The client journey mistreated in (luxury) retail

The customer journey, regardless of the industry, has undergone a radical change since the advent of the web. Indeed, if the customer journey always begins with a search for information, it is the "source" or rather the location of the source that has changed.

In this article, you will understand why commerce is lagging behind the digital sales strategy and not marketing! How the fact of not having understood "commercially" the radical impact of digital on the customer journey causes many companies to lose millions in all sectors.

Everyone has understood this new challenge, however, not all retail players (all sectors combined) have treated it in the same way. With such varied results, ranging from filing for bankruptcy (Thomas Cook, Alitalia, etc.) to multiplying profit by 4 or by 10 in turnover (Apple, Nike, Louis Vuitton, etc.)

And this affects all types of businesses (from the smallest to the largest) in all sectors of activity.

The reasons for the failure are threefold:

1. A poor analysis of what the web has changed in customer behavior

2. A poor understanding of how digital works (and Google in particular)

3. A confusion between marketing and commercial leverage

1. The customer journey before and after the web: Changing customer behavior

The customer journey "before": the FMOT

Before, the customer had to meet with a salesperson to eventually buy. He was going to a physical point of sale. The salesperson "identified" his needs, made him an offer (b2b) or offered him items (b2c) and possibly after the conclusion of the sale called him back to follow up.

This meeting at the point of sale, the first step in the customer journey, is what is called the FMOT for First Moment of Truth. The customer obtained information, admittedly directed by the salesperson, of the product or service he wanted to buy. The "source" of information was therefore the salesperson at his workplace, where the customer, "forced" to go there, obtained answers to his questions.

That was the world before!

The customer journey after: The ZMOT

The world after has been the world since 1999! This is the world of the web. 100% of future customers will look for information on the net. This is the same information that they would have asked the salesperson when they pushed open the door of the point of sale.

There is no longer a physical "meeting" in the customer journey. This is the ZMOT. the Zero Moment of Truth. No need for the seller. We could say 99%, considering the 1% who do not have access to the internet. But in our markets it's 100%. And they are looking for 67% of the information that would eventually lead them to buy! The "source" of information is therefore no longer the salesperson of the branded point of sale but the trillion pieces of information available in this gigantic library that is GOOGLE.

Indisputable facts

The numbers prove it*:

- Global average penetration rate is 81% for online purchases

- So-called "non-essential" products are more likely to be purchased online (72%). Even basic necessities are likely to be purchased online (57%)

- 47% say that it is easier to shop online and 42% highlight the variety of products on offer

- The market for spending by Internet users represents $492 billion in purchases on social media platforms and the forecast for 2025 would be $1,200 billion (** source fashionmag)

*Source: YouGov study from January 11 to February 22, 2021

The customer journey affected by a paradigm shift in the customer

Before the web, the customer "pushed the door because they were either won over by the advertising messages around the brand, they wanted to buy the product or service, or because they didn't really know what they needed and therefore were looking for information... Only available at the point of sale.

But today, the adage that says that customers don't need anything... is FALSE!! THEY NEED INFORMATION OR EVEN SOLUTIONS TO A PROBLEM! Except that now, they have access to this information in the space of a click.

Therefore, when you had to be physically present before the web... well now you have to be VISIBLE on the web. AND this is where brands have not understood how digital works (and google in particular)

2. The customer journey affected by a poor understanding of digital

To be visible, you have to be found. In the beginning, everyone created an internet address and was satisfied with that. The notion of optimizing the level of searches on the web, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), was born in 1998 from the meeting of two students at Stanford University: Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The concept is simple: prioritize the most relevant content following a search on the search engine answer page (SERP). Google was born!

The customer journey handled by marketing and not (or badly) by the sales department

In marketing, and to put it simply, the rules applied to transform the prospect into a customer will be intimately linked to his or her buying journey. This is called the customer journey. : A set of actual or potential steps that a customer goes through throughout their relationship with a business or brand.

And already before the web, it was necessary to:

- Inspire: Raise awareness of the importance of the brand. It's advertising, product placement, etc.

- Have the customer explored. It's pushing them to do research, to learn from the brand. Flyers, brochures etc.

- Involving the customer means making them buy. The role of the salesperson at the point of sale

- Build customer loyalty, with the help of loyalty cards, loyalty programs, etc

Businesses of any kind, small or medium-sized enterprises, multinationals or independent businesses, (re)known or not, continue to apply their same rules to digital

- Inspire: using social media bloggers, influencers

- Explore: blog posts, forums, and website

- Involving: the metaverse, phygital

- Building loyalty: the same means but digitised

It is not the means that are the problem, but the use of these means which is more promotional than commercial. In other words, inspiration and exploration are treated to bring the customer already won over to the brand to go further and eventually buy.

The customer journey in the digital age or how to understand your prospects

41% of retail companies rely on digital to increase sales.

BUT without taking into account the customer's buying journey, which first takes place online. 99% of prospects are looking for 67% of information about their "problem". They have a different purchasing maturity:

• Interested parties assess the problem and/or look for missing information to get an idea. They are interested in the problem, not the brand.

• The committed people evaluate the solutions. To do this, they engage in comparisons between different solutions.

• The "purchasing modes" evaluate the implementation. To do this, they are looking for very operational and concrete information. They evaluate the transaction.

Be careful, these are PROSPECTS, not CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE ACQUIRED THE BRAND!!

All sectors are concerned

And yet, brands continue to spend huge budgets (advertising, films, influencers, etc.) to inspire and explore their prospects for the brand. They are aimed at customers who are already convinced: "Purchase modes" who have decided to make a purchase, i.e. 1% of prospects on average!!!

❌ In the optical sector, Afflelou puts millions on the web, sponsors Sharon Stone, Philippe Poupon and Alice Taglioni to the tune of 100 thousand euros. But they are not to be found on the free search for "optician in Paris" made by 18,000 people / month, 14,000 of whom will buy a pair of glasses for €350 on average from the one they have found. €350 x 14,000 glasses means €5 million lost every month, that's €60 million per year.

❌ in the luxury sector, Loro Piana, the cashmere sweater reference, pays to be found on the query "loro Piana" (aburde, their company name guarantees them the first 10 places for free), but are not found on the search "cashmere sweater".

❌But it's also true for Louis Vuitton, which pays Google a fortune to be present on the "Louis Vuitton" query... while their company name guarantees them the first 10 places for free! They also pay to be in 1st position on "luxury leather bag gift for women" that no one is looking for!!! But they are not found on the free search for "women's leather bag" made by 6,600 people who will offer one every month. 6,600 people who buy a bag for €1,500 (low average) is €9.9 million per month. That's 118.8 million per year. Or if you prefer by considering a conversion rate of 18%, that's nearly 21.4 million lost each year

❌ In the world of ready-to-wear clothing, Asphalte goes to great lengths to make videos about their polo shirts and shirts on Youtube, and to rank on the term "clothes" (search 2,400 times a month) because it corresponds to what they mean. But they have not understood the world of today. BECAUSE they are:

o 10 times more, 22,200 looking for a "men's polo shirt". 22,200 x €50 each, that's 1 million / month, 13 million / year

o 74,000 per month looking for sweaters x €130 each, that's 10 million per month, that's 115 million per year

o 110,000 per month looking for t-shirts per month x €35 each, that's 4 million per month, 46 million per year

They are therefore missing out on this market which IS THE CORE BUSINESS, of 174 million euros / year on these 3 products alone or at a conversion rate of 3% (average of online sales) 5.2 million, i.e. their turnover after 5 years!

❌ In premium cars (Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc.), none of these major brands is present on the 1st page of the 'SUV Luxe' search (1,600 searches per month.) Only Audi will be visible in the paid zone, 3% of clicks on average: they lost 1,552 prospects out of 1,600! The other major brands have lost them all.

It's terrible, because everything is measured on the web. The positioning analysis shows that without distinction, all these brands are invisible to more than 80% of their prospects! For three reasons:

1. Social networks miss 99% of the target. Everything is played out on Google.

2. More than 80% of web searches are unbranded on the brand in question. Even for a very strong brand.

3. These brands are basically found on their brand.

Treat the customer journey according to SEO rules

Retail (all sectors combined) is the sector that is the furthest behind on the subject of SEO, while at the same time it is investing fortunes in digital. But badly.

Quite simply, in 2022, it is no longer possible to sell as it did before 1999, before the appearance of the web.

7 key figures:

• 13.4% of retail trade was done online (ecommerce) in France. This share was 9.8% in 2019.

• E-commerce represented 112 billion in turnover in 2020 in France, an increase of 96.5% over the last 7 years. No economic model of physical commerce, no training can promise such growth

• 17,400 new e-commerce sites were launched in 2020, for a total of 207,400 e-commerce sites in France. Compare this with the 300,000 retail outlets.

• The e-commerce penetration rate is expected to increase from 15% in 2020 to 25% in 2025

• 90% of consumers use a mobile device while shopping in-store

• 48% of French people now make e-commerce purchases from their mobile

• 73% of online sales were made on mobile at the end of 2021

*sources Cube, Google, Salsify data, Manahattan associates, Fevad

And if we had to add a figure: 100% of customers first found themselves on the internet to look for the range of solutions to their queries

Be visible on the customer journey

All sectors of commerce must, at a minimum:

1. No longer apply the marketing of the pre-web but a real digital strategy with a commercial vocation (to sell not just to look good).

2. Create a strategy for both push and pull. It's no longer a question of waiting for the customer to push the door! You have to be present where he is looking for information.

3. Selling is not just about advertising your brand. 80% of searches by Internet users are unbranded, i.e. there is no trademark in the search description (lexie* = word or group of words used by the Internet user)

4. Integrate sales reasoning into your digital strategy: What are our PROSPECTS looking for? Where are they? What do they want? Social networks, the website,... are aimed at customers who are already committed to the brand. That's 1% of prospects. The 99% run away from the brand and everything that promotes it, and are looking for qualitative and relevant information related to their problem(s).

5. Don't be afraid of digital. Solutions for less than 5K euros, such as connecting your business to a market place, allow you to multiply your turnover by 5 or even 10. No model offers such performance.

By talking only about themselves, their brand, their business or simply thinking like BEFORE and forgetting what prospects are looking for on the WEB, businesses end up making themselves invisible to 80% of them on the customer journey.