Improve delivery of merchandise
This national sporting goods retailer faced two challenges, the company needed a way to validate customer address data and they also required a solution that could optimize their real estate selection process.
Challenge
The retailer provides outdoor equipment and clothing through over 110 locations and an e-commerce channel. With more than 4 million customers, the Company required a way to verify existing and incoming customer data at the point of entry. Furthermore, the Company saw a need for a solution that could verify customer addresses against United States Postal Service standards to ensure proper shipment, and decrease the number of returned items and improving customer service.
As the Company sought to expand, they also needed a way to optimize their site selection process. The retailer required a solution that could provide in-depth insight into potential markets and allow for analysis of the competitive landscape, enabling the Company to eliminate potential sites that would cause oversaturation and focus on locations that ultimately optimized the Company’s ability to generate net new retail revenues while maintaining or improving same store sales.
Solution
The Company uses the Pitney Bowes Software GeoStan platform to validate and standardize both existing and incoming customer addresses against United States Postal Service standards. This solution ensures that e-commerce orders are sent to an accurate and deliverable address, decreasing the number of returned items and increasing the ability to deliver customer orders on time. Furthermore, the retailer is now confident that their call center staff and other customer-facing employees are armed with the most up-to-date information for improved customer profiling and direct sales interactions.
Using the Market Research and Revenue Forecasting solution, the Company is equipped with advanced demographic reporting and mapping capabilities for the development of site optimization models. The retailer can now analyze customer attributes in a potential market and sales potential of households based on their distance to a retail site. Additionally, the Company can analyze the impact of nearby competition. Provided with this insight, the retailer is able to avoid oversaturated markets and build retail locations that will maximize potential revenue.
Benefit
- Decreased the amount of returned mail due to customer address errors
- Improved the accuracy of internal customer information for improved service
- Enabled access to critical demographic information for site analysis