Consumers clamour for custom offers

Thursday, December 14, 2017 - 11:34 by Sarah Collinson

People now expect retailers to provide them with deals and promotions which are tailored to their personal tastes, according to the results of a recent survey from Eagle Eye.

Three quarters of those questioned said that if they were sent offers which did not feel like they had been personalised in any way, they would feel disappointed in the outlet in question.

Eighty one per cent said that deals had to be relevant in order to encourage them to take advantage of them via safe shopping online.

The extent to which a custom e-commerce experience has become sought-after amongst consumers is revealed by the fact that 73 per cent of consumers would be happy if retailers could provide them with deals based on the products that they have just used up at home.

This ties in with the release of the likes of the Amazon Dash button, which takes on-demand ordering to a new level and turns safe shopping online into a competitor to bricks and mortar convenience stores.

Experts point out that as personalisation rises in popularity, retailers could find new ways to engage with and retain customers both by tailoring offers and by making appropriate, relevant suggestions for products to buy at the right time.

With a growing wealth of data available to e-commerce sites on customer behaviour and habits, giving shopping a personal touch is becoming easier. But there are people who find this kind of practice invasive, even if the majority of consumers are in favour of it, so there is still a balance to be found.

This does not account for the success of impulse buy offers which are so effective in real world stores, but retailers are encouraged to play to the strengths of web-based shopping rather than try to emulate high street tactics.