CRM Archives | 麻豆原创 News Center /tags/customer-relationship-management/ Company & Customer Stories | 麻豆原创 Room Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:13:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 Retail鈥檚 Biggest Challenge: A Data-Driven Vision for the Future /2025/03/retail-data-driven-vision-for-future/ Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:15:00 +0000 /?p=232788 In today鈥檚 retail landscape, customer expectations have never been higher. Shoppers want to move effortlessly between in-store visits, mobile browsing, social commerce, and digital marketplaces, expecting every interaction to be seamless and personalized.

Behind the scenes, retailers struggle to deliver these experiences due to fragmented, outdated, and incomplete data that makes real-time decision-making nearly impossible and hampers engagement, operational efficiency, and, ultimately, profitability.

The hidden costs of disconnected data

When retailers鈥 data exists in silos, the problem is compounded from all angles. With sales, inventory, marketing, and customer engagement data living in separate systems, retailers lack the clear view of customer behavior and business insights they need to respond with critical actions in real time. Lack of context within the data means businesses struggle to extract meaningful insights.

Consider the impact:

  • Limited inventory visibility leads to stockouts and overstocks, frustrating customers and eroding profits.
  • Lack of real-time insights hinders personalized customer engagement, diminishing loyalty.
  • Disconnected operations make omnichannel fulfillment鈥攕uch as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) or hassle-free returns鈥攄ifficult to execute smoothly.

At a moment when retailers must optimize every facet of their business to remain competitive, a unified data strategy isn鈥檛 optional鈥攊t’s essential.

A data-driven future: Turning insights into action

To break these silos, retailers need a unified data foundation鈥攐ne that consolidates insights across all customer touchpoints, enabling real-time intelligence and business agility. 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud (麻豆原创 BDC), as recently announced, is an integrated solution that can bring data together from all sources, owned and external, to help create a single, trusted source of truth.

With 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud, retailers can have the total picture of data from sales, inventory, marketing, loyalty, service, and near-real-time statuses of third-party logistics.

With this holistic view, retailers can:

  • Enable seamless cross-channel fulfillment, such as buy online, pick up in-store or return anywhere.
  • Optimize operational efficiency for everything from intelligent sourcing and promotional planning to inventory visibility and availability across sales channels.
  • Personalize customer engagement by leveraging data-driven insights to boost loyalty and increase revenue.

By shifting to a data-first approach, retailers can move beyond managing transactions to driving intelligent, customer-centric experiences for long-term loyalty and growth.

Why physical stores still matter鈥攎ore than ever

Despite the rise of e-commerce, more than 80% of retail interactions still take place in physical stores. Brick-and-mortar locations remain central to the retail journey, yet, as retailers鈥 largest cost center, they also encompass the biggest operational challenges鈥攆rom inventory carrying costs to labor and store operations.

Although today鈥檚 consumers are fluid in how they shop鈥攔esearching products across multiple platforms or buying online and picking up in-store, for example鈥攖hey still expect accurate, real-time visibility into inventory wherever they engage. In this landscape, data is the lifeblood that allows retailers to orchestrate orders, manage workflows, and ensure that customers can trust the information they see. Yet, according to , 51% of U.S. brands say their organization suffers from “dark data,” which is data that is collected but not effectively used.

To remain competitive, retailers must harness real-time transactional insights to optimize store efficiency, maximize revenue, and provide seamless customer interactions.

Bringing it all together: Intelligent order management

Retailers don鈥檛 just need data鈥攖hey also need actionable, real-time intelligence that helps them drive smarter decision-making. That鈥檚 why 麻豆原创 is integrating advanced order management capabilities as part of our broader data-driven customer experience strategy. 麻豆原创 has a long history of helping thousands of retail and B2C customers manage vast amounts of data. Today we鈥檙e tailoring this expertise, trusted by market leaders worldwide, to help meet the scale, flexibility, and time-to-value required by fast-growing organizations.

Optimize retail operations to better meet customer needs

As part of the bundle, we are launching the 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Sales Transfer and Audit solution today at in Las Vegas, Nevada. This modular, cloud-native solution can empower retailers with real-time visibility into transactions and inventory, helping to reduce friction and improve customer satisfaction. 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Sales Transfer and Audit can unify POS data from multiple systems, process high-volume transactions in real time, and help ensure inventory accuracy across all channels to improve stock availability, financial reporting, and customer engagement鈥攚ithout the burden of complex, custom-built integrations.

Apart from omnichannel sales and audit capabilities, the 麻豆原创 Order Management Services bundle also includes additional modular, cloud-native capabilities including and the . The 麻豆原创 Order Management Services bundle is natively connected with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, which can enable retail and consumer products organizations and other consumer brands to unlock real-time inventory visibility, streamline fulfillment, and reduce operational costs without complex and costly custom integrations. And, integrated with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, retail, fashion, and vertical business, announced at NRF earlier this year, the cloud-native capabilities of the 麻豆原创 Order Management Services bundle can be even more scalable, secure, compliant, and affordable, enabling retailers to realize value more quickly than ever before.

Other benefits of 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Sales Transfer and Audit include:

  • Seamless POS integration can connect multiple POS systems with different data structures, working to eliminate silos and ensure data accuracy.
  • Real-time inventory updates help keep omnichannel inventory accurate so customers can trust what they see online matches what’s available in-store.
  • Smarter data processing and configurable data transfer and aggregation help update inventory, financials, and even loyalty programs effortlessly.
  • Optimized sales data validation process can automate checks that are executed through configurable workflows.

By embracing a unified data strategy, retailers can eliminate complexity, reduce costs, and unlock new opportunities for growth鈥攁ll while delivering the frictionless experiences today鈥檚 consumers expect.

Hornbach: The future of omnichannel retail in action

For Hornbach, one of the largest DIY stores in Germany, . It needs to be able to add new channels quickly鈥攁nd to maintain a seamless customer experience over all channels. Hornbach adopted 麻豆原创 Order Management Services as a foundation for this vision, enabling the flexibility to address new markets quickly, connect new systems, process orders rapidly and efficiently, and adopt new innovations. With the addition of 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Sales and Transfer Audit, the Hornbach team expects to get more visibility in day-to-day operations, like checking fraud detection and the completeness of transactions.

鈥淭he most exciting thing will be the combination of all these new technologies we鈥檙e seeing: artificial intelligence, event-driven architecture, as well as native cloud solutions,鈥 said Carsten Mueller, head of Enterprise Architecture and Security, Hornbach. 鈥淭he combination will give Hornbach great power in the next year.鈥

The future of retail is data-driven

The retail industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with AI redefining how businesses operate and interact with customers. According to the same 麻豆原创 Emarsys report, 89% of U.S. consumer product marketers believe AI will be essential for engaging new customers. However, the effectiveness of AI hinges on the reliability and accuracy of the data it processes.

Retailers that embrace AI-powered data intelligence will lead the next era of omnichannel excellence. The future isn鈥檛 just about connecting data鈥攊t’s about activating it in real time to drive seamless customer interactions.

To stay ahead, retailers must:

  • Invest in AI-driven analytics to predict demand, optimize pricing, and personalize engagement at scale.
  • Implement intelligent order and transaction management to automate fulfillment, reduce friction, and improve supply chain agility.
  • Leverage AI-powered customer insights to create hyper-personalized experiences that drive loyalty and lifetime value.
  • Enable real-time inventory intelligence to ensure products are available where and when customers need them.

As omnichannel complexity grows, brands that fail to unify their data risk falling behind. 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud and intelligent order management solutions can provide the foundation for a future-proof transformation. As AI continues to evolve, retailers must shift from reactive decision-making to proactive, predictive commerce, where every transaction is optimized for efficiency and profitability.

The future of retail is here. Those who harness AI to unify, analyze, and act on their data will define the next generation of customer experience and retail success. I鈥檓 excited to partner with companies navigating this transformation and empower them to seize new opportunities for success.

Want to learn more? Stay tuned to see how leading retailers are leveraging 麻豆原创鈥檚 data-driven approach to optimize their operations and stay ahead of the competition and learn more about .


Balaji Balasubramanian is president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience and Consumer Industries.

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Ernsting鈥檚 family Wins EHI Retail Award for Omnichannel Pricing Solution /2025/03/ernstings-family-wins-award-omnichannel-pricing-solution/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 12:15:00 +0000 /?p=232462 Every year, Germany鈥檚 EHI Retail Institute presents awards for outstanding use of technology in retail. At a ceremony during the EuroCIS 2025 trade fair, it honored the winners of its 18th Retail Technology (reta) Awards. Among them was German fashion chain Ernsting鈥檚 family, whose omnichannel pricing solution enables it to maintain consistent prices across all customer touchpoints and to manage promotions in real time. The company鈥檚 pricing concept鈥攄esigned by 麻豆原创, CAS, and consenso鈥攊s central to its omnichannel strategy.

Plenty of people have started a business in their garage. Few have chosen the laundry room of their parents鈥 clothing and home textiles store. But that is exactly what Kurt Ernsting did in 1967 when he set up minipreis, a low-price fashion shop that would later become a household name throughout Germany. Today, with its award-winning online presence and some 1,925 stores in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, Ernsting鈥檚 family鈥攁s the fashion chain is now known鈥攊s one of western Europe鈥檚 largest omnichannel clothing retailers.

Cloud-based pricing process

鈥淏ecause we aim to create seamless shopping experiences for our customers, we鈥檝e already been following an omnichannel strategy for a while,鈥 explains Hans-J枚rg Blaeser, director of Technology & IT Services at Ernsting鈥檚 family. 鈥淭his is why ensuring uniform pricing across all sales channels was the next logical step for us鈥攏ot least because we were redesigning our online shop and needed a new pricing engine and campaign management tool anyway,鈥 adds Dennis Re脽mann, head of Software Engineering at the company.

Provide consistent promotional pricing across your sales and engagement channels

The fashion retailer opted for a cloud-based omnichannel pricing solution. 鈥淭he cloud architecture allows you to manage price queries centrally across all channels, use intelligent mechanisms to fine-tune price promotions, and integrate new stores and touchpoints with ease,鈥 says Patrick Pierron from implementation partner CAS.

Two components, one award-winning solution

The solution at Ernsting鈥檚 family consists of two main components. One is the omnichannel pricing solution itself. This is based on , which helps ensure consistent and uniform pricing across all customer touchpoints, such as online shops, brick-and-mortar stores, and customer and 鈥渆ndless shelf鈥 apps, even when Internet connectivity breaks down.

鈥淲e operate a dense network of stores, so we are far from immune to this modern-day reality,鈥 says Nils B枚hmer, senior IT coordinator for Sales at Ernsting鈥檚 family. Lines can be damaged during construction work, routers can fail, and LTE coverage can be patchy, so there are a number of compelling reasons for having offline capabilities. Ernsting鈥檚 family therefore uses local PPS (promotion pricing service) boxes, which are offline derivatives of the cloud solution. 鈥淭hese PPS boxes synchronize regularly with the cloud-based omnichannel pricing solution,鈥 Pierron says. 鈥淭his means that stores always have the latest prices and can process sales even when the Internet is down.鈥

The second component of the new omnichannel pricing solution is a reduction tool. Based on consenso鈥檚 price engine, this tool manages price reductions dynamically according to local conditions, sales figures, and inventories鈥攔ight down to individual store level. According to Philipp Borgmann, senior team lead for IT Merchandising, and Marcel Ruholl, managing partner at consenso, 鈥淭his pays off in two ways. First, the system-driven price proposals have a positive effect on the balance sheet. And second, fewer stock transfers mean a lower carbon footprint.鈥

Seamless interaction

Another benefit of the Ernsting鈥檚 family solution is the way it seamlessly integrates the reduction tool, 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Promotion Pricing, and 麻豆原创 ERP. Price reductions calculated in the tool are automatically transferred to the central 麻豆原创 system and distributed in real time to all the stores and to the online shop through 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Promotion Pricing. 鈥淭his is the best possible foundation for dynamic, error-free, and hyper-personalized pricing in real time,鈥 says Philip Konitzer, head of Industry Division Retail in 麻豆原创 Customer Services & Delivery Germany. During the project, he and his team were on hand to answer questions about the functions and performance of the 麻豆原创 components.

Key elements of success

Despite being highly complex, the new omnichannel pricing solution went live quickly and without incident. The implementation partners who worked on the project attribute this largely to the company鈥檚 transparent and effective approach to change management. 鈥淎ll the stakeholders鈥攆rom operational and strategic teams to management鈥攚ere fully on board from the get-go,鈥 Pierron recalls. This made it possible to define all the relevant requirements during the preliminary study, compare them with the capabilities in the 麻豆原创 products, and identify the necessary adjustments at an early stage. Some of these were co-innovated with 麻豆原创 and incorporated into the standard 麻豆原创 Omnichannel Promotion Pricing solution; others were developed exclusively for Ernsting鈥檚 family in 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP).

鈥淭he way the project participants interacted was exemplary,鈥 says Ernsting鈥檚 family project lead Mark Dinkhoff, head of IT Projects. And the proof is there for all to see: the solution is stable and running smoothly in both the online shop and at the company鈥檚 more than 1,900 stores in Germany and Austria. As part of its international expansion strategy, Ernsting鈥檚 family opened six new stores in the Netherlands at the end of last year. The roll-out went smoothly there too, confirming that the company鈥檚 award-winning omnichannel pricing solution is not only technically robust, but suited to international markets as well. This is great motivation for Ernsting鈥檚 family to push ahead with its expansion plans.


This was first published on the German 麻豆原创 News Center.

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How High Tech Helps PUMA Send the Right Message /2023/03/how-high-tech-helps-puma-send-the-right-message/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 11:15:30 +0000 /?p=203884 鈥淟oyalty in retail is the absence of something better,鈥 Walmart U.S. President and CEO and NRF Board Chairman John Furner said during earlier this year. He underscored that shoppers are always looking for an improved customer experience. 鈥淲hen they find it, they鈥檙e gone.鈥

But clever use of the right data can help you deliver that improved customer experience 鈥 so your customers don鈥檛 find it elsewhere, according to David Witts, senior CRM manager for PUMA. And the global apparel company has enjoyed great success with referral data.

鈥淭hat adds a whole new level to who is not just buying 鈥 but who is referring 鈥 and who are our real brand advocates,鈥 Witts told 麻豆原创 on the NRF 2023 show floor. 鈥淲e need to rethink how we define loyalty.鈥

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

How PUMA Boosts Customer Loyalty with the Right Message

Redefining Customer Loyalty

鈥淲e might have a customer who, in our original segmentation, is a lapsed customer, but we see that they鈥檙e referring all of their friends who are then buying from us,鈥 Witts said in . 鈥淭hat changes the way we perceive the value of that customer 鈥 and changes the way that we want to communicate with them.鈥

Customer segmentation is the grouping together of people with similar characteristics, making it easier for organizations to personalize communications, products, and more. First-party referral data is especially useful to PUMA for segmentation and communication, according to Witts.

鈥淚t changes the way we think about who a customer is,鈥 Witts said. 鈥淚f we see customers who are referring people regularly, that makes them much more of a brand advocate.鈥

Enter PUMA鈥檚 referral program, which influences how the company communicates and rewards brand advocates, according to Witts. The referral program was inspired by two company goals: increase customer lifetime value and cultivate relationships with customers.

鈥淎dding a referral program just seemed to fit with both of those goals,鈥 Witts said. 鈥淚f we see that they鈥檙e not showing any interest in buying from us but they鈥檙e still referring their friends, that changes the way we think about them, so that they鈥檙e much more valuable to us.鈥

Creating Opportunities

Beyond e-commerce, the right data can offer insights that reinvigorate brick-and-mortar locations, too, as Macy鈥檚 Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeff Gennette noted. Data can reveal where you鈥檙e succeeding and what needs attention.

鈥淐ustomers are looking for ideas about the way that they can take a work look and translate it into a night look. They鈥檙e looking for opportunities,鈥 Gannette said during . 鈥淐reating opportunities for them, from a merchandising perspective, has given our stores a center of gravity that they didn鈥檛 have a year ago…We鈥檙e always working on it; we鈥檙e never done.鈥

And pandemic-driven changes in the economy offered a chance for Saks OFF 5th 鈥渢o make bold new changes鈥 and adjust its thinking, according to President and CEO Paige Thomas. The department store chain dug into its data to discover who was engaging with the brand, what they were looking for, and more about their lifestyles 鈥 all to better understand relevant demographics.

鈥淲e had this kind of wonderful discovery of a really fast-growing segment within our customer base, and this segment was a high earner, very fashion-driven, and shopped everywhere,鈥 Thomas said during . 鈥淚t really gave us a bull鈥檚-eye as an organization to say, 鈥楬ow do we think about our merchandising strategy? How do we think about our marketing strategy? How do we think about our customer experience?鈥欌

The Right Message at the Right Time

Data, analytics, and other tech are helping PUMA discover who is interested in buying and what they鈥檙e interested in buying, according to Witts. It also helps them hyper-personalize communication.

鈥淲e want to talk to the right customer with the right message at the right time through the right channel…That鈥檚 what we can do with ,鈥 Witts said, noting that PUMA can see which e-mails a customer opens, ignores, and clicks through. 鈥淭hrough all that, we can start to build that picture of each individual customer and then tailor our communications to send them things that they want to see.鈥

Providing a differentiated customer experience has always been vital for PUMA, according to Witts. And making everything more personalized and relevant will be crucial to PUMA鈥檚 future success.

鈥淭here鈥檚 some really exciting things that we鈥檝e seen through 麻豆原创 Emarsys Customer Engagement and through 麻豆原创 at that predictive analytics [and] AI level. I think it鈥檚 just going to make it all so much easier,鈥 Witts said. 鈥淎nd as we move into more of a loyalty space, that鈥檚 absolutely going to be key for us.鈥


Derek Klobucher is a video producer at 麻豆原创.

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Why Is CX Critical for Future-Proofing B2B Sales? /2022/10/future-proof-b2b-sales-cx-critical/ Tue, 25 Oct 2022 13:00:57 +0000 /?p=200371 What do successful B2B organizations, from food wholesalers to automobile manufacturers, have in common? They find the right balance between an in-depth, customer-centric buying experience and operating their core business with agility and intelligence.

麻豆原创 Customer Experience helps businesses achieve this balance. We provide a customer experience (CX) ecosystem that connects every part of their organization — from the front office to the back office — so they can be amazing at every customer engagement. We also deliver insights powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and end-to-end processes that simplify operations and make the business more adaptable.

This mission is especially vital for B2B sales. Legacy customer relationship management (CRM) software has become a significant hindrance in our modern, mobile, and always-on marketplace. Built on business-oriented process governance and in-person, siloed relationships between buyers and account executives, yesterday鈥檚 CRM cannot deliver the highly personalized digital experience that people expect today. It has not kept pace with the rate of change experienced by buyers and sellers.

That is why we are excited to announce the innovations powering 麻豆原创 Sales Cloud. With increased agility, intelligence, and scalability, our solution can transform routine sales tactics into holistic sales strategies. It provides the right mix of helpful guidance, self-service, and agile business operations to enable companies to maximize customer lifetime value.

Need for Change

Just how much B2B sales have changed is made clear in a , in association with 麻豆原创. Seventy-two percent of the respondents said their B2B sales strategies have undergone moderate or significant change over the past two years.

As millennials and Gen Z enter the workforce, buyer demands are changing rapidly. This new demographic wants more autonomy in their purchasing journeys. They want digitally enabled sales interactions, and they involve more decision-makers in the process. These trends are consistent across industries and regions.

On the selling side, teams are now more geographically dispersed, largely thanks to the pandemic and remote work. In addition, turnover, which has always been a problem, has increased. While stress has risen and operations have become overly complicated, plenty of job opportunities are available. These trends highlight three crucial challenges:

  • Speeding time-to-value as new sellers are hired
  • Providing efficient and effective ways for team collaboration
  • Simplifying operations to strengthen loyalty from the existing sales force

Navigating the New Era of B2B Sales

Leading companies are pursuing three key objectives to deal with these trends and challenges.

First, they want to create continuity in the buying experience by linking each engagement and interaction. This continuity is powered by data from the entire organization, including front office engagement 鈥 marketing, commerce, and service 鈥 and back-end business processes such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain, and inventory data. By using this data to surface insights, sellers can enhance their understanding of each customer and deliver the dynamic, connected journeys that win repeat business.

Secondly, they are making selling easier and faster. Sellers get the tools and technologies to do their jobs, quickly overcome complexities, engage with buyers across digital and in-person channels, and easily navigate selling journeys.

This enables sellers to focus on high-value/high-win and strategic opportunities and to put time into making sure these deals succeed. If they can spend their time selling rather than navigating antiquated technology, they will do a much better job.

Lastly, they are looking to future-proof and accelerate their operations at any scale. This requires a system that is not only high-performing and reliable, but also connected to every part of the organization and easy to adapt when circumstances change. This point is crucial: dealing with the speed and scale of unexpected change has tested many organizations鈥 mettle in the last three years.

At the same time, usability matters; after all, B2B sellers are also consumers. Their experiences with tech giants such as Apple, Amazon, and Google shape their expectations of how their systems should work — lightning fast and intuitive.


鈥淐ustomer expectations are shifting rapidly. They are demanding more — more flexibility, more control, more channels, and more sustainable business practices. With the help of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data, and analytics, we are creating new opportunities for the entire sales team so they can make every interaction a personalized customer experience and can deliver the value this new generation of customers expects at every touchpoint.鈥

– Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive
Board of 麻豆原创 SE, Product Engineering


Intelligent Selling Made Simple

麻豆原创鈥檚 goal is to help organizations of all sizes and industries run profitable businesses and continuously adapt. Recent innovations in will help B2B sales organizations do exactly that. Because it is a composable solution, it enables companies to:

  • Reimagine the way they engage with business customers to build better, faster sales experiences at scale with always-on availability
  • Increase business agility and flexibility with an API-first, microservices-enabled technology approach
  • Scale with ease while creating highly differentiated customer experiences that can easily be extended with composable apps

麻豆原创 Sales Cloud now creates understanding through insight so companies can effectively connect with customers and capitalize on emerging trends. It uses data-driven intelligence to provide a focus on high-value business, eliminating noise and guiding sellers to more effective courses of action. And it removes barriers to help unify and grow global sales operations. Together, these qualities speed up the sales process and help sellers meet buyers on the customer鈥檚 preferred terms.

Intelligent selling should do two simple things: create great experiences for buyers and sellers, and help companies grow. The companies that make intelligent selling a reality will be able to deal with challenges faster than their rivals. They are the companies whose sales operations will cope with rapid change and customer demands. And they are the companies whose customers and employees will stay loyal for the long term.


Ritu Bhargava is president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience.

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The Digital Strategy Behind Moen鈥檚 Customer Experience Magic /2022/09/moen-customer-experience-digital-strategy/ Wed, 07 Sep 2022 12:15:35 +0000 /?p=199233 The magical moment that delights every customer happens when sales, service, and marketing intersect perfectly for super-responsive ease. Leading North American faucet maker is delivering those moments, having digitalized sales, service, e-commerce, and marketing operations for greater efficiencies that increase sales and customer loyalty. Gina Carlson, vice president of Technology at Moen, recently spoke at the event, where she outlined the company鈥檚 customer experience (CX) journey.

鈥淥ur investment in CX technology has been all about aligning with our business strategy and vision in a customer-centric way,鈥 said Carlson. 鈥淐onnecting data on a centralized platform across the sales team, contact centers, and marketing has resulted in higher sales and close rates, more responsive customer service with faster resolutions, and a competitive advantage for our brands.鈥

Connected Data Is Foundational to Customer Loyalty

Moen is among the cadre of respected brands that rely on solutions to help deliver innovations for achieving high-growth plans. In fact, the company鈥檚 strategy reflects a market-wide sea change in how CX itself has transformed from a siloed tactic to strategic business must-have. While Moen鈥檚 foundational B2B connections remain strong, similar to many manufacturers, the company has moved closer to customers including retailers, contractors, plumbers and other service providers, as well as consumers. The initial impetus for the company鈥檚 CX investment was focused on sales team digital communication readiness with customers.

鈥淲hile we began by thinking about the selling process alone, we quickly realized that if we can connect all this data 鈥 interactions between sales and service, customer and consumer data, and marketing campaigns 鈥 that would drive our entire business strategy forward to build customer loyalty,鈥 said Carlson. 鈥淔rom an investment perspective, we far exceeded our initial revenue goals for the first three years. Our call agents can handle more calls and have added important cross-selling responsibilities. Marketing-wise, we can better target people who are calling into our contact centers, providing prospects like trade partners with personalized content. Due to our early success, we continue to invest in this strategic platform. We now have loyalty programs driving customers to purchase products that will deliver continuous value to them.鈥

Digital Innovations Drive Business Opportunity

Moen is a prime example of how leading-edge manufacturers are taking advantage of digitally-fueled growth opportunities. When cloud-based platforms connect information from front-to-back office processes, new business models emerge. For example, Moen has expanded offerings into areas such as smart home technology, introducing new revenue models by monetizing customer data to sell products like scented shower head subscriptions. On a daily basis, service agents have easier access to a digital knowledge base of Moen鈥檚 products, while sales people appreciate a mobile-first experience when they鈥檙e on the road.

鈥淲e took our service agents 100% digital with a knowledge management solution that details SKUs down to the part level,鈥 said Carlson. 鈥淭hey can answer questions faster, even digitally sharing images with customers to help identify parts and products. If customers share a competitor鈥檚 product image, our agents can offer a discount to replace it with a Moen product. We鈥檙e also exploring the best methods of supporting installation and replacement questions, including step-by-step video instructions or referrals to local plumbers for customers who want field service.鈥

Data Exchange Gets Closer to Customers

With its strong customer partnerships, Carlson said that Moen has a better sense of what鈥檚 selling in specific markets. Online customers can easily find the product they鈥檙e seeking on Moen鈥檚 Web site, along with local retailers that have it in stock. Moen also has dedicated sales agents for e-tailers and retailers, with service agents in select markets to help in-aisle purchasing. Homeowners working with their general contractor can find Moen product information in showrooms, supported by local sales teams who update displays based on sales demand. Minus a direct relationship with consumers, one of the biggest benefits of digitalization has been the continuous exchange of information with retailers.

鈥淣ow that we have the tools and technology, we鈥檙e looking ahead to become more sophisticated in finding out more from retailers how customers are experiencing our products,鈥 said Carlson. 鈥淭hey can provide us with feedback to helps drive some of the service aspects of what we provide or what we should be doing.鈥

CX Becomes Competitive Advantage

According to Nitin Badjatia, head of Solutions and Marketing for 麻豆原创 Service Cloud and 麻豆原创 Sales Cloud, customer service can no longer operate as an island, disconnected from the rest of the organization. In an era where products and services are introduced at the pace of innovation, modern customer service is intertwined with the entire value chain.

鈥淢anufacturers are only getting closer to their channel partners and consumers,鈥 said Badjatia. 鈥淭o foster customer loyalty and keep up with fast-changing market demands, organizations need to create meaningful connections throughout the customer life cycle. It鈥檚 why we developed the intelligent 麻豆原创 Service Cloud, to provide customer service with fast and accurate insights that will not only help resolve immediate issues, but also protect the brand promise and secure future growth.鈥


Follow me @smgaler.

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