Customers won’t put up with analysis paralysis

Customer-centricity is the buzzword for retailers who like to think that they listen to their customers. But listening is no longer enough, super-fast analysis and response is also necessary for retailers to truly meet demand.

Last Friday Retail Week published a supplement all about customer insight and the impact it can have on retailers’ businesses.

Because we at Retail Week use analysis tools ourselves, we can see that the click-throughs have been strong. That’s especially true for the piece on M&S using social media; nothing to do, I’m sure, with the picture of Marks & Spencer’s ‘We’ve Boobed’ campaign that illustrates it.

So the issue of becoming customer-centric is clearly one that resonates with you, our readers, at the moment. Many companies claim to be customer-focused or customer-oriented, but what does that actually mean?

The supplement aims to set out some of the ways that retailers can gather and analyse customer data and customer feedback to take timely decisions and decisive action. Mainly it’s not creating the data streams and generating the flow of information that’s difficult, but turning this into something your staff can use at the point that it’s actually helpful.

Whether you are attempting to make better use of information across your different sales channels, make better use of customer information outside of the marketing department, or manage your marketing spend better, there is something for you.

The title of the supplement  - “Know your customer, control your business” - really says it all. You can’t control your customers, all you can do is listen to them. But once they know that you are listening then you must have the level of agility in your business to allow you to respond.