• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 1, 2024

Retailers are letting up to 85% of their potential customers disappear because they can't identify them, judging by the 2024 Customer Growth Benchmark from Bluecore.

Identification is the ability to “recognize an anonymous visitor by email address or phone number and match them to previously collected behavior,” the study notes. But the success rate varies by vertical sector:

• Apparel — 27%
• Footwear — 17.5% 
• Home Goods — 14.6%
• Jewelry and Luxury — 15.3% 
• Toys and Gifts — 25.1%

The average is 21.1%

The ability to ID customers is worth achieving because the average spend jumps by 69.9% between the first and subsequent purchases, again depending on category:  

• Apparel — 40.6%  
• Footwear — 29.9% 
• Health and Beauty — 78.2%
• Home goods — 13.2%
• Jewelry and Luxury — 50.7%
• Sporting Goods and Outdoor — 44.6% 
• Toys and Gifts — 66.7%

But here’s a daunting point: Only 17% of consumers buy from the same retailer twice in one year. Health and Beauty retailers draw the highest rate, at 22%. Next are Sporting Goods and Outdoor retailers with 21% and apparel retailers with 20%.

Retailers typically gain more purchases from new customers over the first two years, with a fall-off of even the most consistent buyers in year three.

That’s why it pays to know who your customers and visitors are.

“One of the most valuable assets any retailer or brand has is its customer file,” says Jason Grunberg, CMO of Bluecore. “That’s why the organizations growing in a challenging climate like today’s have invested in increasing identification rates.”

Grunberg adds: “Knowing who their shoppers are gives them the means to execute precision strategies and tactics that create incremental revenue from new, active, and even inactive customers.”

This report, the eighth annual, is based on analysis of more than 100 retailers.