A Thoughtful Interview with Omnichannel and Clienteling Veteran Alan Berner

09/29/20 • 39 min

Interview with Alan Berner
In this episode Bryan interviews omnichannel and clienteling executive, Alan Berner. Alan has worked for some of the country’s most respected discount, specialty and department store brands and has been at the forefront many leading customer centric innovations in enterprise retail.

Alan shares some historical context on clienteling, sharing his experiences of how selling culture has benefited as tools evolved from a black book to sharing customer data at POS to more sophisticated mobile solutions that guide an associate through the selling process. Alan describes that as online became a more significant channel, there was a shift from targeting customers based on what they bought in the past to making new creative recommendations based on what could be learned about their lifestyle such as important people in her life, the significant dates for her and her family, the type of work she did, and the places she traveled to. He describes how they needed to understand how she spread her shopping dollars across the family of business as well as across the store, so that we could introduce her to those items that fit into her lifestyle that she may have overlooked us for in the past or possibly those she chose to buy elsewhere.

Bryan and Alan discussed how innovation projects are prioritized and how new technologies were considered, and validated. Alan explained that innovation must address the needs and wants of the customer but too often new ideas are “introduced and sometimes put into motion before the business realizes that they are chasing after a shiny toy rather than fixing a problem”.

Alan explains some of the biggest challenges he’s had in gaining adoption and the role of training, accountability, communication and an eye on the metrics.

Alan and Bryan then discussed his thoughts on the future of retail and what experiential retail be in a post COVID world.
Alan’s final recommendations for retailers included:

a. Focus on the customer

b. Make their lives and experiences better leveraging digital tools

c. Innovate and try something new – evaluate quickly.

d. Provide clear expectations and accountabilities for seller, vendors, and other constituents.
Resources:

Alan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-berner-04a9863/

Alan's Email: [email protected]
Bryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/
Bryan's Email: [email protected]

Alan explains some of the biggest challenges he’s had in gaining adoption and the role of training, accountability, communication and an eye on the metrics.

Alan and Bryan then discussed his thoughts on the future of retail and what experiential retail be in a post COVID world.
Alan’s final recommendations for retailers included:

a. Focus on the customer

b. Make their lives and experiences better leveraging digital tools

c. Innovate and try something new – evaluate quickly.

d. Provide clear expectations and accountabilities for seller, vendors, and other constituents.
Resources:

Alan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-berner-04a9863/

Alan's Email: [email protected]
Bryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/
Bryan's Email: [email protected]

Previous Episode

Navigating the Retail Maelstrom - A candid interview with Scott Lux - Adjunct Professor at Columbia and & FIT, VP Digital Marketing & Commerce at Theory and Helmut Lang

Interview with Scott Lux

In this episode, Scott Lux joins the show and is interviewed by Bryan Amaral. Scott is a senior executive with experience in various aspects of ecommerce, digital strategy, marketing and analytics from both the brand side and agency perspective. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia and FIT and is the VP/Head of Digital Marketing and Digital Commerce at Theory and Helmut Lang.

The show starts with Bryan and Scott discussing what it was like to join a new company just as retail shut down due to the pandemic. He discussed the need to lead and manage a team remotely and make a determination of what was the appropriate tone and voice to message their customers given the crisis... especially when ecommerce was the only channel open that "could keep the lights on".

He shared that as the realization that the crisis was not short term, inventory issues needed to be addressed through aggressive promotional strategies. Scott shares how clienteling outreach and associate communication with customers made a positive impact on the business and how customers welcomed hearing from associates.

Scott discussed how they were mindful of proven best practices and knew exactly what data measurements were important. The data was used to assess if their strategy was working and if were they meeting objectives and if not, how could they optimize. Scott shares examples of cost of acquisition and what LTV could be anticipated so they could determine if the customer acquisition spend was prudent. He explained how they set records on daily and monthly volume with rapid promotional programs designed to move inventory quickly in the early stages and how those same metrics were leveraged to help move audiences to full price product later.
Scott explained how chat was an example of a rapid customer experience design initiative to get customers back to full price selling. He talked about his optimism for the next generation of retail stores, and elevated experience (experience design) and the need to have a tactile experience with product.
Bryan asked Scott about how he prioritized activity and made it work remotely.
1. Need to instill trust that they will get their job done.
2. Leadership and mentorship - maintain culture to unify the team
Scott talked about how he thought about prioritizing new feature and capability platform enhancements and assessing if current solutions can meet future demand. He shared his perspective on how ISV's should do their homework prior to reaching out to busy leaders.
The show wrapped up with three nuggets that retailers should keep in mind for the journey ahead:
1. Customer First/Experience Design across all touch points
2. Foundational elements - ensure that you have solid practices in place
3. Maintain your culture and team

Resources:

Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlux/

Scott's Email: [email protected]
Bryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/
Bryan's Email: [email protected]

Next Episode

Customer Centric Solution Highlights from NRF 2023

Back by popular demand! In this episode of The Clienteling Podcast, Bryan Amaral highlights what you might have missed, including some of the more compelling customer-centric solutions on the show floor. See what happens next in the world of #Clienteling and #retailtransformation!
Bryan's original Retail Geek's Take on NRF 2023 recap article is available here: https://tinyurl.com/5fdr73fa

Highlights of today's podcast: