Why Hyper-Personalisation Matters In Grocery Retail

Personalisation has always mattered, but it hasn't always been relevant. If you send an email mailshot that addresses each customer by name, does it really make them feel any more valued? Probably not. Customers want to feel that they are experiencing something unique. The one size fits all approach that personalisation offers is no longer enough. Consumers crave that emotional attachment that comes from personalised experiences. Enter hyper-personalisation.

Data As Fuel

Fuelled by data, hyper-personalisation can make people feel like you are talking just to them, and in a much more subtle way than simply addressing them by name. Implemented well, hyper-personalisation seamlessly offers increased relevance to customers and makes them feel like you're talking just to them. Personalisation can involve segmenting customers by various demographics, including age and gender. Hyper-personalisation delves deeper.

Taking advantage of data such as browsing behaviour and purchasing habits, retailers have access to a wealth of information about their customers that can fuel a better shopping experience. Because people purchase groceries on a regular basis, and many follow particular patterns, grocery retailers are primed to use hyper-personalisation to their benefit. If you know that a customer always purchases flour and icing sugar at a particular time of year, a well-timed recipe for birthday cake shown when they log into a retailer's website or sent to their inbox is sure to grab their attention. Keeping a customer engaged for an extra 35 seconds increases your conversion rate by 10%, so engaging content fuelled by data matters.

Personalisation Straight To Your Kitchen

Since millennials are digital natives, and 59% of them use a mobile device while cooking, it follows that brands and retailers should be taking advantage of this. And while personalisation strategies might group millennials into one category based on age, hyper-personalisation might take lifestyle, interests and personality into account, and segment accordingly. If you know that a particular customer in her late 20s is all about lazy brunch-filled weekends with friends, you can turn this data into relevant, real-time communication in the form of a brunch recipe and the latest special offer on avocados. It is vital that hyper-personalisation is predictive - by Sunday morning this content will be irrelevant.

Due to the always-on nature of the internet, we're bombarded with information on an almost constant basis. Relevance stands out, but improving the user experience is as important. Does the content benefit both the customer and retailer? Or is it simply a box-ticking exercise, brought about by the idea that personalisation needs to be adopted in order to succeed? Recipes, for example, tend to cover both bases. 36% of women turn to the internet first when seeking recipe inspiration, and that figure rises when those who check other sources before doing an online search are taken into account. Relevant recipes are useful and sought after, and a convenient 'add ingredients to basket' button turns a recipe search into an efficient shopping method. For retailers, the benefits are clear. Make things simple for consumers while offering relevant, valuable information and gain an advantage over competitors. Retailers that implement personalisation strategies see sales increases of between 6% and 10%.

Hyper-Personalisation Leads To Increased Sales

Hyper-personalisation cannot be executed overnight. Gathering data, analysing it and implementing hyper-personalisation strategies can take time. Investing in AI and machine learning will help. While there is a knowledge gap when it comes to employing these technologies in retail, many retailers acknowledge their value. 68% of retailers are planning to invest in machine learning by 2021. Consumers also acknowledge the value of personalisation. 63% of millennials and 58% of Gen X consumers are happy to share data with companies in exchange for personalised offerings. With near-constant talk of a 'retail apocalypse', these are statistics that retailers cannot afford to ignore.