Consumer Analytics

Alice Lane Home, a Salt Lake City-based interior design firm which is opening brick-and-mortar showrooms, is ensuring stores meet customer needs.

Alice Lane Home opened its first store in Farmington, Utah, in 2008 and a flagship location in Salt Lake City in 2014. The retailer is now deploying the RetailNext store analytics platform at stores in Salt Lake City and Orem, Utah, with an eye toward future brick-and-mortar growth.

Security technology specialist Tyco International plc is continuing to expand its focus on providing store analytics to retailers.

Tyco has reached a definitive agreement to acquire ShopperTrak, a global provider of retail consumer behavioral data and location-based analytics, for approximately $175 million in cash.

Based in Chicago, ShopperTrak provides customer traffic and related intelligence to more than 1,200 retailers in 97 countries.

In many ways, 2015 marked the year the customer truly took over. Retailers recognized that constant connectivity and increasingly sophisticated consumer devices have created an environment where customers decide what they want, when and how they want it, and then choose the retailer who can best meet their needs.

In this environment, retailers scrambled to engage customers in a more personalized and direct way than ever before. Here are the top three customer engagement trends of 2015.

On the Go

When your customer base is drivers who have had an accident or mishap with their vehicle, capturing consumers “in the moment” is crucial.

So with 6,500 mobile glass shops across the country, Columbus, Ohio-based Safelite Group Inc. runs a national business model that relies on capturing natural search traffic.

Pure play home furnishings retailer Wayfair is citing one digital channel in particular as serving as a major growth driver.

According to Wayfair, 35% of all orders in third quarter 2015 were placed on mobile devices. In addition, a majority of traffic to Wayfair now occurs on phones and tablets. Phone traffic in particular has been sharply rising throughout 2015 as customers switch from PCs and even tablets.

I don’t make mobile payments yet. I don’t drink coffee, so I do not frequent Starbucks. However, I have been attempting to get up to speed on the state of the market. As I have a phone running Android, v5.1.1, that’s the best place for me to start, as that’s where my familiarity lies.

Pinterest is adding a new feature to its Buyable Pins in-app purchase mechanism aimed at price-conscious shoppers.

Unconfirmed media reports indicate Target is in the early stages of developing its own mobile payment solution.

Retailers who are focusing on mobile as a means of digitally engaging customers have some solid data backing up their approach.

As Walmart prepares to launch its Walmart Pay mobile pay solution, the discounter should study Starbucks’ success in the mobile payments area, according to a report by TheStreet.

Starbucks rolled out its mobile wallet in 2011, and mobile payment now accounts for 21% of all transactions in U.S. company-owned stores. If Walmart wants to get even close to those numbers, it will have to follow Starbucks’ lead and make sure that its mobile payment solution provides a real value to consumers.