• by July 3, 2001

According to a recent retailer survey by Gartner Inc., as reported by Rob Williams of SharperMedia, 95% of the respondents rated CRM (customer relationship management) as their highest or moderate business priority. Important for advertising and strategic planners, Gartner has identified five key elements necessary to support a CRM strategy through 2004.

- Promote merchandising, marketing, servicing and selling across channels.
- Provide a consistent face to the consumer across all points of contact.
- Capture and leverage knowledge across channels at a granular level.
- Identify, target and differentiate valuable consumers.
- Recognize the lifetime value and profitability of consumer.

CRM refers to the concept of moving ownership of the customer up to the enterprise level and away from individual departments and channels, according to Gartner While most retailers consider CRM to be an important business strategy, only 34% of the respondents acknowledge an active program.

Carol Ferrara-Zarb, research director for Gartner's CRM research group says, "CRM technology is still very immature. While sponsorship at the executive level is paramount, it's necessary to drive the CRM vision down to the execution level and foster cross-channel efforts."

Ms. Ferrara-Zarb concludes that retailers that succeed in CRM will be those that evaluate their processes in light of customer expectations, then rebuild their strengths and weaknesses based on what their customers want.

Read more at SharperMedia.