2007/01/03

Grocery Store e-CRM Philosophy (Part 1)

The alley where I live has a longstanding grocery store selling simple items such as food, drinks, and cigarettes. I visit the store about twice a week, buying a pack of cigarettes or beverages, but I encounter the owner infrequently and rarely make small talk.

After awhile, the owner grew accustomed to the brand of cigarettes I smoke. Every time I want to purchase a pack, he hands it to me before I even open my mouth. He also knows I'm married with two sons and where I live. Every time my wife or kids need to buy rice or fruits, the owner delivers them to our house without a word from us.

A similar situation developed with the owner of the bar 'n grill that my college buddies and I used to visit. The brewery next to the office is the same experience. The owner must not only know frequent customers, but also satisfy their needs to build trust and familiarity. This can increase return visits and actual revenue. Every e-business has wrestled with how to simulate real-life situations in the virtual online world in understanding customers, offering different services and information, and increasing revenue.

In a hypercompetitive environment, many small-scale stores running under an eBay-like operating method must utilize distinct services to please customers, fulfilling new or yet to be satisfied needs. To promote their financial products, numerous banks, insurance agencies, and credit card companies on the market spend tremendous efforts in producing web pages that can effectively draw customers closer to the website. These websites undergo constant upgrade and redesign. Recently, the Korean government has devoted itself to website design and higher efficiency, providing the public with multi-faceted services and information.

Offline business has a long history with and a deep understanding of customers. It involves segmenting customers based on operating targets, maintaining long-term customer relationships, and creating various strategies and tools for highly efficient business campaigns. We usually refer to this process as CRM (Customer Relationship Management). The strategic analysis for enhancing operating performance is called BI (Business Intelligence).

In reality, applying this process on the Internet Network is difficult. Past e-businesses believed website product placement, information transfer, and service provision are the most important factors. Now, they must continuously search for advantageous strategies to remain competitive against e-businesses within the same industry or mergers. Now, a good product or idea can help launch a website, attracting many enterprising individuals.

Actually, there have been countless examples of websites that fail due to unsound planning. We can see that it is imperative to create individual style to enhance competitiveness. Like offline marketing, online marketing requires a comprehensive knowledge of customers. The difference is that in online business, where visitors are anonymous, a complete marketing plan must be established.

In online business operations, to provide the best services and marketing campaign information, the key is member data and customer transaction records. Although transaction data is based on actual events, grasping customer behavior solely on purchasing information is insufficient. The reliability of member data is not significant. The main goal is to grasp the behavior of all anonymous visitors. This difficult task requires a deep understanding of customer behavior, tracking website visitors to learn their tendencies and needs. Tracking analysis of customer behavior can be presented in static reports for easy comprehension. To know whether or not the current task is meeting the standards for operating efficiency, constant testing is necessary.

In the online environment, initial web log analysis of online business merely focused on the improvement of the operating system. Now, web analytics has expanded to include customer needs and web business goals. Comprising of various reputable, visionary American companies, Web Analytics Association (WAA,
www.webanalyticsassociation.org) defines web analytics as such:

"The measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of Internet data for the purpose of understanding and optimizing Web usage"

Although it also provides a detailed definition of the reasons and contents for web log analysis, we believe they are ever-changing. The definition of web analytics should constantly evolve. Visitors of an Internet business environment are not facing other people but rather a set system. However, based on customer interaction on website infrastructure such as café, blog, community site, or online bookseller, Internet business receives periodic visits and browsing for information and purchasing actions.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good day!

Im new to the site. really looking forward to meeting new people, seeing what they have to say and just really chilling on some social network other than facebook. bleh. like i said, i am me, now who are you?

Keep smiling, Dennis from [url=http://www.myonlinepayday.com]Personal Loans[/url] website!

Anonymous said...

It's remarkable to visit this site and reading the views of all friends on the topic of this article, while I am also keen of getting familiarity.
Also visit my web site : best online usa casinos

Anonymous said...

Hi Dear, are you genuinely visiting this site on a regular basis, if so afterward you will absolutely
get fastidious know-how.
my page - money money online

Anonymous said...

This site was... how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I've found something that helped me. Thank you!
Feel free to surf my page ; usa online casino

Anonymous said...

Hey very cool web site!! Guy .. Excellent .

. Amazing .. I'll bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally? I am glad to seek out a lot of useful information right here in the post, we'd
like develop extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .
Look at my blog ; casino games for real money

Anonymous said...

Hi there Dear, are you really visiting this web page regularly, if
so after that you will absolutely take fastidious knowledge.
Here is my web-site ; http://outbacknomads.timdiekman.com/

Anonymous said...

Do you have a spam issue on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to
know your situation; we have developed some nice methods and we
are looking to trade strategies with other folks, why not
shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Also visit my blog post ; good ways to make money online

Anonymous said...

My brother recommended I would possibly like this blog.
He was totally right. This post truly made my day. You can not consider simply how much time I had
spent for this info! Thanks!
Also visit my blog post http://eziepage.com/index.php?do=/blog/7689/the-way-to-find-laser-skin-tattoo-extraction-specialists/

Anonymous said...

Very good blog post. I definitely appreciate this site.

Thanks!
Feel free to visit my blog post - make mon

Anonymous said...

These are genuinely impressive ideas in on the topic of
blogging. You have touched some pleasant factors here.

Any way keep up wrinting.
Here is my web-site : online casino for usa

Anonymous said...

Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though
you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what
youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just
posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Also visit my weblog - online Game real money

Anonymous said...

Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though
you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what
youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be
giving us something informative to read?
my web site - online Game real money

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News.
Do you have any tips on how to get listed in
Yahoo News? I've been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
My page :: Slots For You

Anonymous said...

Hello! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website?
I'm getting tired of Wordpress because I've had issues with hackers and I'm looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Also visit my website : Geld verdienen im Internet

Anonymous said...

Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I certainly enjoyed reading
it, you may be a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back down the road.
I want to encourage that you continue your great writing, have a nice
afternoon!

My blog; make money online fast and free

Anonymous said...

This post is worth everyone's attention. Where can I find out more?

Here is my site :: stay at home jobs online

Anonymous said...

Way cоol! Somе еxtгemеly
valіd ρoints! Ӏ аρpгeciate you wrіting this post
and the rеst of the site is аlsο νerу good.


Feel free to surf to my weblog - reputation management

Anonymous said...

Please let me know if you're looking for a article author for your weblog. You have some really good posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I'd love tо write some
material for youг blοg in exchange for
a lіnk back to mine. Please blаst me an emаil if іnterested.
Thanks!

my website :: diamondlinks review

Anonymous said...


http://www.petinsuranceuks.co.uk Total up a year's worth of vet expenses so you can compare this amount to the cost of the dog insurance. Don't subscribe to health insurance until finally you've deemed every one of the charges and located the least expensive and finest program for your requirements.