How Selligent helps Neckermann becoming a multi-channel e-commerce business

How Selligent helps Neckermann. com become a multi-channel e-commerce business

Neckermann.com is a leading distance seller in the Benelux with a wide range of consumer products in several categories. Traditionally known as a catalogue seller, the company is rapidly turning into an online retailer. Optimizing conversion, efficient multi-channel customer interactions, changing buying behaviour and becoming a state-of-the-art e-commerce business, are some of the ongoing challenges and operations of Neckermann.com.

The company’s core mission is to become a top-of-mind online distance seller in a market where this is a challenge, given the average profile of its customers. Jacky Lambert, Marketing Manager at Neckermann.com: “Our mission is to turn Neckermann.com from a former catalogue distributor into an e-commerce company. Now that people buy more online and are less loyal to a brand, the importance of a printed catalogue is getting smaller. At the same time the importance of the online communication and buying experience is increasing.”

The impact of the changes in purchasing behavior and the online transformations

According to Jacky Lambert, the old model of distance selling is no longer adequate in the modern digital world even though there are still many strong points that remain valid. However, online changes occur quickly and that is noticeable in the behavior of the consumer.

Mr. Lambert: “The world has changed completely. In almost four years consumer behavior has changed and brand loyalty has seriously decreased.” Jacky Lambert gives an example: “If someone wants to buy a new television today they use Google or comparison sites and are sometimes triggered through marketing messages.”

“The transformation from a classic distance seller to a state-of-the-art e-commerce specialist is a must”, according to him. This has various consequences. Jacky Lambert: “It is a complete shift that goes beyond technology and also concerns people, resources, structure, organization and brand positioning.”

The evolution to an e-commerce company, the changing buying behavior and the multi-channel reality go together with a need for the right technologies on the level of e-commerce, data management, conversion and communication according to the Marketing Manager of Neckermann.com: “Since the role of printed material is becoming less important, the emphasis lies on the further developments of e-mail programs and the website. The Selligent Interactive Marketing suite plays a key role here.”

Optimizing transactions, interactions and conversion

Conversion and tracking is essential to Jacky Lambert: “Being able to identify where people leave the site during navigation and transaction processes is crucial”, he says: “All these data are stored, together with data about the purchasing behavior, client profiles and online data, in a warehouse which then in turn feeds multi-channel selections and actions via Selligent Interactive Marketing.” Selligent Interactive Marketing is synchronized with all these databases.

The platform is specifically used for optimizing various conversion and optimization processes for Neckermann.com:

• Three times per week a so-called “Mail Advantage” is sent to the entire client base. Thereby it can be seen who clicked on what thanks to web tracking codes that are on every Neckermann.com product page and order confirmation page. Through this the interaction with the e-mail receiver is accurately monitored and follow-up actions are organized as explained below.
• Thanks to a connection with the product catalogue, Selligent Interactive Marketing dispatches messages based on the behavior of the site visitor. A few days after people have visited the site an entire process starts. An e-mail is dispatched to the list with exception of certain profiles that are automatically excluded (e.g. someone who recently received an e-mail after an interrupted purchase). The clients receive a personalized e-mail with (at the most) five products that are comparable with the products they have browsed.
• Triggered e-mails are sent depending on various steps in the buying cycle, the click behavior and after sales, like abandoning the shopping cart, after-sales procedures (surveys, confirmation, sold-out products etc.). Other triggers are related to other parameters such as the customer lifecycle and personal customer data (for instance birthday mailings or proposals regarding special services if clients do not pay in time). All these scenario-driven interactions optimize conversion, relevance, customer experience and personalization.

Moving forward: multi-channel customer programs and excellent customer experience

Customer service and retention are very important in all the above mentioned actions. But so are an improved conversion and excellent customer experience by multi-step customer programs whereby personalization, segmentation and targeting of the right segments with the right valuable content promotions are key. Continuously improving customer programs and every step and element in the cross- and multi-channel online experience are what Neckermann.com is striving for.

For Jacky Lambert all the transformation processes in this e-commerce business require changes in the organization of Neckermann.com but also new ways of improving both buying and selling through the identification of latent needs and even predicting buying behavior.

This goes hand in hand with the need to distinguish Neckermann.com as a brand. Jacky Lambert: “To make a difference as a brand, you need to distinguish yourself and provide an excellent customer experience.” But operational excellence is not the end goal. Mr. Lambert: “It is the basis, the condition sine qua non.”

And that is exactly what Selligent Interactive Marketing enables Neckermann.com to accomplish in an automated, datadriven, smart, customer-centric and scenario-driven way.