The data is the business, we are told, but if cashflow remains king then how can businesses, particularly small retailers, turn data into sales?
Founded in 2012 with a stated aim of helping SMEs delight their customers, drive loyalty, power sales, and grow through its suite of commerce tools, LoyLap thinks it has the answer. Working with SMEs in the retail and hospitality sectors, the company provides integrated commerce tools to this cohort, enabling them to facilitate cashless payments, online ordering, reward loyalty, all delivered in one unified customer experience.
Patrick Garry, co-founder and chief executive of LoyLap, said that, for example, merchants who choose gift cards that are integrated with their other commerce technology will see greater benefits than a stand-alone gift card application.
“LoyLap has clear data available on consumer spending that confirms people spend more when using gift cards to purchase goods. For instance, our data informs us that customers spend on average 16 to 24 per cent more when they spend with a gift card when compared to other payment methods,” he said.
The data also confirms that consumers tend to spend gift cards in a different manner to how they spend their cash with a predilection for purchasing either luxury or novel items. For retailers, Garry said, this offers huge opportunities in terms of attracting new customers to their business, while also encouraging existing customers to try a new product line.
“Using LoyLap’s technical functionality, we can offer retailers and hospitality businesses the means to transition gift cards to loyalty gift cards which has benefits for the consumer and merchant alike. With older, paper-based gift card systems this isn’t possible,” he said.
Other technologies and mechanisms can drive greater loyalty, too, he said. LoyLap’s data allows retailers to use targeted ‘surprise and delight’ campaigns that are personal to the customer. For example, businesses can spring a surprise on their customer base on birthdays, when they want to cross-sell, upsell or reward that person.
Garry said this kind of data-use drives the omnichannel commerce that retailers need today.
“This can be done in a myriad of ways: it can either be visible to the customer in-app as a hook to visit the store, or generated at the point of sale,” he said.
As a result, omnichannel commerce tools allow for a positive customer experience that drives greater loyalty among the customer base while delivering better commercial outcomes for the business.
Indeed, most retailers today understand the importance of omnichannel and have digital channels like a website, a digital loyalty programme, and a social media presence, alongside their bricks-and-mortar premises. However, Garry said there remained room for improvement, as each channel is often treated and managed as entirely separate entities rather than as part of a whole ecosystem.
“For the past 20-plus years, we have been told that online is the future, and we have seen this through the rapid growth of e-commerce giants like Amazon,” he said.
“During that time, there was much focus on the need for businesses to get online because that is where the customers were, and there was a huge investment in technology to enable businesses to do that. Looking at only the past few years we are seeing these internet giants set up physical stores, because they too realise the importance of that omnichannel experience for customers.”
If proof were needed, Amazon has expanded its bricks-and-mortar presence in the US not only with its noted cashierless shops, but also recently announced plans to open department stores.
For smaller retailers, the reward of omnichannel can be reaped in double-quick time, said Garry.
“We inform all merchants that become customers of LoyLap, that they need to invest their time to successfully get the system off the ground. Investing four to six weeks in becoming an omnichannel business will pay dividends many times over. Our customers typically report that once the six-week mark has passed, they experience a 20 per cent uptick in new customers, using our technology,” he said.