IntroductionGlobalization, the Internet and low cost foreign travel have changed retailing to a point where strategically, retailers have little choice but to acknowledge that their key efforts have to revolve around managing existing loyal customers and attempting to influence un-loyal ones.
However, Datamonitor believes that largely, efforts to influence both are one and the same.Scope*The all round customer experience is the primary loyalty winner and keeper.*A new approach to 'infrastructure' is needed first.*'Information infrastructure' could be retail's 'killer app' for the late noughties.HighlightsDatamonitor believes that in fact, addressing core retail infrastructure and processes will enable retailers to become more agile and flexible so as to become far better at influencing customers than a raft of low value reward points will ever do to make up for a poor shopping experience.Challenges associated with improving relationships with suppliers and improving overall customer experience in order to positively influence loyalty are primarily one and the same; namely, an obvious need to foster an environment that is as focused as it can be on capturing and exploiting every single bit of information to the maximum degree.Datamonitor believes that addressing the notion of an information-driven business supported by an infrastructure capable of capturing, making sense of and delivering the right information to the right places remains a key area for competitive differentiation, simply because there are so many areas of a retailers business that would benefit from it.Reasons to Purchase*Appreciate that 'loyalty' is more than points.*Combine end-user opinion with Datamonitor's analysis of potential action points for retailers.