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Loyalty And The Impact Of Collaboration

 


By: Ray Chelstowski

“Collaborative commerce” is a term that has been used for almost twenty years. Over that time its definition has evolved. Initially the concept was tied to having brands work together to source materials, goods and services in an effort to create greater efficiencies. Those benefits still exist. But today the vision for C-Commerce is much broader and taps into changing market dynamics and quickly evolving technologies. This is allowing brands to really establish an edge in a business environment that has become incredibly competitive.

At Kognitiv, we look at C-Commerce as an opportunity to deliver more value to customers and achieve better business outcomes in the process. Often, that begins through loyalty programs. Through these platforms brands have been able to communicate in the moment with their best customers. This has become critical as online marketplaces tend to anchor the proposition between seller and buyer to price. Loyalty programs have the capacity to mitigate that by creating value that lives beyond price points. But it’s often done through “spray and pray” campaigns that deliver limited rates of conversion. C-commerce is different. Collaboration creates value that not only impacts business in the moment but is attributable and ultimately increases the lifetime value of every loyalty member.

For our clients, the path to C-Commerce begins by helping them capture zero-party data. This is where your customer raises their hand and tells you what matters most to them. It’s about what they consider “value”; and how, where and when they prefer to be approached. Research has shown that most consumers are willing to share quite a bit of this information with you if it the rewards and offers that result are personalized and reflect their input. When you have this data in hand you begin to unlock the power that collaboration can bring.

That collaboration, a decision between non-competitive peers to join forces, creates an ecosystem where everyone wins. When brands identify the customers they share and pool their data they can begin to advance each other’s business in ways they had never thought possible. Through collaborative commerce a high-end department store can now partner with a national hardware chain because they share customers that are loyal to both brands. The hardware store can offer that shared member an incentive to help the department store complete an online sales transaction, and vice versa. The approach is data-driven, personalized, attributable, and operates in the moment. And…consumers love it!

Your most loyal customers are embracing this new age with an almost all-digital approach. That’s why a focus on taking loyalty to the next level is so critical to every brand’s future. Collaborative commerce establishes a personalized line of communication in a cookie-less world, and helps create an ecosystem that creates real value for everyone involved, most importantly your best customers.

Ray Chelstowski: SVP of Strategic Development / Marketing, North America ray.chelstowski@kognitiv.com


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