Customer Ratings & Reviews

It’s been two decades since Amazon included the stars and customer feedback at the product level. They have had great development and their future is promising.

They have a clear impact on conversion

• More than 80% of consumers read reviews and ratings online before purchasing a product (store/online). Especially for high-cost, risky products. It oscillates on a large average depending on the product category. There is a clear upward trend of its impact on conversion.
• Still 30% of retail chains do not communicate any kind of assessments (stars) or comments.
• At the individual product level, conversion greatly increases after the first 5 reviews and comments become visible.
• The impact of negative valuations is increasing on chains. 2 out of 3 customers are predisposed to express their negative rating against a bad shopping experience.
• In 3 out of 4 of these negative cases, the main reason originates from operational elements and is generated after the transaction.

There are already consolidated best practices for its content, communication and implementation

• Help keep comments from being too brief. A revision with 400 characters has 2.3 timesmoreimpact than another with only 20 characters.
• Make it easier forother client s to highlight the usefulness or not of that comment. No opinions have the same value.
• Some negative comments provide credibility and authenticity to opinions. “Too good to beauthentic.” An average product rating of 4.2 – 4.7 (out of 5) is the range with the highest impact in conversion.
• Set email reminders to encourage post-purchase product evaluations. 80% of ratings are generated by email. Take advantage of optimal periods by product type, from 7 days (for campaign items) to 21 days (e.g. appliances, giving opportunity for use) from the time of the transaction.

Q & A.  Section and User Generated Content

• Feedback structured and fostered by the chain itself. Segmented based on demographic profile and usage. With an emphasis on those attributes that are key to conversion according to each product category.
• The latest reviews are always best rated by other consumers and further facilitate an improvement in the SEO positioning of the product.
• Verified opinions always provide greater credibility than anonymous opinions.
• Syndicated actions with External Marks and other Partners that make it easier to obtain ratings in less time.
• The use of content generated by the users themselves (UGC). Use and use of feedback and visuals in the various channels of customer interaction including social networks and conventional media.
• Accompanying assessments with visuals or videos increases their impact by 4.
• The customer wants a response to their feedback. Depending on the nature of the incident, quickly within 24-48 hours.
• Presentation of evaluations not only on individual product pages. Optimize your impact with your selective presence also on home page and product category pages.
• A Q&A section (detailed questions and answers) on the product page is clearly appreciated by customers and positively impacts conversion

Customer Experience >>

In the future, they will increasingly have an impact on operational improvements, product and customer experience.

Advanced and personalized analysis of all customer-produced content allows you to:

• Improving individual products or item line
• Streamlining the assortment
• Optimizing pricing
• Identify new uses and customer segments for our products
• Improved communication and description of individual products covering those attributes identified as key to the customer

• Decentralization of customer service. Local power with technological support from software tools like  Critizr.
• Optimal tool to motivate and incentivize the internal teams of the chains. Not always with negative content.
• Integration within the process to test new products and services.
• Q&A system that provides interactive conversations  between  the customers  themselves.
• Close linking for improved client experience  (CX).
• Greater focus on reviews on fitting and clothing sizes, where there  is a large rotation of models with very short lifespans.
• Use and communication to engage customers with those improvements/changes already made thanks to their comments.
• Launch of programs aimed at highlighting the opinions of those customers whose opinion is most relevant to other consumers. Example Amazon VINE program.

Your customers’ feedback provides credibility and trust. The resources used in this area will have a high return.

• It is not enough to have it… they need to be optimized by incorporating the already proven best practices that are appropriate for each sector. Its coste is relatively low and have clear operational implications.
• Your development will go hand in hand with improving the customer experience (CX).
• This positive spiral of confidence materializes into greater conversion.
• The planned reduction in conventional marketing budgets entails the opportunity for a greater emphasis on digital and social marketing that will facilitate the use of user-generated content (UGC).

Circular and prescriptive marketing: do we take the most of it?

Más info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com

www.mheconsumer.com

Sources: American Marketing Association. CMO Survey, BazaarVoice, Brightpearl, Critizr, NorthWestern University, Olapic Monotype, Power Review, Salesforce Research, Trustpilot

Large-scale personal styling. With sales over 1.500 million € it is not a niche market

Product customized by stylists with the support of data that matters. Artificial intelligence and personal touch

Growth and large size. It is not a niche market

• Stitch Fix individually personalizes the looks (5 pieces) of clothing and accessories that it sends to its clients thanks to a large number of stylists (5,100) and with the support of the detailed information that its clients provide. It is not a subscription service and the customer returns, without obligation, everything that is not to your liking. It has no physical store.
• The business started its activity in San Francisco (USA) in 2011 and has been publicly traded since November 2017.
• With annual growth of over 25%, it has achieved sales of USD 1,577 million in the last fiscal year of 2019. Unlike other companies in its segment, it obtains operating benefits.

• The gross margin with which he works is 45% and he obtains an excellent inventory turnover greater than x6 per year. The investment in communication is high (10% of sales).
• The assortment is aimed at women, men and children with an extensive portfolio of external brands, exclusive (medium / high level) and a small number of private brands.
• It has 3.4 million active clients distributed in a wide range of ages, being the most important segment of 30-50 years.
• He is focused on USA and has recently started his activity in the UK (2019).

Customer experience differentiation. Data that matters

The great differentiation of Stitch Fix is the detailed information available:

Customer (initial set of 90 detailed attributes)

• Socioeconomic profile and context
• Size and fit
• Product types and categories
• Styles Colors. Prints
• Prices. Marks Purchase Guidelines

Relevant detailed product attributes
Specific customer feedback at the individual product level received and planned (85% of customers participate)

• The stylists have the support of this model that facilitates the selection of the looks for each client that receives in 3 days.
• These proposals have a 63% probability of success that is gradually increasing by incorporating the real feedback from the client (+ 21% to the sixth look the client receives).
• It began with Women, later joining man and child.
  Direct actions with good acceptance are being incorporated, such as the proposal of an additional color for a garment that the customer has previously acquired and extra accessories to the look already sent.

Competitors with different origins and channels

The list of competitors is increasing with different origins and approaches among which are:

• Trunk Club Belonging to the Nordstrom chain of department stores
• Personal shopper. Amazon Ward Wardrobe subscription service extension
• Le Tote. With an alternative rental component. On-line
• MM Lafleur. Showrooms and online

Mhe Services

Retail Strategy and Operations >>

rganization and structure adapted to the business

• Stitch Fix has 8,000 employees, among which the 5,100 stylists who work part-time and remotely stand out.
• These stylists are supported by a strong Artificial Intelligence department that has more than 125 analysts and a team of 280 people managing the client experience.
• They have a total of 7 distribution centers (Usa and Uk).

Retail Impact

Stitch Fix is pointing the way to customize, on a large scale, a fashion business based on the advice of stylists with the support of artificial intelligence fueled by continuous feedback from its customers.
Retail chains have before them the challenge of incorporating in a relevant way for each business and sector, this approach that flees from a mass and indiscriminate volume of product that the client considers less and less attractive.

Artificial intelligence and personal touch (large scale)

More Info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com

www.mheconsumer.com

Patagonia, is a symbol as an innovative brand and pioneer in the proactive environment protection . With more than 45 years behind it, it is the ultimate exponent of a company that assumes as its authentic mission its own the value of the durable, “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet”.

Far from being a passing fad, Patagonia has dedicated, for more than fifteen years, 1% of its sales to finance and promote initiatives directly aimed at reducing the human impact on the environment.

Through its Patagonia Works entity, it selects, organises and develops all kinds of activities to reduce the impact on the environment with professionalism, rigor and at the same time, proximity and with activism, sometimes not complacent with the established status.

It develops more than 2,500 activities a year with strong involvement of local communities.

Outdoor Segment

It is not by chance that the founder of this company specialised in Outdoor is passionate about mountaineering. The same is true of other companies such as Mont Bell (Japan) and Rei (US) where the business’s precursors are in themselves, genuine passionate about free- to- air activity and develop their businesses with an exquisite proactive defence of the environment.

With strong larger competitors like Columbia, North Face, Patagonia has made progress in revenue and profitability. Its positioning with a price level slightly higher than its two main rivals has been no obstacle to continue to count on the loyalty of its costumers.

It hasss a small network of about 50 own stores, direct ecommerce and maintain the wholesale channel as its main distribution route.

Mhe works for major chains and brands improving retail strategy and operations 

Retail Operations

Product Assortment

Each product they incorporate is audited in detail to ensure that it is designed and produced with the least impact and that it fulfils, in a lasting way, the functions to which it is intended.

The progressive use of recycled materials for its products is a reality.

In addition, Patagonia proactively promotes the arrangement of those garments that for their daily use need a repair so that they continue to be used, either by its original customer or through its “Worn Wear” service by another customer thus giving a second life to the garments.

Repairs are carried out through its Central Specialised Center (Reno), as inside its shops and flying workshops with planned itineraries.

Given the importance of food, Patagonia has introduced a newline of business (Provisions) to offer an environmentally friendly assortment specially designed for use in outdoor activities.

Innovative initiatives for its employees

The working environment for its employees is consistent with the values it pursues and has a number of innovative initiatives that have managed to provide the lowest turnover rates in its USA sector:

• 100% of women with maternal leave return to work
• Own facilities and services for the care of younger children
• Flexibility to enjoy with 21 weekends (three days) a year to be able to develop free-to-air activities with their families
• 1.5 million km reduction in car journeys by its employees

Transparency and best practices for the outside

Patagonia has a clear policy of transparency and shares its best practices with other companies, including competitors, to the extent that it results in less impact on the environment. Altruism well understood.

Key findings

• Genuine matters
• Not always happy with the current situation
• Innovating always chasing the durable. A certain taste of RETRO
• A well-understood activism to defend values is not against  profitable commercial business and in fact facilitates a strong bond with your customers.

We need more “Patagonias” in other sectors!

More info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com

www.mheconsumer.com

Flagship Store in Madrid. Serrano Street

Since last November, Serrano Street in Madrid has the only European Flagship store of the Johnnie Walker brand. This wasn’t his first attempt. Previously 4 very restricted spaces were tested in different international airports supporting a greater premium character for the brand.
In this new space they are cool to face challenges that are common to most brands:

• Experience
• Interactivity
• Customization
• Cult of its tradition and legend (200 years)
• Themed with the new customer context (e.g. Game of Thrones)

Belonging to the Diageo group, JW is one of 200 different brands (including Guinness) that the group manages with more than 13 billion euros of sales across 180 countries. With a strong commitment to marketing (15% of the value of its sales), it has decided to spend 150 million euros for three years to develop a series of physical centers linked to its distilleries thus fostering an interesting customer-facing experience integrated with leisure/tourism.
A network of 12 distilleries in Scotland are the first to be incorporated. The ultimate exponent is the newly approved project for Edinburgh that will incorporate the lessons learned into its first Serrano store.

It’s not just in the physical store grounds that JW is innovating. According to a recent study by Gartner L2 (July 2019), Johnnie Walker is the alcohol brand with the highest degree of innovation in digital initiatives.

Mhe works for major chains and brands improving retail strategy and operations

Retail Strategy

The commitment of the Brands to be present in physical stores has been materialised in the different sectors with unequal success and in a variety of concepts:

• Traditional flagship shop
• Maximum exponent of omnichannel/technological experience
• Ephemeral pop-up units
• Advanced Showroom
• Integration with your production sites
• Implants in third-party environments…

Other brands as diverse as Dyson, Windows, Hershey’s, Hyundai, Kellogs or Samsung are also testing and developing their activity in Brand Retailing with disparate results.

Tradition and innovation are not incompatible. Johnnie Walker manages to get excited in Serrano Street and at the same time sell competitively on the shelves of the Mercadona supermarket round the corner.

With the brand connecting and … on the shelves selling !

More info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com

www.mheconsumer.com

Continous increase of e-Commerce sales participation in all retail sectors than comes with an slight Ebitda reduction during the last five years

Restoration Hardware

• Tell me in which retail sector you are and I will tell you what percentage of your sales should come from eCommerce (from 4% in mass market sector up to 22% in leisure/technology . Also what growth perspective you should have.

• MHE, retail consultancy, has analysed the results and eCommerce performance in 55 retail chains representatives of major sectors such as fashion, leisure/technology, home, health and beauty and mass market formats in USA during the last five years (2016-12). This market provides good and consistent data and available to the public. 

e-Commerce participation  as a % of total sales

• e-Commerce already represents 9% of total sales in the whole group of retail chains selected
• Leisure/technology sector keeps on heading the group (22 %) without any surprise in the sales
• Starting point was not very similar depending on which sector you are but as time goes on, a convergence of major retail sectors can be perceived. Home sector, with an outstanding +23% eCommerce CAGR sales growth is catching up quickly
• Health & Beauty are coming closer and closer in many aspects and eCommerce is not an exception for this merging trend.

e-Commerce CAGR sales growth  per retail sector in period 2016-12 

Yearly growth rates across sectors can be grouped in three bands:

• Home goods with 23% CAGR
• Leisure/technology with 16% CAGR
• Fashion, heath and beauty and mass market with 11-12% CAGR

Impact on Ebitda

• Ebitda has suffered an small erosion during the period 2016-12 reaching 6% of sales in year 2016
• Negative correlation is shown below between eCommerce sales share and achieved Ebitda. This reduction can be caused by several factors including lower prices, higher operation costs (certainly at the incipient eCommerce phase) and potential store sales productivity linked to eCommerce cannibalization

“Winners” segment

• We have identified a group of retail chains (winners) that are over performing in the period of 2016-12 to check how eCommerce is doing in these organisations
• e-Commerce sales mix (15%) in 2016 is much higher than the average for the whole companies group (9%)
• Winners are enjoying a higher substantial CAGR in sales over the period (2016-12). What really makes “winners” different is the CAGR sales growth for their physical stores 12%. Therefore, it is clear that their good performance is not only based upon eCommerce activity but improving significantly also their stores productivity
• On the other hand, Ebitda has suffered during the same period from 19% on sales to 16% in year 2016

Future developments in the retail sector will not be purely eCommerce based, spite of its continuous sales growth. The transformation should include as well a clear physical store improvement task.

The main challenge ahead in a growth mood will be to sustain the current Ebitda (as % of sales) and satisfying at the same time new Omnichannel customer expectations.

MHE retail consultancy, works for major brands and retail chains to improve strategy and operations in an Omnichannel environment.

More info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com

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