Retailers 'get' the need for customer relationship management (CRM) but many, if not most, have not quite gotten the hang of making it work to its fullest potential, according to a piece on the CRM Buyer website.
Chris Fletcher, research director at AMR Research, said part of the issue is connected to "what retailers mean by 'CRM.'"
"Some use a rewards or a loyalty program," Mr. Fletcher told CRM Buyer. "Others use call centers to help customers solve problems. But only a few have a fully integrated approach to CRM. Mainly, they put in a program on an ad hoc basis to address pain points as they emerge."
Traditional divisions within retail organizations prevent many from achieving the level of consumer insights that leads to a competitive advantage, according to Mr. Fletcher.
"Many retailers, especially the traditional brick-and-mortar companies, revert to a silo situation. They may expand to a catalog sales operation or an internet program, but they set up separate operations for these channels and the channel managers don't cooperate," he told CRM Buyer.
"They duplicate data collection and never fully exploit the CRM capability of getting a complete customer profile because they don't integrate the customer data," he added.
Sallie Burnett, president of Customer Insight Group, sees the situation changing as consumers push for more.
"The online retail channel has changed the customer experience situation," she told CRM Buyer. "With digital marketing, the customer expectation level is higher. Customers can shop a variety of sources easily. They can get product reviews and information from web sites and blogs. So, now they expect retailers to provide this kind of support. The whole engagement environment with the customer has changed, and the retailers are beginning to react to it."
Discussion Questions: What is your assessment of the state of CRM in retail marketing today? Where do merchants need to be concentrating their efforts? Is there a concern about unrealistic expectations in terms of the benefits of CRM implementation?