The Retailer Spring Edition 2021

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Brands should look to differentiate themselves and drive loyalty by involving the customer in how they are targeted and engaged: helping them to understand consumption patterns, steering them towards products that are better for them, and away from those that are not. The PwC Research QuantiBus survey confirms 76% of consumers want to buy from retailers who actively help themmake better or healthier lifestyle choices, so this change in approach must be an explicit part of the relationship and brand. It’s an approach businesses such as GiffGaff have long championed, recommending custom - ers change tariff if they are paying for more than they need. You only have to contrast the success of this approach against recent outcries against surge pricing models to see that consumers increasingly expect to benefit from the insight their needs and behaviours provide to brands. As the ‘zoomeffect’ with at-home workers con - tinues to drivemore digital shopping behaviours after lockdown restrictions are lifted, it offers potential for online grocery retailers. The con - venience of repeatable baskets, favourites and offers provided by previous transaction data should extend into more intelligent customer dialogues, capturing additional insights on wants and needs to support recommending relevant healthier choices, cheaper, more sustainable, lower-calorie alternatives or plant-based products. There’s a real oppor - tunity here for innovative retailers to convert shopping insight into genuine personalisation and differentiated service.

Ultimately, marketing for responsible growth is not just showing the products you think a customer wants, based on previous purchases. It’s using the insight and data you have - and are given - to improve experience and choices with their participation. Something that will ultimately inform better engage - ment, more chances for innovation and stronger, more loyal customer relationships. Increasingly, we will expect the brands we trust to nudge us towards making better decisions: for ourselves, our community and society as a whole. They might reassure us that it’s okay to buy certain products at certain times, help offset other less sustainable pur - chases, and suggest cheaper or healthier alternatives. In turn, brands that can establish trust and loyalty are likely to get deeper insights and data from those customers that become champions. Even greater trust and loyaltywill then come from the responsible use of data. It will come from feeling known and understood by a brand and will be reinforced by experience: a seamless journey that delivers the right products and information to a customer when they want it, how they expect it and in a way that delights them and allays their fears. Make consumers part of the process

Those retailers that can make consumers part of the process and help them understandwhat they want - and deliver it to them - will put themselves in a strong position for the future.

Tom Adams +44 7889 654659 tom.j.adams@pwc.com

Rhian Woods +44 7890 586 319 rhian.woods@pwc.com