Bill Hanifin
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Lancome is a leading cosmetics retailer, so you probably wouldn’t associate it with leading brands of laundry detergent or soda. The fact is, Lancome suffers the challenge of all brands selling their wares through a distributed channel – to identify the unique customer buying their product and connecting with that customer to create a relationship that can be nurtured for growth.
Direct Marketing News reported recently on a replenishment program that Lancome has put into place to bridge the customer knowledge gap and drive incremental revenues. Acknowledging that the brand relationship begins in stores such as Macy’s and Nordstrom, Alessio Rossi, the company’s VP of interactive and e-business marketing told DM News Senior Editor Ryan Joe “the only retail presence we own is Lancome.com”, adding “we launched what we call the auto-replenishment program, which lets you put in auto-replenish with whatever items you like. It’s about convenience and service.”
Building the program around a “natural response to how our customers use the website”, Lancome made about 20% of its catalog available to the program in 2012 and has grown as it has accumulated experience and customer knowledge. Customer analytics plays a heavy role in constructing offers and Lancome uses both direct and email for communications.
Lancome seems to be investing in customer data in a disciplined manner to achieve personalization that drives results. Rossi commented that “We deploy a lot of technology and do a lot of experimentation and we know this is the beginning and not the end.” Visitors to Lancome.com enjoy different experiences and are presented with different offers based on their point of entry and to meet Lancome objectives in the moment. For instance, Lancome may wish to increase the average order size or trigger a second purchase from an occasional shopper.
LoyaltyTruth.com has been looking into the connections between “big data and bigger loyalty”. Lancome’s replenishment program is a good example of how a brand can put customer data to use to drive customer loyalty. Mr. Rossi used the words exactly in the DM News article, saying “It (the replenishment program) increases loyalty, but gives us a whole new set of data …. It’s a unique tool to remain in constant touch with the consumer and to give additional opportunities to the one-time shopper.”
