In today’s edition of TheCustomer Quick-Take: Thinking about doing personalization well, Looking for loyalty in all the wrong places, Yet another reason to pay attention to Retail Media, Turns out AI just isn’t into you, and … the first episode in our podcast series, Customerland … check it out!

Feature: What’s Next in Personalization

As customer wants and needs continue to shift, brands have a singular opportunity to connect with shoppers in meaningful ways. Retail data and advances in personalization sciences and technologies are opening the door to better experiences across the customer life cycle. READ MORE
HOSPITALITY
Hotel Digital Marketing Trends to Watch
Did anyone notice that Expedia spent nearly 50% and Booking nearly 40% of their net revenue on Sales & Marketing in 2021? Compare this to 2.5% of net room revenue that hoteliers usually spend on marketing in “normal” years like 2019.
FINTECH
The Rise & Fall Of Klarna
This week, “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) company Klarna announced its losses had deepened a further 47% on the year prior, reporting a cool $1 billion loss for 2022. Klarna competes in the increasingly crowded BNPL space. For those unfamiliar, such services allow almost anyone to pay for things in instalments. A new TV. Clothes. Makeup. Vacations. Pretty much anything can be BNPL’d — even a $12 vodka cranberry can be split over 4 payments if you really want.
LOYALTY
Converting Disconnects into Loyalty Opportunities
Short-term pressures such as inflation and uncertain supply chains can push some leaders to reactively focus only on retention. But if you don’t understand how your customers make loyalty decisions throughout their journey with your brand, your business won’t be able to turn loyalty into real growth.
- 61% of executives say their customers are more loyal than before the pandemic
- 20% of consumers say they’re more loyal than before the pandemic
RETAIL MEDIA
Racing to make retail stores as measurable as websites
The demand for mapping in-store measurements is also being driven as a result of the rise of retail media. More retailers ranging from Walmart to Kroger are seeking to emulate the success of Amazon’s fast-growing advertising business, which generates roughly $30 billion a year, and in turn build their own advertising networks.
AI – KINDA THOUGHT SO
We’ve spent years trying to get AI to love us back. Turns out, it’s just not that into us.
“The truth is, AI is trained on a finite data set, and they have finite tasks that they are very good at performing,” Marbut told Insider. “That connection we feel is completely false, and completely made up on the human side of things, because we like the idea of it.”
See you next week!