Why Are Retailers Struggling with Customer Retention and How Can We Help?

September 9th, 2022 | 3 min

Pressure is growing for retail businesses too, not just to obtain new customers, but to retain existing ones too. A large reason for that is the cultural chasm between older, traditional customers and younger customers with entirely different expectations and interests. These two groups are worlds away but are both important to an eCommerce marketing strategy, but the divide is just one of many reasons why retailers are struggling with customer retention. We’ve seen it with Debenhams, who recently shut down all of its physical department stores and was bought out by online clothing retailer ASOS.

Let’s explore more of the reasons why retail and eCommerce marketing is at a challenging crossroads, and how an eCommerce growth agency such as Brave Agency can help.

Market Saturation

Look around at your competitors in retail, and you’ll be stunned by the sheer size of the crowd you have around you. The amount of online stores is tough to estimate, but even at a loose estimate, the numbers are startling.

There are anywhere between 12 million and 24 million online stores with no signs of slowing down. This represents far less opportunity to obtain and keep customers, as simultaneously you’re dealing with attracting new customers from other businesses while keeping your own customers from being lost or taken by other competitors.

The Costs of Online Marketing Are Going Up

A crucial aspect of eCommerce marketing development is advertising on platforms such as Facebook and Google. This is the most surefire way to draw eyes to your business online both new and recurring. That last part is additionally important because advertising to a customer who already has a rapport with your business is far more likely to be converted into a sale. However, the mass competition has raised the cost needed to conduct effective online and social media marketing on both platforms.

In 2018, Facebook’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising rate was $0.43. In four short years, this has risen to an eye-watering $0.94 per click.

Just getting eyes on your business has become a tribulation, and what’s more, retail is one of the least effectively-performing industry sectors on Facebook, generating just a 3% conversation rate on its adverts. Perhaps this is because retail is one of the largest sectors for advertising and the sheer saturation of the sector in particular online, but it nonetheless ranks 10th amongst other industries.

Changing Consumer Habits

Engagement online is now harder to obtain than ever thanks to platforms such as TikTok further reducing user attention span. Grabbing their attention for long enough to convert is becoming a taller mountain to climb, one where those at the top enjoy the spoils. 5% of branded content receives 90% of engagement, meaning that the other 95% receives next to none at all. Businesses have just seconds to catch the attention of their existing and potential customers. To conquer this you will require a good level of consumer insights and a strategy developed by a skilled eCommerce growth agency.

Bad User Experience

A bad website experience will deter even the most stringent of customers eventually. eCommerce website development and conversion rate optimisation is a necessity for ongoing success in the online marketplace. While this is advised by web developers and eCommerce growth agencies across the industry, many businesses continue to lose customers and, as a result, have high bounce rates from having subpar experiences when placing their orders or browsing their stores.

Aspects that can make or break a website’s user experience include load times, a poor or interrupted user journey, and ease at which to navigate to the checkout page once they’ve chosen their product. Once you have a customer on your site, optimise and fine-tune the key touchpoints to provide the very best that your business offers in terms of a great customer experience.

Personalisation is the Answer

The balance between attracting new customers and nurturing existing customers is the key to success. Using data to create personalised advertising for customers is where we find a solution to this conundrum. At Brave Agency, we use customised messages in our eCommerce marketing based on customer demographics and profiles and apply them across social media, email marketing and digital PPC marketing. Through data analysis and testing, we can tailor brand messaging to deliver the perfect messages to the targeted customer, so that businesses can grow their customer base while retaining existing customers.

Brave Agency is the leading eCommerce growth agency in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area, we offer digital marketing strategies such as these, as well as eCommerce website development that will give your customers the shopping experience your brand deserves.