Research & Trends: Customer Service Revival In Stores: Personalization Strategies

By Sahir Anand, Aberdeen Group

The main reason why personalization of the customer experience is becoming more relevant for at least 40% of retailers is the pressure on stores to adapt to the shift in purchase demographics (ethnic groups, millennials, etc.) and psychographics of consumers (behavioral propensity to buy). This is in addition to the obvious wider net of purchasing choices led by online commerce, smartphones, and Web-based social interaction.

Just as in 2010, the top two 2011 business pressures that continue to impact shopping experience and operations in stores are related to rapidly changing shopping expectations or preferences (41%) and the fact that customer sales channel preferences are evolving (33%). In fact, the top business pressure was exactly the same for 41% of retailers in 2010 as it is now in 2011.