Many retail marketers are responsible for managing multimillion-dollar marketing budgets that include significant allocations for the development and implementation of CRM contact strategies. These retail marketers are often challenged to demonstrate the marked value that direct mail and e-mail contribute to the business and to measure CRM value in terms the business can utilize in conjunction with traditional sales metrics.
The hurdle lies in bridging the connection between typical marketing measures and the traditional store sales calculations used by retailers and Wall Street to measure profitability of the business.
The challenge is that traditional metrics such as same-store sales growth or inventory turnover offer insight for the store manager and Wall Street, but do not quantify the true impact of customer marketing efforts. Conversely, the value CRM efforts bring to the business can be calculated, but not at a macro, long-term level using these same measures.
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Alliance Data Systems is located in Dallas. Contact Alliance at 800/805-8764 or www.AllianceDataSystems.com.
