RTIH: What are the top five Twitter/LinkedIn retail tech accounts you can’t do without and why?
CC: I have to admit I’m more LinkedIn and the web than Twitter, but there are a few people worth following:
Rick Watson – Founder and CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, and I believe also makes the RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers list.
Forbes – More of a publication than an individual, but I find your articles consistently interesting and insightful.
Kieran Flanagan – More marketing than retail tech, but Kieran is great to read and listen to. I highly recommend his ‘Marketing Against the Grain’.
Tobi Lutke – Since LoyaltyLion works so closely with Shopify, I’d be remiss not to follow Tobi, but he covers a lot of really interesting eCommerce conversations in his posts.
Tim Jackson – If you’re interested in retail technology, you’re most likely an entrepreneur, and Tim covers every business topic you can think of, from everyday topics like team motivation to bigger decisions like knowing when to leave your business. .
RTIH: If you could have dinner with five retail pioneers, dead or alive, who would they be and why?
CC: I’m sure it’s been said before, but the number one pick would have to be Steve Jobs. The best brand marketer, he built the most fiercely loyal customer base and could ask you a number of questions.
Guest number two would be founder John Lewis. I would love to see what he does with the retail world we live in today.
Third, I would love to invite Jeff Bezos. I’d be intrigued to hear his thoughts on how Amazon has positively and negatively impacted small and midsize retail. It could open up an interesting discussion at the table!
The fourth guest would be Phil Knight. I really enjoyed reading Shoe Dog and would love to know more about how Nike was built and how they managed to build a base of so many fans and lifelong sneakerheads.
My final guest would have to be the brains behind Sephora’s loyalty program: Allegra Stanley.
As someone who has run one of the most impressive loyalty programs and brand communities in existence today, I’d like to ask a lot of questions.
RTIH: If you had one wish and could use it to solve one big retail frustration, what would it be?
CC: When my co-founder, Dave, and I started building LoyaltyLion, a key challenge stood out: how to attract and retain customers online.
This wasn’t necessarily the biggest headache in 2012, but we could clearly see that it would become increasingly challenging as e-commerce grew, competition increased, and big players like Amazon continued to tighten their grip and drive others out of the market. .
The key to meeting this challenge lies in delivering great shopping experiences that keep shoppers coming back for repeat purchases.
While most eCommerce brands agreed with us back then, they also confessed that they didn’t have the tools, time, or experience to execute a retention strategy, even if they wanted to.
The number one retail frustration for me today continues to be that too many brands, both online and offline, focus on bringing more customers to the top of the funnel each day, but don’t spend time retaining them and building relationships with them to increase. its lifetime value.
Your existing customers are your most effective growth lever, and I would love to see more brands focus on generating revenue through increased customer loyalty rather than spending more budget on discount strategies and expensive acquisition channels.