Written by Howie Fenton
Senior Technology Consultant, NAPL
A recent article in Retailing Today entitled, “Personalization: The New Digital Shopping Experience” discussed research on consumers’ opinions about personalization. As you may know, people have mixed opinions about personalized offers. The article is based on a study published by Infosys called Rethinking Retail which found that while some customers did not appreciate personalization, others made purchasing decisions based on personalization and reported they would appreciate more personalization opportunities.
The Infosys study was based on 1,000 consumers and 50 retailers. The report also asked about brand interaction across sales channels and multichannel shopping experiences. It’s important to understand that this research focused on personalization in shopping environments such as inside stores and online shopping sites.
Of the people surveyed, 20% said they had experienced a personalized offer while shopping in stores and 27% reported they had seen personalized offers online. Of those who experienced personalization offers:
- 67% are highly in favor of personalized coupons
- 62% like personalized offers / promotions based on previous experiences
- 62% appreciate recommendations based on previous purchases
Of those shoppers who experienced personalization, 86% said it influenced their desire to purchase and 25% said it significantly influenced what they purchased. The study found that customers felt that personalization was effective for: groceries (56%), entertainment (53%), health and beauty products (51%), electronics (50%), clothing (47%) and pharmaceuticals (42%). Granted this study looked at the results of personalized offers in stores and online, which is different than getting a personalized printed piece, but it does show how personalization is appreciated by customers.
Evidence that VDP is a Growth Opportunity
Demonstrating that personalization is appreciated by customers and effective in influencing purchasing decisions is one more building block supporting the idea that offering personalization services is a great opportunity. You can add this to research that shows the effectiveness of personalization from sources such as Xerox and Podi.
We also know from our NAPL Digital Services Study that those who offer variable data services report that it has increased sales and profitability.
For anyone interested in overcoming issues in the implementation and sales of VDP consider revisiting our last two blogs on this subject ‘The Pros and Cons of VDP‘ and ‘Struggling with Sales? – Try Adding Digital Sales Support‘.
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Howard Fenton is a Consultant and Business Advisor at NAPL. Howie advises commercial printers and in-plants on benchmarking performance against industry leaders, increasing productivity through workflow management, adding and integrating new digital services, and adding value through customer research.
