The Record - Issue 21: Summer 2021

154 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om E Y E B ROW available on and integrated with Microsoft’s tech- nologies, help them to do just that.” In summer 2020, for example, retail and whole- sale pharmacy corporation Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) adopted Adobe and Microsoft solutions to create amore personalisedomnichan- nel experience for over 120 million customers in the UK and USA. WBA implemented Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, as well as the Adobe Experience Cloud. “Our solutions empowered WBA to better understand and segment customers, customise communications and personalise all pharmacy and retail transactions via every channel,” says Klein. “For instance, Walgreens has updated the myWalgreens customer experience platform to offer a rapid order and collection service, a 24/7 live chat tool where pharmacists provide person- alised health advice, and much more. It has also launched a portal to enable US-based customers to book Covid-19 vaccinations.” In the first quarter of 2021, Walgreens reported that 155 basis points-of-sale increases were driven by its mass personalisation efforts. In addition, its overall digital traffic had grown by more than 50 per cent year on year. “WBA’s success and various studies show that customer retention and satisfaction rates are higher when brands offer customised experiences and services, so it’s clear that personalisation at mass scale works,” says Klein. “Online retail has grown significantly since the onset of the pan- demic – our research found that 9 per cent of US and 15 per cent of UK consumers made their first-ever online purchase and nearly 50 per cent made digital purchases in a new product category. Hence, there has never been a more opportune time to invest in personalisation at scale.” However, for personalisation to work effec- tively, retailers must earn their customers’ trust by allowing them to control the experience. “Customers – especially those in younger demographics – are willing to share data with brands, but only if they are transparent about what information they’re collecting and how they’ll use it to develop value-added services,” explains Klein. “They’re happy to receive offers for their favourite products or recommenda- tions for items they may like, but they don’t want to be continually bombarded with adverts or mass-marketing emails for irrelevant products and services.” “This does drive personalisation but people find it creepy when they’re shown adverts based on information that they haven’t explicitly shared with retailers, which can prompt them to shop elsewhere,” he cautions. “Instead, retailers should create preference centres where custom- ers can choose what information to share and which types of experiences they are comfortable with. By implementing intelligent technologies from Microsoft and Adobe, they can easily tap into this first-party data to develop personal- ised experiences that significantly enhance the shopping experience while still respecting the consumer’s privacy.” “Consumers want brands to understand and value them as individuals” I NT E V I EW