The latest news in the world of customer experience and customer loyalty.
Customer Experience Redefined as Amazon Go Store Opens Today in Seattle
Leave it to Amazon to push the technological envelope and customer experience to its limits. The online behemoth today opened of Amazon Go, a new kind of convenience store with no checkout required. Customers simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store through security gates, take the products they want, and go! No lines, no checkout. Their Amazon account automatically gets charged when they pass through the gates on their way out. All that’s needed is an Amazon account, the free Amazon Go app, and a recent-generation iPhone or Android phone. The New York Times took a tour of the 1,800-square-foot mini-market and offered a review. The store, which is only open in Amazon’s home city of Seattle, also offers some offerings from Whole Foods, which it bought last year. We talked to some of our members in June about the potential impact of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, including some prescient comments from Evan Magliocca, brand marketing manager for Baesman Insights & Marketing.
Hannaford Rolls Out App-based Loyalty Program to 181 Stores in Northeast
After bucking the trend connected to loyalty programs for decades, Hannaford—a supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine, with stores in New England and New York—rolled out its My Hannaford Rewards program to all of its stores, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. The app-based program was tested last year in 11 stores in the Burlington, Vt., area. The chain is part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in The Netherlands. The loyalty program provides Hannaford officials with a platform to tailor personalized offers based on a customer’s shopping history. The app delivers electronic coupons each week based on the customer’s buying patterns.
Are CMOs on Their Way Out in 2018? A Look into the Crystal Ball
So, it’s still early enough in the year for predictions on what 2018 might bring. We ran across two stories about what CMOs see for the coming year. The first came from the creative folks at MarketingProfs, who based the story on a PAN Communications survey. The second was at CMO.com.au, which based its story on a Forrester’s survey. Interestingly, it predicted that CMOs will be replaced by Chief Growth Officers.