Shining a light on ghost shoppers
Effective engagement strategies
Richard Mitchell
Expert Global Data & Product SME
The importance of recognising and communicating with the people who purchase (or are at least interested in) your products should be the cornerstone of any marketing strategy. Identifying in-store customers is a great way of developing a complete profile of their spending patterns and multi-channel shopping habits. This then helps guide a complete marketing strategy — but as always, the challenge is to get the proposition right and use the data in the correct way.
There are many ways in which a retailer can connect a store sale with an individual. Options range from a comprehensive loyalty programme — such as Tesco’s Clubcard or Boots’ Advantage Card — to an email address request at point of sale. Other methods of data capture can include mobile apps, in-store Wi-Fi and even more sophisticated options such as beacons that detect presence and movement in stores. Each of these channels offers varying levels of success in terms of types of data capture, willingness of the customer to partake and level of required investment. At the other end of the scale, the ability to identify and understand “ghost shoppers” (the segment of customers who simply transact and leave without ever identifying themselves as they shop in-store) continues to be one of the most difficult challengers that retailers face.
Evaluating the effectiveness of loyalty programs
Some of the established loyalty programs do a brilliant job of knowing who, where and when customers shop — and loyalty program utilisation can be phenomenal if the value exchange is worthwhile (estimates suggest nearly 80 percent of transactions in Tesco involve the use of a Clubcard), whereas others have lower utilisation rates, and thus can be problematic for the retailer.
In stores where customers shop on a more occasional basis, data capture can be low or non-existent, meaning that large swathes (maybe even 90% or more) of transactions are carried out by people they know nothing about (the “ghost shoppers.”) Even where data capture is higher — such as in M&S where YouGov estimates 43% of regular shoppers hold a Sparks card — still well over half of transactors go untraced.
A new era in retail transaction insights
Acxiom’s data solution — InfoBase® Purchase Transactions, powered by Affinity Solutions — helps to solve this industry wide retail challenge. By merging the power of Acxiom’s consumer file InfoBase with detailed transactional spend on over 10m UK cardholders, an additional layer of unique insight can help retailers to accurately understand actual spend behaviour on not only their own customers but also that of their competitors.
This will allow retailers to understand and reach their own customers to drive personalised experiences and datadriven communications for both their known and unknown customers across the right mix of channels and platforms. As well as being able to talk to their own customers, brands can now successfully communicate with those of their competitor retailers.
InfoBase Purchase Transactions by the numbers:
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U.K. Cardholders
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Tracked Brands
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Transactions over the past 12 months
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Annual Spend
So, whether it’s the ability to send a relevant ad to a competitor’s customer, understand the differences in consumers who spend with your main competitors or simply to ensure you’re engaging with your own customers, Acxiom can help you to get your proposition and marketing strategy right.
With spend across almost 2,000 retail brands over the past 12 months – including fashion, food and drink, grocery, health, beauty and household retailers – Acxiom is ideally positioned to help you to maximise on customer engagement potential.
“Where we all spend our money is an important reflection of our consumer needs, behaviours and attitudes. This is vital customer intelligence for any brand seeking to craft relevant and highly tailored customer experiences. This transactional data offers the most authentic and dependable reflection of shifting spending patterns, and this makes a powerful combination with our core InfoBase offering to enrich our clients’ understanding of customer behaviours. By utilising this intelligence and staying attuned to evolving spending trends and behaviours, our clients can further elevate their marketing efforts, ensuring a more personalised and impactful customer journey.”
– David Keens, VP Product, Acxiom
Zac Bray
Sales Development Representative
Connect with our experts
Contact Zac today if you would like Acxiom’s perspectives on how InfoBase® Purchase Transactions can drive the future success of your business.
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