As retailers look to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals in a today’s hyper-competitive environment, customer centricity -- the concept of putting customer and their needs at the center of all business decisions -- has gained traction as a business strategy. Its growing popularity was confirmed by QuickPivot's recent research study on the subject, which involved interviews with ranking executives from nearly two dozen leading retailers. Study participants were asked their thoughts on whether or not a customer-centric approach is viable in today's retail climate and if their respective organizations were using customer centricity as an active business strategy.
The answer to both was a resounding yes.
The cornerstones of a successful customer-centric approach
On one hand, these weren't exactly surprising findings. Concentrating on customers' needs and providing them with positive experiences has proven to be a successful method to build and retain a healthy customer base. What was surprising though, was that nearly every executive questioned had a slightly different definition of what customer centricity meant at their organization, as well as how their organization was going about executing its strategy.
Despite these varied responses, there were four common focus areas that emerged as critical to a successful customer-centric approach: People, Culture, Technology, and Data. But what exactly does it mean to "focus" on these four items when crafting a customer centricity strategy for your retail organization? And what other important factors, if any, should be considered when deciding to move forward with a strategic customer-centric initiative?
Learn how to avoid customer centricity pitfalls
Our whitepaper, "Understanding Customer Centricity in the Retail Sector," provides detailed information on each of the four aforementioned cornerstones. We share not only best practices for each of these cornerstones, but also the challenges that our research study participants most frequently faced. Supported by the insights uncovered in our research study, these is designed as a blueprint to help retailers create an air-tight customer centricity plan ready for implementation.
A worthwhile customer centricity strategy should plan for the future while not sacrificing short term results, and cleanly move all areas of the organization from its legacy approach. In order to be successful, it requires that all areas of the business -- even those not traditionally customer-facing -- commit to prioritizing the customer. Without a clear understanding or proper planning, this type of organization-wide project can quickly go off-course and create major headaches.
Download the whitepaper now to make sure your organization sets itself up for success. As an added bonus, those who download the paper also gain access to our recent webinar, "Best Practices for Customer Centricity in Retail," where the full results of our research study were unveiled by QuickPivot's VP of Growth and Senior Director of Marketing.
