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Customer Tracking in Retail

by PaulintheSticks
6 replies
I've got a retail client that doesn't track the buying habits of his close to 3000 customers and it seems to me it would be valuable and not difficult to do so with the scannable key chain cards. He already has a buyer's club and their info but hasn't implemented the system.

His sales have been dropping for the last 3 years but he doesn't know if its mainly from losing customers or more of a volume issue. Of course avg ticket size would be a real good indicator. I told him if he tracked customers, he would know this. Even if he just tracked the top 20%, it would tell the story. Plus he could do much more targeted product marketing.

I notice that most retail stores, even the big ones, don't track customers so maybe it just not worth the hassle but my gut tells me it would be. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks.
#customer #retail #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    He's missing out on a s**t load of money. 3000 customers and not tracking buying behavior?

    Please tell me he is at least grabbing contact info for follow-up offers and retention?
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post

    I've got a retail client that doesn't track the buying habits of his close to 3000 customers and it seems to me it would be valuable and not difficult to do so with the scannable key chain cards. He already has a buyer's club and their info but hasn't implemented the system.

    His sales have been dropping for the last 3 years but he doesn't know if its mainly from losing customers or more of a volume issue. Of course avg ticket size would be a real good indicator. I told him if he tracked customers, he would know this. Even if he just tracked the top 20%, it would tell the story. Plus he could do much more targeted product marketing.

    I notice that most retail stores, even the big ones, don't track customers so maybe it just not worth the hassle but my gut tells me it would be. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks.
    Paul; I do a lot of tracking. (I own a retail store). I've found that marketing only to the higher end customer (in my store, that's an initial purchase of $379 or more) pays off the best. I no longer market to $10 purchasers, or buyers of my loss leaders.

    They get something in the male every few months from me. It always pays.

    But the thing that pays the most, is actually calling my higher end customers when new models come in, and selling them by appointment (in my store). An average 60 minutes on the phone brings in a couple thousand dollars every time. Of course, selling that idea won't be easy.
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    • Profile picture of the author PaulintheSticks
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      I've found that marketing only to the higher end customer (in my store, that's an initial purchase of $379 or more) pays off the best.
      That makes all the sense in the world Claude. The one exception might be marketing to the lower end customers with specific products that they have bought before.

      Of course, selling that idea won't be easy.
      I just tell him to do as he's told and its not a problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    This guy needs to be sending them direct mail. For less than $5 per year he can send a postcard every month to a buyer. He's throwing money away by not doing this.

    You can help him with this easily just working with a mailhouse and a designer.
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    • Profile picture of the author PaulintheSticks
      Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      This guy needs to be sending them direct mail. For less than $5 per year he can send a postcard every month to a buyer. He's throwing money away by not doing this.

      You can help him with this easily just working with a mailhouse and a designer.
      Bob,

      We've talked about that. He's currently using email instead. But he's getting meager results at best. I know he could do a lot better if the emails were more targeted (and had a better offer) and that's why I think tracking is so important.

      I used postcards in my store exclusively and got good results. Personally I like the idea of doing handwritten ones on canary yellow stock to really stand out.
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