Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

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Consumers just want to find what they're looking for

If I can't find it here, I'm going over there

"Consumers today want what they want when they want it and they don't expect to pay a premium to get it fast," NRF Vice President for Research Development and Industry Analysis Mark Mathews said. "When they walk into a store they want to find their item, and find it easily, especially if they've researched it online beforehand. And whether it's next-day or pickup-in-store, quick delivery of online purchases at little or no extra charge is growing so fast that it's something shoppers are coming to expect."

Mathews discussed the report during a session on developing trends in consumer behavior held today at NRF 2018: Retail's Big Show (NRF's annual conference) in New York. The session was moderated by NRF Director of Retail and Consumer Insights Katherine Cullen and also featured IBM Global Managing Director and General Manager of Worldwide Consumer Industries Laurence Haziot and Prosper Insights & Analytics Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Phil Rist.

Whether shopping in-store or online, consumers are typically seeking to buy a certain item rather than just browsing, with 73% surveyed saying that's the case with stores and 54% online, according to the report. And in either case, 58% rated being able to find what they want quickly and easily as their top factor in determining where to shop. Shopping "just to browse" has shifted to being more popular online (done by 46% of those surveyed) than in stores (27%).

Among those shopping online, 68% expect free shipping even on purchases of less than $50, with 47% saying they typically back out if shipping isn't free. And 38% expect two-day shipping to be free while 24% expect free same-day shipping.

The quality of customer service is also a top factor in deciding where to shop, cited by 44%, along with speed and simplicity of checkout (42%) and the ability to try out products (20%). Consumers said their overall experience with a brand or retailer is important in determining which to buy from and how often (79% each) and how loyal or connected they feel (77%).

The survey found 59% of consumers are interested in special events retailers hold to draw customers into stores or onto websites, including the ability to try out products, exclusive access to sales, demonstrations and product tutorials. Millennials are particularly enthusiastic about special events - 44% said they were "very interested" compared with 25% of consumers overall. And Millennial men (60%) were more likely to be "very" interested than Millennial women (28%).

The report said fewer than a third of consumers were aware of technological innovations such as 3D printing or making purchases through social media (29% each), in-app store navigation (28%), in-store digital displays (25%) or retail messaging apps and online chat (24%). But among those that were, messaging apps and chat were the technology that had most often been tried (65%) while in-app store navigation was most-cited as improving the shopping experience (63%.)

"Retailers are literally racing to consumers' doorsteps to meet rising expectations," Mathews said.

Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Learn the insider's tricks and techniques to turn every customers into a 'super spreader' for your brand. It's better than free advertising. Once you start this ball rolling, your brand can grow rapidly through word-of-mouth, advocacy, influencers, and customer loyalty. Super-charge your company's marketing strategy, build up your market share, and make more sales through repeat business and customer loyalty.

Find out what works - and what doesn't - and who's succeeded, and how they did it. See how the world's top brands keep their competitive edge against all odds.

The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook walks you step-by-step through the techniques, metrics, reporting, analysis, marketing models, technologies, tools and innovations for successful marketing strategies - both traditional and emerging - with expert guidance from thought leaders in every major market. Find out the best ways to gather, analyse, and act on customer data to increase profitability, build your brand, empower your customers, beat the competition, reduce churn, and increase customer profitability. This is a marketing book you simply can't afford to be without.

This book aims to hand you all the facts, figures and research data you need for the best decisions for a more profitable, more engaging marketing strategy. It also highlights all the facts, forecasts and trends identified by our experts from the global Marketing Factbook's vast database of market data, news, studies, research and articles, and presents you with an invaluable library of ideas and practical support you can call upon at will.

With The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook at your side, you'll have instant access to a true goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, research and market data, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid, profitable marketing strategy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)