Agent Provocateur adds spice to online marketing

Angelica Mari, Computing, Wednesday 20 January 2010 at 17:33:00

Luxury lingerie firm plans to improve client segmentation and enhance its
customer relationship management capability

Agent Provocateur is improving the IT supporting its online marketing as part
of a wider programme to strengthen its e-commerce operation.

In order to grow online revenue in an increasingly competitive retail market,
the luxury lingerie firm will improve client segmentation and enhance its
customer relationship management capability to better target customers.

As part of the process, the company has recently ditched a third party
responsible for undertaking its email marketing in favour of a web-based system
that automates email campaigns and improves reporting processes.

?Our email database is also available through the system, so we can run
queries on how many people have been reached by the mail shots and how many have
responded to them and understand what our delivery rates are,? said Joanna
Kelly, Agent Provocateur?s senior e-commerce manager.

?Email is a very cost-effective marketing tool, but we still need to ensure
that we are reaching as many people as possible,? she added.

According to Kelly, the rollout of the Emailvision system is now being
followed by a process of data analysis in categories such as geographic
location, nearest store, previous purchase history, response to past campaigns
and date of birth so that gaps in the database can be identified.

?We then plan to both grow and enrich our database, filling in the missing
gaps, so we can send the most relevant and targeted communications possible,?
she said.

Agent Provocateur is also considering how to implement a multichannel loyalty
programme, which would mean extra requirements such as data synchronisation
between the firm?s email and marketing databases.

The company is also looking into using videos and social media tools to
better communicate with its clients online, as well as an Amazon-like mechanism
whereby online customers will be offered items that may be of interest as a way
of upselling products.

?Unlike ourselves, most high-end retailers have been very slow to spot
opportunities [online], but there is a lot of potential in that space and
businesses are upping their game, which makes it a much more challenging
environment to operate in,? said Kelly.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2256363/agent-provocateur-adds-spice