Retail analytics with edge at Primark

At InMoment’s CX Elite Awards in September, global retailer Primark took home the trophy for a data analytics program that has transformed the brick-and-mortar retail as it continues to expand into new markets.

One of three winners at the awards, other categories were presented to ASOS and M&S Bank.

CX Network caught up with Philip Clarke, retail analytics and reporting manager for Primark’s group retail operations, to find out more about this award-winning work.

CX Network: Your CX Elite award was presented in recognition of Primark’s new analytic capabilities. Why did the business choose to develop these capabilities and what pain points were you looking to address?

Philip Clarke: It is quite simple, the customer is and should be at the heart of everything we do. At a store level, the customer is front and centre and everything we do is designed to support the stores who already do a fantastic job.

However, using a data-driven approach we were able to develop areas for improvement and, most importantly, determine which areas of the customer’s instore journey were consciously and sub-consciously the most important to them. This allowed us to align our priorities to theirs.

We operate at large scale, so automation is very important to us. The creation of automatically generated action plans was key to ensuring that stores needed to focus on action.

With the volumes of customers we deal with micro changes can have a large impact.

CXN: What did this project involve and how did it last?

PC: This was a long-term strategy to ensure that we were getting the fullest use of the data that customers provide and making the right decisions, driven by data. As early concepts some elements and ideas stretched back to 2017, but it took analytics to be embedded in retail operations to help implement these.

Different elements, changing to the reward structure to focus on customer priorities took a little longer with more consultation, however some, like the launching of improved tools and training with InMoment, took less time.

CXN: How did customers submit their feedback and what response rate did you see?

PC: Our customers submitted their feedback through a transactional survey with a current run rate of one million per annum across the business.

We had to look at the response rate and made changes to our prize draw to ensure it was maintained, particularly post the initial Covid-19 re-openings.

CXN: What was the most surprising customer feedback and how did Primark act on it?

PC: I do not think there was anything truly surprising, perhaps the realisation that our customers commented on so much of our operation that would be useful to not just those in stores, but product and store development teams as well.

CXN: What can other bricks-and-mortar retailers learn from this project?

PC: I think certain retailers will not benefit at all, particularly those with a single view of the customer or huge maturity in the space. However, we were able to demonstrate that with minimal cost to the business we could achieve much more, which should help those who maybe think there is nothing they can do.