The Importance of Mobile Clienteling in Luxury Retail in 2024
Luxury brands in 2024 understand that maintaining personalized service for their demanding customers is essential. This practice, known as "clienteling", involves collecting customer data to understand the customer’s preferences and behavior so brands can build long-term relationships with them.
Recent strategies used by top retailers, like clienteling, have brought customers back to physical stores and boosted the industry's growth. Bain & Company's 2023 report shows the global luxury market is expected to grow by 5-10% annually, driven by higher spending in Asia and a comeback in the U.S. market.
Elevating Customer Experience
Luxury brands like Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex know their customers expect a VIP buying experience. When customers spend thousands on designer items, they want to be treated accordingly.
A 2023 study by Salesforce found that 76% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations, up from 66% in 2020.
Clienteling is the most effective way for luxury brands to offer a first-class customer experience and genuinely understand their customers' needs.
Leveraging Technology for Personalized Service
To deliver personalized service, sales associates need to know details like birthdays, anniversaries, style preferences, sizes, past purchases, wish lists, and even the names of customers' children or pets. Some customers might want champagne while browsing, while others might not.
Sales associates should be able to recommend purchases for key events and suggest new items that fit their client’s preferences. Traditionally, this information was kept in a little black book, but today it can be digitized and accessed via mobile devices.
Luxury hotel chains also strive to master this 1:1 VIP experience by maintaining key facts about their top customers to anticipate needs and recreate preferred experiences. For instance, if a guest likes classical music playing upon arrival, that’s what they’ll get.
According to a report by McKinsey in 2022, luxury brands using a retail clienteling software see a 20% increase in customer satisfaction and a 10-15% boost in sales. This highlights the significant impact of leveraging technology to provide personalized, high-quality service that meets and exceeds customer expectations.
The Current State of Mobile Clienteling
Despite the potential, many luxury retailers have yet to fully embrace mobile clienteling. More adoption is needed to reach a point where effective clienteling becomes widespread.
Assessing Your Mobile Clienteling Readiness
To surprise and delight customers, especially in the luxury sector, evaluate your mobile clienteling readiness:
-Ensure you have a robust platform that delivers the right customer information at the right time.
-Train your sales team to maximize clienteling efficiency and take actions that delight the customers.
-Integrate clienteling with mobile loyalty program. For example, track customer spending and referrals and reward milestones with rewards.
The Urgency for Mobile Clienteling
There has never been a greater need for luxury brands to adopt mobile clienteling to demonstrate brand value, maintain reputation, and increase customer loyalty. Doug Stephens, aka “The Retail Prophet,” predicts that experiential retailers will use physical stores to perfect the consumer experience and employ expert “product ambassadors” and technology to create memorable experiences.
Luxury purchases are driven by both product quality and the emotional buying experience. Clienteling enhances that experience, creating an imperative need to be applied.
Conclusion
Luxury brands must adapt to changing consumer expectations and leverage technology to provide personalized, high-touch experiences. Mobile clienteling is no longer a luxury but a necessity in maintaining customer loyalty and driving growth in the competitive luxury market. The future of luxury retail hinges on the ability to blend personal service with digital innovation seamlessly.