Parisian

Driving broader and deeper through strategic personalization and customization

Parisian, a chain of moderate-to-upscale department stores in the Southeast and Central U.S. had an unusually loyal credit cardholder group, representing a high percentage of total sales and higher value per customer. But a significant portion of new cardholders were ‘one and done’ shoppers and didn’t make a second purchase on the card.

We noticed immediately that the time between card sign-up and first communication was nearly 90 days, too long to make an impact, and that there was no continued contact to maintain engagement over time. So we created a highly targeted three-touch lifecycle-based new customer development strategy to accelerate purchase, drive second transaction and promote cross-shopping in key categories, along with ongoing lifestyle-based CRM.

Success
In the first 90 days, new cardholders in the program were worth $32 more than those in the control group, and within a year, these new customers were worth $95 more. The program resulted in a 22% lift in the number of cardholders who made a second transaction, and increased cardholder spend throughout the store by driving shoppers deeper into the initially promoted category and then into other departments.

Cardholders in the program spent on average between 80% and 100% more in the category promoted, and four times as much in other categories. For every marketing dollar invested, the retailer enjoyed $17.80 in sales, and $6.60 in margin. At the end of one year, the program drove $9.5 million in sales — a 2% annual overall sales gain