coupon distribution or broadcast) with little regard for a coordinated issuance, processing and redemption function. This activity is inevitably characterised by an increase in data volume, velocity, variety and variability. So, data becomes

plentiful but insight is rare. Insight is critical to successful customer engagement.

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In Summary; to recruit and

retain more customers

retailers need to:

> Ignore the temptation to approach multi channel with multiple platforms.

> Centralise and simplify with a platform hub approach which will then multiply your sales capability.

> Data is plentiful, insight is rare – enable your insight from a single platform

> Leverage the new age of digital customer engagement – you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

A single platform that allows merchants securely issue and distribute a mix of prepaid cards (like gift cards and refunds cards), e-vouchers and e-coupons that can seamlessly plug him into a mix of distribution partners to engage existing and brand new customer groups, streamlining processes, reducing costs and growing his business. All managed from one system with consolidated reporting across ALL chosen channels.

The Merchant Solution

The explosion in digital customer engagement activity reinforces the urgent need for secure and simple transaction management aligned with comprehensive reporting and control. A centralised processing platform provides the multi-channel retailer with complete control.

A single platform on which merchants can deploy multiple programmes, across multiple channels with service providers of their choosing is the answer. By centralising the issuing and redemption of multiple forms of vouchers cards and coupons, it enables merchants to multiply their sales & marketing distribution capabilities in a secure, controlled, and cost eﬀective manner.

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For more please email hello@talktosavvy.com or call 0870 735 2829 (UK) or 01 617 7980 (RoI)

Savvy helps you talk

to your customers.

We turn transactions

into conversations

that build long

lasting and proﬁtable

relationships.

There are four elements to our business:

Savvy Technology

A technology oﬀer, where our platform STORE24 provides a centralised exchange to manage issuance, redemption and reconciliation. Products supported range from eCoupon and eVoucher to gift card and rewards.

Savvy Consulting

We help you understand the customer engagement landscape and work together to design and cost an appropriate customer engagement model for your journey. Our expertise provides insight into multi-channel approaches throughout in-store, digital & mobile, social media and third party channels.

Savvy Projects

We help you implement your customer engagement strategy, working with your chosen vendors or introducing you to relevant cost eﬀective solutions. Our project experience applies to many platforms including EPOS, eCom, email, CRM and mobile.

Savvy Promotions

We help you design and execute innovative campaigns to recruit and retain customers.

STORE24, our proprietary, cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform has been operational since 2006 and now supports nearly 400 programmes in Ireland, the UK, and Europe. In order to suit the varied requirements of our diverse partner and client base, STORE24 is also available as a standalone managed platform (PaaS) or a self-hosted platform (Enterprise Technology).

Our products and services are available through our reseller channels, including Barclaycard and Elavon Merchant Services, as well as via our direct sales channel. Our UK customer base includes the 2nd largest University, the largest pub & restaurant chain, the largest independent coﬀee house chain, the largest specialty retail jeweller in the UK, and one of the largest independently owned restaurant operators. Some of the brands we work with include:

MacNean House and Restaurant