Retailers Struggle To Identify Customers Online According to New ID Management Research From OneMarket and WBR Insights

64% of retailers fail to identify the majority of their website visitors, and 57% are not onboarding offline CRM data, creating incomplete customer identification.


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OneMarket (ASX: OMN), the leader in customer data management and activation for retailers, in partnership with WBR Insights, today at eTail East in Boston released the findings of a new research report that assessed retailers’ use of identification (ID) management technologies in their digital marketing. The report, entitled How Retail Marketers Use Customer-Focused ID Management to Increase Satisfaction & Profitability, examines how retailers view and use ID management technologies to help them pinpoint who their best customers are, including findings regarding where they are advancing or falling short. Many marketers struggle to identify the majority of customers on their website, and many marketers suffer from insufficient use of offline data and disconnected technologies.

“Customer ID management is a crucial activity for retailers in order to deliver personalized, relevant experiences to their customers and visitors, and this research illuminates weak points that are limiting that process,” said Dave Goulden, Chief Product Officer at OneMarket. “While many retailers are working hard to bring online and offline insights together and improve ID management to gain a single, holistic view of their customers, this research makes it clear that there are still major areas of opportunity.”

The report reveals that, while a majority of retailers (58%) are currently using ID management technologies, more than half of those say it’s still a developing part of their business. Another 35% of retailers are considering adopting these technologies in the future. Some additional key findings include:

  • Single customer view is a challenge without offline CRM data. 57% of retailers are still not onboarding offline CRM data as part of their ID Management program, limiting their ability to get a true, holistic view of their customers
  • Retailers struggle to identify their customers. 64% of respondents identify 50% or less of their website visitors and 26% can only identify a customer if they make a purchase
  • Current technologies are disconnected.  38% of retailers struggle to build a better understanding of their customers because their technologies do not efficiently facilitate data integration and enrichment
  • Integrating offline CRM data drives gains in customer insights and predictive intelligence. Among retailers that are onboarding offline CRM data as part of their ID management, most will use the data for customer insights and predictive modeling (51%), and for website personalization (51%)

The research surfaces complex problems that retailers face in today’s multichannel environment, where consumers may start a journey in one channel, and finish or make a purchase in another, yet expect a hyper-personalized, consistent experience regardless. The road to complete customer ID management can be long without the right technologies and systems in place to help. However, many marketers are working to improve using innovation and insights. Nearly half of retailers (48%) are prioritizing the adoption of deep learning to improve their own marketing methods, expectations and goals in 2020.

“This research shows that tightly integrated solutions that can help with early and persistent ID management are not yet pervasive across all retailers. Tech stacks are becoming overwhelming for retailers to manage as they try to advance their business and, in turn, they’re suffering from a lack of prospect insights, disconnected data, and a fragmented view even of current known customers across online and offline,” said Goulden. “We believe that with the right approach to identifying and learning about customers, more retailers will see a significant improvement in client retention and ROI over the long term.”

About OneMarket

OneMarket is the leader in customer data management and activation, empowering retailers to acquire new customers and dramatically increase the lifetime value of existing ones. OneMarket’s Customer Activation Platform captures and unifies customer data from online and offline sources, and has built-in, extensible solutions to activate that data based on deep intelligence. Today, more than 30 retailers, 100 brands and millions of consumer users are engaged with OneMarket. OneMarket was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: OMN) in June 2018 following a demerger from Westfield Corporation, where it had previously been known as Westfield Labs. OneMarket is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in London. For more information, visit www.onemarketnetwork.com.

About WBR Insights

WBR Insights is the custom research division of WBR (Worldwide Business Research), the world leader in B2B focused conferences.  From research-based whitepapers to benchmarking reports, infographics and webinars, our mission is to help global institutions across a variety of industries to inform and educate their key stakeholders while achieving their strategic goals. For more information, please visit https://www.wbresearch.com/insights.

PR Contact: 
Mariel Balaban 
mbalaban@onemarketnetwork.com 
+1 415.527.8935