App marketing in particular is becoming increasingly important, as the study “Data-driven marketing in retail 2021” by EHI shows. “In the future, apps will be one of the most important marketing instruments in retail because they offer retailers direct customer access and customers a personal user experience,” explains Marlene Lohmann, marketing expert and co-author of the EHI study.
Data-driven marketing: apps offer great potential
Currently, only 64 percent of the retail companies surveyed use an app to analyze the interests and purchasing behavior of customers. But 32 percent say they are planning their own app. Those responsible see great potential for the future in data-driven marketing. On the one hand, apps bring together many individual elements such as discount campaigns, exclusive offers and payment functions for users on smartphones. On the other hand, retailers are hoping that the high reach of the apps will lead to a reduction in print costs.
14 percent already see apps as a core element of customer communication. For these retailers, apps have an outstanding position in terms of customer access and customer relationships. The reason for this is the significantly higher activity of the app users. For 57 percent of those surveyed, the app has so far been an additional element of customer communication. The physical customer card is to be replaced by the virtual customer card in the medium term and the app is to become even more attractive.
Receipt data of particular importance
With data collection in marketing, 88 percent of retailers want to understand their customers even better and 80 percent want to improve the customer experience in order to ultimately generate increased sales. As the most important customer information within the own retail company (first-party data), receipt data emerges from the payment actions at the cash register and in the web shop (72 percent). Newsletter subscription data and website analyzes rank behind with 48 percent each. Further results of the study show the strategic positioning of data-driven marketing, the assessment of the cookie ban as well as the hurdles and levers of data integration.
About the methodology of the study: The study “Data-driven Marketing in Retail 2021” by EHI Retail Institute is based on personal video expert interviews with 25 CMOs of the leading German retail trade in the period from June to August 2021. With a total of 26,778 branches and sales of 142 billion euros in 2020, the companies represent around 25 percent of total retail sales. The study will be available in the EHI shop from mid-October.
That EHI Retail Institute is a research and consulting institute for the retail industry and its partners. The international network includes around 850 member companies from the retail, consumer and capital goods industries as well as service providers. The EHI collects important key figures for stationary and online retail, determines trends and develops solutions.
Also read: Data-driven marketing about to end – now the focus is on the customer
