Agent Provocateur adds spice to online marketing

Luxury lingerie firm plans to improve client segmentation and enhance its customer relationship management capability

The lingerie firm is looking into using videos in its marketing campaigns

Agent Provocateur is improving the IT supporting its online marketing as part of a wider programme to strengthen its e-commerce operation.

In order to grow online revenue in an increasingly competitive retail market, the luxury lingerie firm will improve client segmentation and enhance its customer relationship management capability to better target customers.

As part of the process, the company has recently ditched a third party responsible for undertaking its email marketing in favour of a web-based system that automates email campaigns and improves reporting processes.

“Our email database is also available through the system, so we can run queries on how many people have been reached by the mail shots and how many have responded to them and understand what our delivery rates are,” said Joanna Kelly, Agent Provocateur’s senior e-commerce manager.

“Email is a very cost-effective marketing tool, but we still need to ensure that we are reaching as many people as possible,” she added.

According to Kelly, the rollout of the Emailvision system is now being followed by a process of data analysis in categories such as geographic location, nearest store, previous purchase history, response to past campaigns and date of birth so that gaps in the database can be identified.

“We then plan to both grow and enrich our database, filling in the missing gaps, so we can send the most relevant and targeted communications possible,” she said.

Agent Provocateur is also considering how to implement a multichannel loyalty programme, which would mean extra requirements such as data synchronisation between the firm’s email and marketing databases.

The company is also looking into using videos and social media tools to better communicate with its clients online, as well as an Amazon-like mechanism whereby online customers will be offered items that may be of interest as a way of upselling products.

“Unlike ourselves, most high-end retailers have been very slow to spot opportunities [online], but there is a lot of potential in that space and businesses are upping their game, which makes it a much more challenging environment to operate in,” said Kelly.