clienteling
Clienteling is a technique used by retail sales associates to establish long-term relationships with key customers based on data about their preferences, behaviors and purchases.{{cite web|title=clienteling|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clienteling|accessdate=2 March 2015}} Clienteling is intended to guide associates to provide more personal and informed customer service {{cite web|title=How to Deliver Great Customer Service|url=http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100901/how-to-deliver-great-customer-service.html|accessdate=2 March 2015}} that may influence customer behavior related to shopping frequency, lift in average transaction value, and other retail key performance indicators.{{cite web|last1=Reda|first1=Susan|title=Making Mobile Happen|url=https://nrf.com/news/mobile/making-mobile-happen|accessdate=2 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402170654/https://nrf.com/news/mobile/making-mobile-happen|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead}} From the customer's perspective, clienteling "could add a layer of personal touch"{{cite web|last1=Joseph|first1=Alex|title=iPad Clienteling at Retail Stores: Cool or Creepy? |url=http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/ipad-clienteling-at-retail-stores-cool-or-creepy-0586655|accessdate=2 March 2015}} to the shopping experience.
Clienteling software
While at its core, clienteling is a sales technique, the term is commonly used today to describe the related assisted selling software tools used to support relationship-building activities between store associates and their customers.{{cite web|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Rachel|title=Retail Evolution: Building a Tech Enabled Environment|url=http://brandandcommercial.com/articles/show/business-operations/136/retail-evolution-building-a-tech-enabled-environment|accessdate=2 March 2015|archive-date=24 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324212143/http://brandandcommercial.com/articles/show/business-operations/136/retail-evolution-building-a-tech-enabled-environment|url-status=dead}} Software-based clienteling has been said to have the advantage of collecting data about clients across different interaction channels in a searchable and retrievable database for later use.{{cite book|last1=Eisenberg|first1=Lee|title=Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What|date=3 November 2009 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0743296250}} Clienteling software may also provide digital tools on mobile devices or fixed workstations aimed at enabling retailers to establish long-lasting learning relationships with their customers.{{cite web|last1=Garry|first1=Michael|title=New Clienteling Tool Empowering Saks Associates|url=http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-news/New-Clienteling-Tool-Empowering-Saks-Associates90660|accessdate=2 March 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Mahoney|first1=Sarah|title=Thanks To Mobile, More Retailers 'Clienteling'|url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/221800/thanks-to-mobile-more-retailers-clienteling.html?edition=|accessdate=2 March 2015}} While sales history collected in customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can provide some insight into a customer’s tendencies, this insight can be augmented by data collected by an associate working directly with a customer, who can improve the customer profile through each face-to-face interaction.{{cite web|last1=Rhodus|first1=Matt|title=Clienteling Enriches the In-Store Experience|url=http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-news/Clienteling-Enriches-the-In-Store-Experience97877|accessdate=16 March 2015}} This information can then be used to further personalize future interactions.{{cite web|last1=Richter|first1=Nathan|title=Making Excess Exclusive By Clienteling|url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/223607/making-excess-exclusive-by-clienteling.html|accessdate=2 March 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Shanker|first1=Martin C.|title=Pull—Don't Push—Your Way to Clienteling Success|url=http://www.jckonline.com/article/292131-Pull_Don_t_Push_Your_Way_to_Clienteling_Success.php|accessdate=2 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402124433/http://www.jckonline.com/article/292131-Pull_Don_t_Push_Your_Way_to_Clienteling_Success.php|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead}} Capabilities such as notes, wish lists, preferences, alerts, and purchase history are sometimes used to enable associates to enhance client profiles in ways that purchase history and e-commerce activity alone could not.{{cite web|last1=Ritzer Ross|first1=Julie|title=Facing Fears in Omnichannel|url=http://vsr.edgl.com/reseller-news/Facing-Fears-in-Omnichannel96300|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107111235/http://vsr.edgl.com/reseller-news/Facing-Fears-in-Omnichannel96300|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2014|accessdate=2 March 2015}} Clienteling can also be an effective means of selling excess inventory without resorting to discounting by pairing products with the right consumers, using their past purchases to predict what they are likely want to buy.
Use in retail stores
In 2014, a software-based clienteling solution called [https://www.tulip.com/clienteling/ Tulip] was deployed on iPad to over 3,500 associates at Saks Fifth Avenue. Ralph Lauren has also used clienteling to invite select shoppers to special shopping events.