Customer Retention

Fact: most retailers simply aren’t doing enough to keep their customers engaged. While many retailers have taken significant strides toward optimizing their appearance and sales channels for omnichannel shoppers, when it comes to increasing customer retention, their strategies are largely still behind the curve. Before providing perspective about what organizations should be doing to increase…

The mixed success of Amazon.com’s Prime Day can teach us something about how customer retention works today. Any retailer can tell you that bargains alone don’t earn loyalty. But what specific tactics do turn deal-seekers into lifetime loyalists? I have some advice to offer about what works now. Before: Set the Table Making a good…

Starbucks is teaming up with ride-sharing service Lyft in the coffee giant’s newest effort to expand its loyalty program beyond its cafes. Under the deal, riders and drivers who use Lyft’s mobile app, which facilitates carpooling, will be able to earn Starbucks loyalty “stars,” which can be redeemed for food and drinks at Starbucks outlets.…

J.Crew has gotten a lot of flack from customers for how pricey much of its merchandise has gotten in the last few years. So to remedy that, the fashion retailer will open the first location in a new chain of lower-priced stores called J.Crew Mercantile later this month, the company announced on Friday. The first…

Custora recently analyzed data from some of the fastest­-growing online fashion, accessories and lifestyle retailers in North America ­­ — brands such as Bonobos, Crocs, Trunk Club and The Tie Bar. Our goal was to understand what makes these high-performance online retailers different than everyone else across customer acquisition and retention, resulting in a growth…

Target is shutting down its wireless telecom service after offering it just two years, marking at least the second major business the retailer has exited in six months. Customers of Target’s Brightspot pre-paid wireless service are being notified the service will be terminated by the beginning of next year. Consumers won’t be able to activate…

Macy’s has a couple of real problems. It's trying to figure out who its customer is and why they shop in such different ways. The other problem is it doesn't understand millennials, who are now coming of age and have significant spending power. These young people are the future of retailing — and they clearly…

A dapper elderly man stands at Nordstrom's front entrance, humming an Italian tune and smiling at customers as they enter the store's double doors. One woman stops for conversation. A pair of young girls wave to him as they exit the department store, bags in hand. A customer stopped by a few days ago to give him a gift card, just because. Shoppers often pause to take his picture, or even ask him for a hug. Meet Ted DiNunzio, the 99-year-old greeter for the Nordstrom store at Westfield Santa Anita mall who

GNC, the nation's largest specialty retailer of health, wellness and sports nutrition products, launched a new member price program nationwide in April. The rollout of the program followed a nearly two-year test-market campaign in select cities, including Kansas City, Pittsburgh, New York and Chicago. The test campaign yielded higher store traffic, increased revenues and strong margins in those cities, making the decision for GNC to expand the program nationwide an easy one.

Office Depot has launched a new rewards program with several loyalty enhancements even as it moves closer to consummating its merger with OfficeMax. The company’s new program, called simply Office