• Assia Benmedjdoub - Ragtrader editor.
    Assia Benmedjdoub - Ragtrader editor.
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As a retailer, there's nothing better than welcoming repeat customers back into store.

It means you've delivered on your service proposition and better still, can continue to improve on the basis of a growing data set.

Does their profile indicate repeat outfit purchases for the weekend?

Send out a Thursday morning EDM, with express shipping options for that perfect Friday night dress.

In a recent CX roundtable we hosted, and published online this week, many of the retailers present confirmed at least 60%+ of sales are from these known customers.

Impressively, there were a host of initiatives aimed at growing this figure including invitation-only membership groups and exclusive activations.

But can you have too much of a good thing?

Iconic womenswear retailer Sussan did something incredibly special for its 80th birthday: it broke all of its own rules.

It too enjoys a committed customer base, with 75% of sales drawn from its VIP program of 560,000 clients.

Its catalogue business is a stand-out for attracting sales, with four produced per season.

But how, after eight decades of succesful trade, could it continue to grow without a diversified customer model?

The answer was 'Only For Women', a digitally-led campaign developed to encourage new customer acquisition as well as existing customer growth.

So successful was the campaign, the retailer did something it had never done before: paused a catalogue to re-invest the money back into digital.

Run over the month of February, it reached 2.58 million unique women across Facebook and Instagram.

Through that, it had 3.7 million interations and reached 781,000 unique women between 18 and 24 years of age.

Importantly, it reached one in three women active on social media and saw a 23% increase in revenue on the website.

What's the lesson here?

Your known and VIP customers are a valuable and treasured asset. But as with all things in life, moderation is key. And change is an integral part of progress. 

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