Report: Why advocacy matters to retailers – Insights from five retail segments
The IBM Institute for Business Value published a report titled "Why advocacy matters to retailers" which identifies the key attributes that turn everyday shoppers into loyal advocates. The main question is of course: What drives advocacy?
Building customer advocacy is harder than simply meeting customer expectations. In our sample, 78 percent of all consumers said their primary retailer meets their expectations, as compared to 21 percent who are Advocates. Understanding the expectations of customers and their reasons for shopping are simply “table stakes” or qualifiers for “getting it right,” but are not sufficient to transform customers into Advocates.
A retailer’s ability to fulfill customers’ expectations and understand their reasons for shopping simply helps get consumers in the door – it does not turn them into Advocates.
But the essential finding on attributes that drive customer advocacy is this:
It is the shopper’s experience with the store that transforms an existing customer into an Advocate of the retailer or, conversely, into an Antagonist. After meeting customers’ basic needs, fulfilling expectations and understanding their reasons to shop, then retailers can develop advocacy.
The report is based on the results of surveys conducted across five retail segments – grocery, large-format apparel, mall-based specialty apparel, drugstore and online.
The following table shows a summary of key initiatives that help to deliver a customer-focused strategy.
