What's On a Retail CMO's To-Do List?

Focusing on their customers and setting the right expectations for their CEO when it comes to marketing plans are just two of the many priorities chief marketing officers at retail companies are putting on their to-do lists for the remainder of 2011. This information was gleaned from a session titled "CMO/SVP Panel: Uncovering a CMO's To-Do List" at eTail 2011 in Boston this week. Kevin Conway, global director of consumer brands at Savvis; Matt Corey, chief marketing officer of Golfsmith; Lou Weiss, chief marketing officer of The Vitamin Shoppe; Bill Wood, vice president and chief information officer at Brookstone; and Jim Wright, senior vice president of e-commerce and customer marketing at Express, discussed their remainder-of-2011 goals and priorities. "We're focused on four specific pillars right now," said Express’ Wright. "Driving e-commerce, growing the international side of our business, improving our brand for existing stores and opening more stores across the U.S." In addition, Wright said he's focusing on how to integrate the Express brand across channels, optimizing return on investment from marketing programs, and understanding how Express customers shop in-store and applying that information to mobile applications. "The customer has more control than ever before," Wright said. "We have to conduct focus groups, ask them what they want from their experience with us, then make those changes." Most of the time, Express customers want their shopping experience to be like what they get on Amazon.com. The good news is that "they're willing to get that experience if they give a little," Wright said. Focusing on the customer is also at the top of Brookstone's Bill Wood's to-do list. "If we understand our customers better, we'll understand how to speak with them," he said. "Two-way communication is important." In addition, Brookstone has "eight to 10 initiatives on our plate right now for our website, including video," Wood said. For Matt Corey of Golfsmith, setting the right customer expectations about the brand's marketing plans is top of mind. "All CEOs today are asking their CMOs, ‘What's the value of a customer on Facebook?’ We just say we're going to test it, measure it and then decide." When discussing marketing programs with your CEO, use "Peter Rabbitt English," Corey said. This is his term for using basic, plain speech with them. "Don't use terms they don't understand. Instead, tell a story." Of course, focusing on the customer is also key for Golfsmith. "We have a great online community called the 19th Hole that we turn to all the time for insight," Corey said. "We ask them about anything from brand messaging to store experiences to taglines. What do they like? What don't they like?" What's more, Corey added, "these types of communities are cool and cost effective. We're spending less than $75,000 for an entire year to find out what our customers want. That's a lot less than the cost of small focus groups." For Vitamin Shoppe's Lou Weiss, his primary focus is on the brand's already successful loyalty program. "Now we're trying to figure out how to evolve our loyalty program by integrating it with our social programs, stores and website," Weiss said. Another focus? Growing The Vitamin Shoppe's marketing team. "We're looking for experts in interactive and social marketing," he told the audience. For Kevin Conway of Savvis, his current focus is on cloud computing. "We're working with several software vendors on putting their applications in our cloud," he said. "Once in the cloud, the applications can be turned on and off easily to accelerate your business." What are some of your 2011 end-of-year priorities? Let me know by posting a comment below.

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What's On a Retail CMO's To-Do List?

Melissa Campanelli

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Melissa Campanelli