Dixons Carphone boss stressed the need for retailers to cater to the connected customer as multichannel retail becomes increasingly common.

I had the pleasure of attending Retail Week Live last week, listening to the UK’s biggest retailers and brands talk about what the future holds for the industry.

Among the talks and lively debates I attended, the one thing that stood out for me is a comment Seb James, CEO of Dixons Carphone, made during his address. He talked about the emergence of the ‘connected consumer’.

It is now the norm for individuals to be constantly connected to the internet through a multitude of devices, and the average adult now spends more than eight hours a day using technology.

Digitally connected products, such as smart phones and tablets through to smart watches and fitness trackers, penetrate every aspect of our daily lives. This ‘always on’ culture has fundamentally changed the behaviour of consumers, who are now savvier and more promiscuous than ever before.    

Brands are continually being warned that if they fail to engage with this new type of consumer, they will be out of the race.   

It’s certainly true that businesses must keep up, and for marketers, the ‘connected consumer’ sounds like a dream come true. Businesses have never had access to so much data. Nor have they had such a plethora of channels to communicate with consumers directly. Reaching customers more effectively, better understanding them, and building deeper relationships should therefore be easy.  

However, you only have to look at your own email inbox or social feeds to see the number of retailers getting it wrong.

It’s all too common a mistake. Brands see a new shiny digital platform or device that consumers are flocking to and decide they must do something with it to ‘keep up with digital’. Never mind what the customer wants or needs. Go digital and the rest will take care of itself.

Not true. 

The floodgates have opened, and our research at the Aimia Institute shows that sending out high volumes of irrelevant or even partially relevant messages is to a brand’s detriment rather than to its advantage.  

As shoppers increasingly try to take control of the information they receive, companies that send badly targeted, badly timed or intrusive messages risk finding themselves at the mercy of the delete button.

Over half of consumers are already taking steps to actively avoid companies, by unfollowing brands on social channels, opting out of marketing emails and deleting apps completely.

We’re seeing the rise of what we’ve termed the ‘Deletist Consumer’. They are characterised by their unforgiving attitude to brands that send impersonal, untailored marketing messages en masse.

In this new world of digitally connected consumers, brands must use channels on their customers’ terms, not their own. Relationships are a two way conversation and retailers must spend more time listening and less time pushing endless content out.

Whether via email, text message or push notifications on apps, marketers must acknowledge customer preferences and earn the right to contact them. They need to demonstrate understanding of what the customer wants to receive and how they want to receive it.

The digital world will continue to augment the way in which consumers behave, and the pace of change is a challenge for any business to keep up with. However, we must remain grounded in common sense by doing things with and for customers, rather than to them.

Retailers who start with the question ‘what’s best for the customer’ will be the ones who succeed in navigating the new digital landscape.  

  • Martin Hayward is Vice President of Global Digital Strategy at Aimia, the global data-driven marketing and analytics company.