Data can help identify new ways to engage consumers, Neiman Marcus boss Karen Katz told the World Retail Congress.
Bespoke in-store slumber party for your friends? Price tag $120,000 (£96,000).
That was an experience up for sale last Christmas at Neiman Marcus in the States.
But this was no ordinary sleepover.
Snapped up in no time by a loyal customer, the lucky spender and her friends enjoyed an evening complete with a private dinner, a private jewellery viewing and luxury gifts, before relaxing in their very own luxury beds to drift off and dream of shopping.
Standing out in-store and online
Customer engagement such as that is a sign of the ever-evolving world of personalised product and service, and the willingness of shoppers to spend on a memorable experience.
Giving a keynote at the 2017 World Retail Congress, Neiman Marcus president and chief executive Karen Katz, spoke of the need to connect with shoppers in different ways.
“It’s business as unusual,” she said. “That’s the challenge as retailers today. We have to become indispensable through service to establish a relationship.”
The need to stand out in both in-store and online is become ever more challenging, Katz observed. And today the opinions of friends are “more important than anything a sales associate can tell her”.
So the focus on data to understand shoppers on a personal level has never been more important, she maintained.
Concluding, Katz added: “We have to continue to imagine new ways to connect with our customers and have a high degree of curiosity.”
- Charlotte Hardie is Retail Week director of commercial content
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