To stay competitive in the market place, retailers in Asia need to stay ahead of the curve and predict consumers’ needs even before they know it, said Sophia Lai, Groupon Hong Kong’s head of marketing at the Retail Innovation & Management Forum 2012 in Hong Kong.
According to Lai, an accurate prediction of customers’ need rely on two major elements—customer engagement and analytics.
With the rise of smartphones, tablets and social media, consumers can connect with each other and their favourite brands through multiple channels. How to engage your target customers in a changing dynamic has been a question constantly asked by e-commerce players and brick-and-mortar retailers.
Groupon appears to have the answer – by blending online and offline marketing strategies. Tabbing on various digital channels, Groupon’s online marketing initiatives consists of targeted online ads, sponsored keyword search, ads on social networks and email marketing campaigns. They aim to draw attentions and drive traffic to its website.
In addition, the company also launched a mobile app last year, allowing its Hong Kong users to make purchase over their smartphones and redeem the coupon over a screen image. But Lai said no marketing campaign is complete without an offline strategy. Groupon believes using right offline techniques – like print ads, MTR displays, trade shows and events—it can reach a wider target audience and boost its online traffic.
The integrated marketing strategy helps to drive traffic to their websites. But Lai said only through engagement and understanding of the customers, Groupon can turn these visitors into loyal paying customers. It was through the analysis of customers’ data, the online discount offering portal discovered the demand of a physical location.
"We conducted researches to find out our customers prefer to view and test the products before purchase,” said Lai. “Different from the Western shoppers, Hong Kong customers also prefer to pick up their online purchase at a convenient physical location, rather than having it delivered at home. In order to address their needs and improve customer experience, we launched the Groupon Concept Store."
Located at Soundwill Plaza in Causeway Bay, the 4000-square feet Groupon Concept Store offers customers a platform to redeem lifestyle products, test the products in a physical environment and seek advice from customer service representatives. Customers can browse with iPads provided by the store, purchase, print and redeem vouchers on the spot.
"We are not planning to step into the retail territory but to enhance overall customer experience," said Lai. "Besides addressing the shoppers’ needs, we also keep on improving our offerings to make sure our shopper can have more personalised shopping experience," noted Lai.
She noted the customer insights and personalised offers were obtained through the company’s US team, who developed features on the platform to collect data of customer’s preference and offer deals cater to their interests.
"We can no longer focus only on the linear approach to enhance customers’ shopping experience,” she said. “[We] must adopt a 360-degree approach to bind the online, offline, digital and physical experience together so that customers can have a great shopping experience and better engagement with the brand."