What it reads
Responses, locations, answers, activities, correspondence, requests, searches and purchases.
Born 01.01.2020
Hi, I am “eme” your personal shopping robot
to enjoy smart shopping
Shopping is the pursuit of pleasure. It is part of our daily search for happiness. eme reads that search — every response, location, answer, search and purchase along the journey — and turns it into a persona a store can actually act on.
“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.”
The premise
E-commerce broke the old sales channel. Retail has to answer with experience.
Just as e-commerce sites provide a revolutionised customer experience, in-store retailers must follow suit. Environments that attract and excite customers are supported by technological components — beneficial to both business and consumer. Moving forward, retailers will continue to employ cutting-edge technology, like artificial intelligence, in order to provide personalised offerings and engaging environments.
- of branded apparel purchases are still made in stores
- 75% of branded apparel purchases are still made in stores
- of journeys begin with a specific item, not a specific brand
- 73% of journeys begin with a specific item, not a specific brand
- of journeys are one-stop purchases
- 68% of journeys are one-stop purchases
- growth in retail use of AI across two years
- 600% growth in retail use of AI across two years
What eme is
A shopper persona, calculated instead of guessed
Shopper personas are a technique for measuring the value of a customer to both the global market and an individual business — and your value to them. eme automates the metric. It calculates each shopper individually, per brand, from real transactions, and builds a global persona from the mobile data gathered during the customer journey.
What it returns
A dynamic customer tag, scoped to a geographical area and recalculated from purchase values — so stores can offer specific promotions and join shoppers to predefined loyalty programmes.
What it moves
Sharper market segmentation, a better return on marketing spend, and a rising Net Promoter Score.
The persona stays embedded and private to the shopper.
Component 1
Customer persona, based on retail activity
Every shopper resolves along four axes. Together they are the tag a store reads before it decides what to offer.
Category
Thirteen retail categories the activity is scoped to.
- Food
- Fashion
- Beauty
- Sports
- Health
- Hospitality
- Entertainment
- Stationery
- Grocery
- Furniture
- Household
- Automotive
- Others
Customer type
Set by relationship depth, not by spend alone.
-
1 Citizen
Paid the membership fee.
Awards · Loyalty+ · Referrals
-
2 Resident
Purchased more than three times from the store.
Loyalty · Referrals
-
3 Tourist
Purchased three times or fewer from the store.
-
4 Foreigner
Visitor who has never purchased from the store.
Gender
Male / Female.
- Male
- Female
Rank
Purchase value against the regional average. Recalculated dynamically.
-
Blue
Purchases above the regional average.
Dynamic per region
-
Green
Purchases at or below the regional average.
Dynamic per region
-
White
Has never purchased in this store category.
Component 2
Four tiers of listing
A store enters eme at the depth it is ready for, and moves up. Each tier unlocks what the tier below could not do.
- Informative
By location
No products listed. No demography. No loyalty programme.
- Productive
By product
Selected products listed.
- Productive
By store
All products listed.
- Corporate
By enterprise
All branches listed.
Why it works
Six stages, and one bad experience
Conversion is not the only number worth watching. Every customer moves through six stages, and the value of the relationship is decided in the last two — where a single bad experience can end it.
- 1
Reach
Shoppers see an average of 362 marketing messages a day and notice 86 of them. The old rule holds: seven exposures before awareness.
- 2
Engage
They start watching what others say about you, and how you answer complaints in public.
- 3
Evaluate
Months of comparison or a quick gut check — either way, everyone passes through here.
- 4
Buy
Crunch time. 83% of consumers need some degree of support to finish.
- 5
Experience
Winning a new customer costs six to seven times more than keeping one. Opinion forms here.
- 6
Bonding
The relationship is cemented, and brand advocates start attracting customers for you.
One bad experience can lose a customer.
Brand advocates help attract new customers.
The measure
Four numbers eme is built to move
Traditional retail success metrics — year-over-year growth, profitability, position against competitors — are becoming obsolete in a digitally enabled economy. These four are not.
Customer Lifetime Value
CLTVNet profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. The longer they keep buying, the greater it becomes.
CLTV = Customer Value × Average Customer Lifespan
Customer Acquisition Cost
CACWhat it costs to convert a lead into a customer — all programme spend, salaries, commissions and overhead included.
CAC = (Cost of Sales + Cost of Marketing) ÷ New Customers Acquired
Customer Churn Rate
CCThe share of customers who stop buying in a period. A 5% lift in retention can create at least a 25% lift in profit.
CC = (Lost Customers ÷ Acquired Customers) × 100%
Net Promoter Score
NPSHow likely a customer is to recommend you to a friend, on a scale of 0 to 10. eme is designed to raise it.
NPS = Promoters % − Detractors %
Target LTV:CAC ratio
3:1
Your customers should be worth three times what they cost to acquire. At 1:1 you are breaking even on attention; above 5:1 you are underspending and missing leads.
The research
The book behind eme
eme began as a 40-page book: exchange theory, retail technology, the shopper journey, the economics of loyalty. Every chapter is here in full.
Chapter 04 pubbles 02
Shopping Economy
The metrics that still mean something
Pages 18–23 Read chapter
Chapter 05 pubbles 03
Shoppers Patronage
Loyalty, membership and the discount problem
Pages 24–33 Read chapter
Chapter 06 pubbles 04 · 03
Pop-ups & Giveaways
Temporary retail, and the psychology of free
Pages 34–39 Read chapter
Put a persona behind every offer
eme calculates the shopper so the store does not have to guess. Start with location, grow into enterprise.
