About
The Vitamin Shoppe®, a subsidiary of Franchise Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FRG), is a global, omni-channel specialty retailer and wellness lifestyle Company with the mission of providing customers with the most trusted products, guidance, and services to support them on their journeys of lifelong wellness. Based in Secaucus, New Jersey, the Company offers a comprehensive assortment of nutritional solutions, including vitamins, minerals, specialty supplements, herbs, sports nutrition, homeopathic remedies, green living products, and natural beauty aids.
In addition to carrying products from approximately 700 national brands, The Vitamin Shoppe offers products from its proprietary brands within its owned and wholesale channels, including: The Vitamin Shoppe®, Vthrive The Vitamin Shoppe™, BodyTech®, BodyTech® Elite, fitfactor Weight Management System™, fitfactor KETO™, plnt®, ProBioCare®, and True Athlete®. In the U.S., the Company conducts business through over 715 company-operated retail stores under The Vitamin Shoppe and Super Supplements banners, and via its website, www.vitaminshoppe.com. Globally, The Vitamin Shoppe serves customers in select Asia, South America, and Central America markets through local retail and e-commerce partners.
Challenge
For years, The Vitamin Shoppe (TVS) has known the positive impact that quality data has on their business. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they realized that data would become even more important to drive momentum in their customer loyalty program and to help deliver a seamless multi-channel customer journey.
TVS’s customer database holds millions of records largely derived from loyalty program sign-ups via their in-store POS system. They use those emails and physical addresses for direct mail, email campaigns, and their loyalty rewards program. Keeping customers well informed boosts customer loyalty and TVS’s business results. In addition, having accurate customer data helps reduce call times at TVS’s customer service center, improving both call center efficiency and the customer experience.
Without data quality control, TVS runs the risk of having incorrect or duplicate emails and street addresses within their database. Duplication can result in sending redundant communications to their best customers, impacting conversion rates and marketing ROI. Similarly, when addresses are inaccurate, product deliverability is compromised along with customer satisfaction, packages can get lost, and costly return mail fees are often applied. These factors led TVS to invest in an Experian data quality solution.
Solution
The Vitamin Shoppe uses real-time address and email validation from Experian’s data quality division for e-commerce, POS, and the customer service call center while Experian’s marketing services division manages their CRM.
Real-time address works by allowing TVS customers to first enter their address. The validated information is then presented back to the customer in real-time so they can ensure it is correct prior to completing the check-out process. The same simple process is used for real-time email validation.
Data hygiene is critical to The Vitamin Shoppe’s operation. They need to ensure every ingestion point captures accurate and usable data. Completed customer profiles with reliable addresses and emails ensure marketing campaigns reach the right audience with appropriate offers and that new customers are, in fact new. This enables TVS to offer new customer incentives without providing existing ones with unintended discounts and to deliver a seamless customer experience in-store and online.
Results
The Vitamin Shoppe has successfully integrated real-time address and email validation into multiple systems across their business, resulting in proven success as measured by a variety of metrics from channel deliverability to reporting. In turn, this has provided the opportunity to effectively expand their loyalty program and deliver a seamless customer journey, even during these uncertain times.
Nadina Guglielmetti, vice president of marketing for TVS, says, “After implementing Experian’s address solutions, we cut returned mail by 75 percent. Additionally, we don’t have to worry about our emails with Experian’s email services—our deliverability always works. Experian is our trusted partner and we see beneficial optimizations when we engage with Experian.”
