Optimized Loyalty With Increased Visibility

About

Shoe Carnival, Inc. is one of the largest family footwear retailers in the United States, offering a wide selection of affordably priced dress, casual, and athletic footwear for men, women, and children. With over 400 stores primarily in the Midwest, South, and Southeast, Shoe Carnival has built a reputation over its 40-year history for creating a sense of urgency among customers through limited-time promotions, discounts, and special offers. What began as in-store announcements over the microphone has evolved into a sophisticated omnichannel strategy, including coupons, discounts, and the newly enhanced loyalty and rewards program, Shoe Perks.

Challenges

Shoe Carnival faced significant challenges with their loyalty program tracking. Previously relying on Oracle's Relate for Shoe Perks program performance, the system's limitations became evident. Relate offered only a high-level view and lacked the detailed insights needed to drill down into individual customer behaviors. Additionally, it struggled with compatibility with Shoe Carnival's POS system. The process required the Marketing team to supply reports to the Loss Prevention team, who then had a week to identify potential commercial resale violations before rewards certificates were issued.

However, when the Shoe Perks program was updated to deliver certificates within 24 hours of purchase, the challenge intensified. Analysts now had just 24 hours to identify and address program misuse. As the program expanded, this became an increasingly complex task, exposing the need for a more robust solution.

Solutions

Recognizing the need for a more efficient and detailed reporting system, Chris Logel, Regional Director of Loss Prevention at Shoe Carnival, spearheaded the transition from Relate to Agilence for managing the Shoe Perks Rewards program. By collaborating closely with the Marketing team, they developed new reports, queries, and alerts that provided both departments with deeper insights into program usage and flagged potential violations of the program's commercial use rules. These reports, queries, and alerts ensured that analysts had the proper tools to identify misuse in a short timeframe.

The shift to Agilence also allowed Shoe Carnival to incorporate omnichannel purchases into their program analysis and enhanced their ability to track crucial metrics such as refunds, payment methods, gift card and coupon usage, purchase frequency, and item/brand preferences. This marked the first time Shoe Carnival could take an analytical approach to understanding the financial impact of their most loyal customers.

Results

The transition to Agilence Analytics has delivered transformative results for Shoe Carnival, empowering the company with a deeper and more actionable understanding of their customer base, particularly within the Shoe Perks Rewards program. By leveraging Agilence Analytics, Shoe Carnival has been able to make data-driven decisions that have enhanced both the customer experience and the overall effectiveness of their loyalty program.

• Enhanced Customer Insights: With Agilence Analytics, Shoe Carnival can now dive deeper into individual customer behaviors. This granular level of detail has allowed the company to identify and reward their most loyal customers more effectively.
• Improved Fraud Detection: The detailed reporting capabilities of Agilence Analytics have significantly improved Shoe Carnival's ability to detect and prevent misuse of the Shoe Perks program. By quickly identifying accounts that violate commercial resale rules, the company has minimized fraudulent activities that could erode the value of the program.
• Increased Sales and Promotional Effectiveness: Armed with precise data on customer behavior, Shoe Carnival marketing team has been able to fine-tune their promotional strategies. The ability to target promotions to specific customer groups based on their past purchases and preferences has resulted in more effective marketing campaigns.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: By leveraging the insights from Agilence Analytics, Shoe Carnival has been able to create a more personalized and rewarding experience for their customers. Understanding what drives customer satisfaction and loyalty has allowed the company to adjust their offerings and interactions accordingly.

Agilence Analytics has become a critical tool for Shoe Carnival, not just in enhancing their loyalty program but in driving overall business success. By turning data into actionable insights, Shoe Carnival has solidified its position as a leader in the family footwear market, delivering value to both their customers and their bottom line.