The most loyal customers are those who do their shopping both in stores and on the Internet. These customers also spend more money.

The Institute for Innovation and Economic organisation at the BI Norwegian School of Management has headed a research project which looks at how companies are handling multiple sales channels (The Multi-channel Project). The multi-channel customers, i.e. those who shops both in stores and on the Internet, are not quite like other customers. They shop more than other customer groups (i.e. those who shop either in stores or on the Internet). Multi-channel customers are also more loyal than other customer groups.

This makes multi-channel customers the most valuable customers a company can have - and the companies may not even be aware of it. In spite of the fact that most customers use several channels, both stores and the Internet, the companies consider them either store customers or Internet customers. Apparently, the companies have yet to discover these profitable and loyal multi-channel customers, and have only to a limited degree developed strategies for their new premium customers.
read more >>