Kiddicare Increases Online Sales by 20 percent with IBM Smarter Commerce
MADRID - 23 May 2012: At the Smarter Commerce Global Summit, IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that Kiddicare is boosting online sales with IBM enterprise marketing solutions, which help chief marketing officers (CMO) engage customers in highly relevant, interactive dialogues across digital, social, mobile and traditional marketing channels. IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative has helped Kiddicare strengthen its focus on current customers and realize a 20 percent growth in online sales over just a four month period.
The leading online nursery and baby equipment supplier in the UK, Kiddicare’s success is the result of a plan to broaden its business focus beyond new customer acquisition. Specifically, the retailer looked to place more emphasis on driving repeat business, better customer retention and higher order values.
By adding IBM analytics software to its existing IBM e-commerce infrastructure, Kiddicare has been able to mine the large volume of data it collects, analyze customer behavior (e.g. How are customers shopping? Are they using computers, mobile devices or shopping at its physical location showroom) and personalize communications. With this business intelligence, Kiddicare has quickly identified new sources of revenue, created appropriate customer incentive initiatives and deployed more effective marketing and communications strategies; with each having a direct and immediate impact on online sales.
“We looked at the data in the business and the capital opportunities were very apparent,” said Simon Harrow, technology officer at Kiddicare. “Up to that point, only seven to eight percent of our business came from repeat customers, despite the fact that our analytics and satisfaction tracking said that 98 percent of our customers would recommend us. It felt counterintuitive to have a raving fan base, but no communications strategy post purchase.”
After just four months, the basket value analysis showed an increase of almost 50 percent in the number of items per order. Initiatives such as the introduction of new product ranges, including the ‘Most Popular Everyday Baby Essentials,’ featuring leading items from a portfolio of 650 products, has also led to an increase in repeat business versus one-off purchases. In addition to sales, these new insights have also helped Kiddicare understand the value of new initiatives as they modernize the site, introducing more video and extending the integration with social networking tools to drive conversion and value in sales.
Harrow added, “The value of the data derived from IBM goes beyond our enterprise content management system; it feeds into everything we do from kiosks, to web and email. This will continue as we venture into Android and iPad applications, newer kiosk development and a web site re-design.”
“Kiddicare’s success demonstrates the rewards of taking a customer-centric approach to communications and marketing,” said Andrew Jackson-Proes, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management Leader for UK & Ireland. “The company operates in a sector that provides multiple opportunities to assist each customer through the different stages of raising a family. By using data already available within its system to understand customer behavior and anticipate needs, Kiddicare has ensured a long-term and profitable relationship with its customers.”
By adding IBM analytics software to its existing IBM e-commerce infrastructure, Kiddicare has been able to mine the large volume of data it collects, analyze customer behavior (e.g. How are customers shopping? Are they using computers, mobile devices or shopping at its physical location showroom) and personalize communications. With this business intelligence, Kiddicare has quickly identified new sources of revenue, created appropriate customer incentive initiatives and deployed more effective marketing and communications strategies; with each having a direct and immediate impact on online sales.
“We looked at the data in the business and the capital opportunities were very apparent,” said Simon Harrow, technology officer at Kiddicare. “Up to that point, only seven to eight percent of our business came from repeat customers, despite the fact that our analytics and satisfaction tracking said that 98 percent of our customers would recommend us. It felt counterintuitive to have a raving fan base, but no communications strategy post purchase.”
After just four months, the basket value analysis showed an increase of almost 50 percent in the number of items per order. Initiatives such as the introduction of new product ranges, including the ‘Most Popular Everyday Baby Essentials,’ featuring leading items from a portfolio of 650 products, has also led to an increase in repeat business versus one-off purchases. In addition to sales, these new insights have also helped Kiddicare understand the value of new initiatives as they modernize the site, introducing more video and extending the integration with social networking tools to drive conversion and value in sales.
Harrow added, “The value of the data derived from IBM goes beyond our enterprise content management system; it feeds into everything we do from kiosks, to web and email. This will continue as we venture into Android and iPad applications, newer kiosk development and a web site re-design.”
“Kiddicare’s success demonstrates the rewards of taking a customer-centric approach to communications and marketing,” said Andrew Jackson-Proes, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management Leader for UK & Ireland. “The company operates in a sector that provides multiple opportunities to assist each customer through the different stages of raising a family. By using data already available within its system to understand customer behavior and anticipate needs, Kiddicare has ensured a long-term and profitable relationship with its customers.”
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