BrainTrust Query: Why are retailers in the dark ages when it comes to email?
Editor's note: The author will be speaking on this topic at an upcoming MarketingSherpa conference. She hopes to make use of your comments in this discussion for her presentation. You may also respond to Ms. Murray directly by using the feedback form on her BrainTrust profile page.
Imagine the scenario: Into my inbox pops a beautiful email. It has a gorgeous, appetizing shot of lemon caper salmon. The salmon - the wild organic kind - is fresh and just arrived this week. How do I know? Because, the email is from my local Food Emporium. I can make that recipe tonight. Oh, and I also get special savings on oranges and facial tissue.
It's a beautiful picture. Too bad it doesn't exist. It's one of the Great Unanswered Questions of the internet: Why are retailers so slow to catch on online opportunities -- especially email?
The data right now is incontrovertible. Targeted email drives in-store sales. In fact, just this week on RetailWire we saw the discussion about recent Deloitte & Touche research emphasizing the importance of "pre-shopping" activities to drive sales. (See RetailWire 2/15/07 - Connecting with Pre-Shoppers and Following Through In-Store) One of the most important pre-shopping tools: email.
Here's the other thing, in my wallet, I have five frequent shopper cards that are falling out all the time. So it's not as if these stores don't have data on me. And -- while my memory isn't perfect -- I really think I wrote down my email address on, like, three of those frequent-shopper applications. And I never get an email. Never. I am the laughing stock of my office for being on nearly every email list ever known. But from retailers? My local grocery store? Never, ever, not once, nada, nil, nothing. I recently surveyed major grocery chain websites, and not one of them had an email newsletter that I could sign up for (with the exception of Whole Foods).
I'm not talking here about retail chains that do e-commerce. Of course I get email from Target and Fresh Direct. That's because I buy from them online. I'm talking about brick-and-mortar retailers communicating with me through email.
Why, why is this touch point missed entirely? Please, Mr. Food Emporium, could you send me an email once in a while telling me that you've got cherries in stock? Oh, and I'm sure there are about 47 brick-and-mortar stores in our zip code that would pay you for co-registrations. And I would like to hear from them, too.
Discussion Question: Why aren't retailers using email to communicate with their consumers and drive in-store sales?