1) The document discusses the challenges companies face in delivering personalized experiences to customers across offline, online, and mobile channels in today's digital marketplace. 2) It outlines five fundamental steps for restructuring marketing functions to achieve a more customer-centric approach: acknowledging the present state, building an integrated strategy, developing an information infrastructure, selecting enabling technologies, and restructuring the marketing function. 3) Taking these steps can help companies meet the challenge of personalization by gaining insights from customer data to better understand behaviors and deliver relevant messages and offerings.

1. Accenture Interactive | Point of View Series
Monetizing the
Personal Touch
Gear up to meet the multichannel
marketing challenge

2. Monetizing the Personal Touch
Gear up to meet the multichannel marketing challenge
Digital disruption is the new Customers always look for convenient and enjoyable as possible. Other examples include
personalized services—the right product in Ahold’s Stop & Shop supermarket chain,
normal. No longer confined to a
the right place at the right time. Sounds which has been delivering timely in-store
channel or a standalone strategy, simple—and it was when products were few, promotions to customers through its hand-
digital is now a core reality. shops consisted of the general store or local held shopping application for a number of
As consumers interact across high street, and retail hours were from nine years; and retail powerhouse Walmart is
channels on a daily basis, so to five, six days a week. But in today’s digital aligning its in-store video streaming to be
marketplace where customers can literally as relevant as possible to customers who
companies need to maintain get anything, anywhere, anytime, knowing shop in specific aisles where the monitors
an omnichannel presence. how to deliver a personalized service and are installed. When Whole Foods Market,
making it cost effective are no longer the natural and organic supermarket chain,
In today’s always-on, always- simple tasks. learned that many on-the-go clients,
connected world, mailboxes— especially in cities like New York, just don’t
The success that companies such as eBay
both virtual and physical—are cook at home, it not only started stocking its
and Amazon in the United States, Taobao in aisles with tasty precooked foods, but also
overflowing, a myriad of online China, and Rakuten in Japan are enjoying created a welcoming in-store ‘shared table’
stores and traditional providers through delivering a tailored and relevant to encourage customers to stay back, enjoy
are vying for a share of the online experience is well documented. their meal and meet interesting people.
Without the complexities of bricks and
(electronic) wallet, and media
mortar stores, traditional business models However, most multinational companies
is filtered by consumer-driven and legacy infrastructure, these online today are falling short of delivering customers
preferences. Without control of retailers are forging ahead. with a unique experience across offline, online
the market forces and consumer and mobile channels. With seemingly infinite
There are also examples of traditional sources of consumer data detailing purchase
demand dictating the run of retailers or consumer goods companies history, interests, life-stage, lifestyle, and a
play, how will the corporate that are rising to the challenge by making host of other personal preferences—knowing
world respond? What are the the in-store experience an engaging and how to craft actionable insights to drive
implications for marketing spend efficient one for customers. For example, business decisions is proving a mighty task.
digital receipts are growing in popularity The ability to restructure the organization
or supply chain? Can physical after being introduced by Apple in 2005 to deliver a very personalized and relevant
and virtual merchandizing as a convenience for the customer and experience to a range of potential and
become integrated? a relationship touchpoint for retailers. existing customers across multiple channels,
Another example is Nordstrom Inc., a leading all day, every day, will be essential to survival
clothing retailer in the United States, which in the digital marketplace.
has focused on in-store customer services
to build a trusted relationship, making
the shopping experience as personal and

3. Offline, online, on-the-go
Since consumers can move seamlessly
between online and offline channels
without distinction, companies realize
that they can no longer have a separate
marketing strategy for different channels.
Customer-centric businesses are shifting
their focus from treating digital as a distinct
channel, to creating an integrated customer
experience across all channels. Today, the
consumer base is no longer homogenous
nor geographically restricted, but highly
heterogeneous and global, with very diverse
preferences, cultures, technology awareness
and socio-economic mix.
To be able to tailor specific messages and
offerings to different consumers,
companies will need to build detailed
consumer profiles from multiple sources Stepping stones respect to their predicted buying patterns,
using advanced analytics techniques— The challenge of personalization then is not companies can pursue a proactive marketing
enhancing understanding of likely buyer about obtaining data, but how to select and approach, enabling real-time responses
values and preferences, stage a consumer analyze the right data to drive real consumer across multiple touchpoints. Instead of
is at in the buying cycle and key influencers. insights, and how to commercialize it to pushing messages and promotions out and
Through this granular approach companies deliver business results. hoping some consumers will find them
will be able to respond quickly to consumer relevant, companies can create a marketing
To maximize the marketing return on environment, both in-store and virtually,
requests with contextually relevant
investment (MROI) companies need to be able which attracts potential and existing
messages, and begin to anticipate consumer
to attract, serve and maintain customers by customers alike.
needs based on similar buying patterns.
delivering relevant products and services at
point of need—to achieve consumer relevance
at scale.1 This may seem like an overwhelming So, how to shift gears to
challenge at first glance, but companies can achieve the more relevant
meet this challenge by developing a well-
customer-centric experience
thought out roadmap using an integrated
marketing strategy. required in today’s
multichannel, competitive
At the heart of this roadmap is the ability
marketplace? There are five
to reach consumers at the most granular
level by making macro marketing programs, fundamental steps that will
such as circulars, emails or out-of- help marketing executives
home messaging, more personalized and avoid being left behind in the
relevant. By developing multiple identities industry shakeup.
of offline and online customers, which
1
Baiju Shah and Nandini Nayak, “Got the R Factor: can then be used to create inquiries with
Driving breakthrough performance in the Era of
Relevance,” 2012

4. Steps to customer-centricity
There are five fundamental
steps that CMOs should 1 Acknowledge the
Present State
• alue: Define the values of a customer
V
to the enterprise and know where different
customers fit into the value spectrum—
consider when restructuring It is important to understand the current whereas some companies take too
situation within the company and rudimentary an approach, others limit
the marketing organization marketplace today. With physical stores the number of contextual views or tiers
to meet customer needs. increasingly being seen as showrooms by and never drill down to a granular level
consumers who want to try on their items to understand customer preferences.
before buying online, retailers need to take
a hard look at their value proposition. • ehavior: Build consumers’ shopping
B
profiles—how frequently they come to
Most traditional companies are saddled the store and how broadly they shop
by silos of departments such as marketing, across the store? Really getting to know
merchandizing, operations and supply a consumer on an individual basis and
chain, each organized around specific developing a personal relationship will
business processes and functions. These be a key differentiator for retailers.
silos are now becoming an impediment
to organizations wanting to become • otivations: What motivates consumers
M
customer-centric—a transition that online to make a purchase—is it brand, taste,
retailers have been relatively successful in quality or price? Is it a combination of
making. In the absence of an integrated priorities? Or, are consumers motivated
internal structure, companies are forced by some other factors? If so, what are
to buy customer data, compounding the those factors?
issue, as data syndicators cannot reach the • ntent: Understand the potential value
I
granularity required. Competing companies of a consumer based on contextual
end up with similar insights leaving the indicators. What are they buying elsewhere
market with few true innovators. Breaking and why? What are the consumer needs
down these internal silos and bridging the that can be identified from life-stage?
gap between product and customer value
is a key first step in this journey. A well-developed strategy that recognizes
the value and potential of consumers to the
2
enterprise, describes that value in terms of
Build an Integrated
product-specific behavior. It communicates
Strategy across the organization in ways that allow the
Companies should next look at the overall different functional silos to build and deliver
customer strategy and identify the macro- on channel-centric tactics, reflecting both
and micro-marketing activities that are the product and customer growth agendas.
required to achieve business goals. There Of course, such a strategy needs to have the
is little point in taking a 30 second TV spot commitment of all the departments within
in the Superbowl or a reality show, with a company and be aligned across different
audiences in the millions, for a product departments, and it needs to be driven by
which has a target audience of 25,000. a clear, top-down business strategy.
This integrated approach across functional
areas requires companies to understand
several aspects about consumers.

5. 3 Develop an Information
Infrastructure
Understanding the sources of data and being
marketing influence in real time and to
make it work, marketers need to go beyond
pushing out communications; instead, they
need to respond to opportunities to connect
Next Gen Point Of Sales
Traditionally many organizations have aligned
themselves to a point of sales (POS) system and
customized it to a point where it can no longer
able to draw on them effectively to create with consumers as they occur. This is easier be supported by the original vendor or easily
actionable insights will be key to developing to achieve online through responding to migrated to a new agile system. By adopting an
an effective information infrastructure. search queries. But companies should integrated, agile POS technology, organizations
continue to look for ways to recognize are able to benefit from providing a seamless
It is impossible to strategize, plan, act and potential customers in their store, or experience across all offline and online channels,
measure results in today’s multichannel even in a particular aisle, anticipating and as well as pricing alignment, digital receipting
universe without data analytics and an responding to specific needs or intent. and the like functions.
underlying process that recognizes the
4
need for different levels of granularity of Customer Insights And Analytics
consumer behavior. For example, senior
Select Enabling Today, customer analytics technologies are
executives of a company need to have an Technologies able to provide insights across a range of
overview of consumer behavior across areas including, micro segmentation,
With no single technology able to harness
markets or brands; analysts doing product customer value modeling, pricing optimization
the potential of data, agility is the most
assortment require data related to SKUs, and assortment. Consequently, a business
important capability businesses are chasing.
select customers and select stores; and intelligence capability is crucial for generating
For various reasons, many organizations that
marketers may want contextual insights specific customer-centric insights that are
aligned their businesses to the industrial
into all consumers who buy diapers but aligned with the organization’s business strategy.
strength solutions of technology providers,
not formula, and who respond well to a today need to adjust their technical
5
coupon delivered at the register. infrastructure accordingly—a process that
can be very cumbersome and expensive. Restucture the
Any data infrastructure supporting this
level of granular analysis needs to be Many analytics leaders offer a host of Marketing Function
able to integrate multiple, exclusive and technologies, while organizations such as
Unlike a few years ago when marketing
non-exclusive consumer contexts—purchase Facebook and Google have built their own
organizations had the luxury of planning in
behavior, basket size, channel attitude, analytics engine that aligns closely to the
yearly cycles, today they need to adapt their
product preference, to name a few. The objectives of their unique business models.
marketing strategies to weeks, days or even
potential of big data lies in finding details To achieve an agile technical infrastructure, seconds, to stay ahead of their competitors.
across lots of data points that can be utilized leading organizations subscribe to a set of From raw materials and manufacturing
effectively (or made actionable) in a small common components: to distribution and retailing, the different
data environment. Companies need to departments within a company need to have
understand which data is most critical Granular Data Warehouse a 360 degree view of consumers. Marketing
to their business and which data adds the Utilized to capture non real-time will be infused across the organization
most value. For example, which products transaction data, consumer behavior, master from strategy and business planning, to
did a consumer put in his basket but then data and other third party complimentary merchandizing, supply chain and customer
decide not to buy? Was a promotion data assets. This data repository is often service, to manage the customer experience
coupon redeemed? employed to democratize the data for use as one.
across business silos.
Customer data management is steeped in We are entering an era of virtual everything,
the legacy of list generation to support Real Time Data Store where all players and channels will effectively
direct mail, call centers, and more recently These real-time or near real-time big collaborate. Increasingly, companies will be
emails. However, today’s marketers must data stores provide access to all the competing and cooperating at the same time
continuously touch, influence and engage timely contextual data to support point with one objective: to harvest maximum
the customer in a timely and relevant solutions for immediate decisions such as customer value and share customer
manner; a handful of segments are no recommender systems for promotion at the requirements with other departments
longer enough. More importantly, to scale point of interaction with the consumer. within their respective companies.

6. Make it personal and make it count the consumer and committing to build the To learn more about how to
Today’s consumers are fickle, impatient necessary infrastructure to support those
monetize a customer-centric
and demanding. True or False? While it is interactions wherever, whenever they occur,
true that they are price-savvy and time- will be critical to delivering a personalized marketing strategy, contact:
pressured, consumers also respond to good experience—one that counts at the bottom Milton Merl
service, relevant offers and time-efficient line. Tomorrows winners will include milton.merl@accenture.com
experiences. Consumers can be the biggest companies that have the commitment and
fan, broadcasting recommendations for leadership today to take the necessary steps Seth Marlatt
products and services and connecting towards creating a proactive and customer- seth.m.marlatt@accenture.com
with brands across multiple channels and centric marketing environment.
networks. Knowing how to interact with

8. About Accenture Interactive
Accenture Interactive’s 1,500 professionals help the world’s leading brands drive superior
marketing performance across the full multichannel customer experience. Leveraging
the full scale of more than 259,000 Accenture employees serving clients in more than
120 countries, Accenture Interactive offers integrated, industrialized and industry-driven
marketing solutions and services across consulting, technology and outsourcing powered
by analytics. Follow @AccentureSocial or visit www.accenture.com/interactive.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company, with approximately 259,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.
Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses
and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal
year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
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