This year, a number of retailers in Norway have declared bankruptcy, and the whole industry fears the entrance of Amazon on the Norwegian market.
However, the industry has yet to learn what Amazon and other market leaders have been doing for years: using the information they have about their customers to personalize offers, invitations and information they are sending their customers´ way. As an example, they will never send a customer special offers on shoes the customer has already bought from the Amazon site at full price.
“Norwegian retailers are practically sitting on a gold mine of information about their customers and are failing to utilize that insight. And they’re running out of time. If they don’t start utilizing the data they have on their customers, which would ensure that the offers they send their customers are relevant, they are at great risk of being destroyed by Amazon,”
CEO of Pearl Group, Geir Thoresen.
An improved shopping experience
The primary area of expertise at Pearl is IT solutions for retailers, and Pearl is the largest SAP partner in Norway. The group recently invested in Sannsyn AS, a market leader within automated personalization in the retail industry.
“By enabling our solutions and compe-tence to join forces, we can contribute to increased competitiveness for retailers,” says Thoresen and CEO of Sannsyn, Morten Krogh-Moe.
A consumer in the year of 2019 expects suppliers to know them better than they know themselves.
“Development in the area of customer understanding through personalization has occurred through more powerful and advanced technology. Personalization within e-commerce makes digital channels more relevant for each customer. Moreover, it increases customer satisfaction, conversation rate and the probability of returning visitors. In addition, personalization means automation, which in turn frees up internal resources,” says Krogh-Moe.
Sannsyn is responsible for Norway’s most advanced personalization implementation at the Norwegian bookstore chain, ARK Bokhandel, where Pearl has delivered all e-commerce solutions including the related logistics.
Ark Bokhandel – knowing where the value is hidden
While the book market in Norway is standing still, the annual turnover at ARK has increased during recent years. The bookstore chain is currently the largest in Norway. ARK was an early front runner in focusing on the interaction between shops, e-commerce and apps, and in offering buying experiences adapted to each customer based on machine learning.
“ARK knows their customers, which allows their customers to experience added value and a simpler buying process,” says Krogh-Moe.
The personalization process is facilitated by machine learning technology, enabling e-commerce companies to perform one on one real time communication with all their customers, even when there are millions of them.
Worry over Amazon
“Retailers are right to worry about Amazon entering the Norwegian market. Amazon is extremely good at personalized purchase experiences and offer precise recommendations on additional products. They are leading in the field of data collection, and this puts them in an overall market leading position, which they in turn use to expand to new markets and services,“ says Thoresen.
Pearl is an Amazon Partner and delivers operation solutions based on their platforms.
“The important message here is the optimizing of the customer relationship and the buying experience. Sannsyn and Pearl can help Norwegian retailers optimizing the customer relationship and the buying experience, making them viable in a market that is increasingly dominated by the large, global players,” says Thoresen.
Contact Pearl or Sannsyn today:
Pearl Group AS
CEO Geir Thoresen
+47 976 71 574
pearlgroup.no
Sannsyn AS
CEO Morten Krogh-Moe
+47 905 31 877
sannsyn.com
Photo: Morten Brakestad