Retail, in the eyes of the everyday customer

Daleandthomaspopcorn.com knows 2 things-

1. Some shoppers prefer buying offline
2. Using geolocation they can identify visitors from states with Dale and Thomas stores

How do they act on this data? Observe bottom left corner-

This is a great example of personalization.  The first thing I noticed on cableorganizer.com was that I wouldn’t have to pay sales tax with the purchase.  Observe bottom right corner of screenshot–

Anyone visiting the site (barring Florida, which is where cableorganizer.com is based) will see the same message with Illinois replaced by their state name.  This is what Michiganders see–

Another retailer that uses geo-location cleverly is onlynaturalpet.com.  Observe red box below–

Here is how Crutchfield uses geo-location (observe blue arrows below)–

And finally, this is what bedbathstore.com does–

Jake is a huge fan of KuKuRuZa gourmet popcorn.  He discovered the site 3 years ago and started off by ordering their Variety Pack.  He enjoyed Caramel & Cheese Mix so much he bought it five times, thrice gifting it to friends and family.  Jake’s lifetime spend on KuKuRuZa.com is a very impressive $197.00 and we know Jake is not a bargain hunter because his purchase habits are not localized around special price promotions.  All in all, Jake is an ideal customer.

He has often visited the Butter & Sea Salt page and lingered long enough for us to know that the flavor catches his attention.  Unfortunately, Jake has never purchased it.  A 1 gallon bag of Butter & Sea Salt retails for $8.95.

The enterprising manager at KuKuRuZa sees that Jake has not bought in the last two months and executes a complimentary order of the 1 gallon Butter & Sea Salt bag accompanied with a handwritten note that reads “Jake, I am the manager at KuKuRuZa.  I wanted to thank you for being a loyal customer by sharing this complimentary bag of our delicious Butter & Sea Salt.  Regards – Robert.“

This is a hypothetical case study but imagine the impact it would have on Jake.  Sure we spent $8.95 plus shipping on a bag of popcorn but that’s pittance compared to how much Jake has spent with us.  This small investment could trigger word-of-mouth and Jake is bound to share his KuKuRuZa story when he speaks with friends.

Related article: Customer Segmentation

Reviews influence shoppers…. 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. Additionally, consumers are willing to pay significantly more for services that are highly rated.

But what if a customer gets to a page with no reviews? My hunch is that this might have a negative effect… Here is one possible solution to that scenario….

Jane is a registered user and while on your site she adds an item (with no reviews) to her shopping cart… Now lets assume that for some unknown reason she abandons her shopping cart. A few days later Bill buys that same product and gives it a 5/5 rating. Conceivably seeing this favorable review might have prevented Jane from abandoning her shopping cart…

So we send her an email saying “Hey Jane, last week you were looking at *item* but did not buy it. At the time no customer had reviewed it. Since then *item* has had its first review and because you are a registered user we wanted to share the review with you. Product review is below…”

Do you think this could reverse an abandoned shopping cart?

My work colleague shops at threadless.com. This one time he added a couple of tee-shirts to his shopping cart and then, like 33% of online shoppers, decided not to buy. Threadless.com still wanted his business, and so, at the opportune time sent him an email. This, dear marketers, is how it’s done.