Alex Chepovetsky has more than 25 years of technology solutions experience and has spent the last 15 years strategically integrating marketing, user experience and application development. At Havas, Alex ensures that his teams are prepared to meet and go beyond the multifaceted requirements of modern business.

We recently sat down with Alex to get his perspective on the evolution of the customer journey.

How has the retail customer journey changed over the past 12-18 months? How is this affecting direct-to-consumer brands’ digital strategies?

Retail itself has changed quite drastically in the last 12-18 months, and transforming the customer experience has been the nucleus of this change. Many of our theories about user experience and the customer journey has come to life in a big way, driven primarily by direct-to-consumer brands themselves. The most public examples have been Nike’s Soho store with over 55,000 sf of space dedicated to an entrancing digital experience and the new Samsung stores, which now include all of their product lines like appliances displayed in a connected kitchen experience. These brands have recognized that having a great product and compelling promotions are no longer the benchmark of success, and that in order to be competitive they have to immerse their customers in the brand experience in a highly personalized way.

In your last guest post for Coherent Path, you talked about the importance of relevancy when engaging with today’s discerning consumers, as well as some of the technologies – like predictive analytics – that help brands increase their level of relevancy. Are there certain touchpoints during the customer journey where relevancy is a non-negotiable?

Customer expectations are changing and evolving faster than ever before. As the retail experience is disrupted by game-changers like Amazon, other retailers must adapt quickly or they’ll lose market share. There is really only one touchpoint where relevancy is a non-negotiable; the customer’s moment of need. And today that could be any time and any where. Brands have been pretty fortunate to have their customers willing to share data with them. Using the tools that are at our disposal, we can identify those moments of need and respond to them. It’s simple; be there for the customer with what they need when they need it. If your customer is sharing location, search/purchase history, etc. and you, as a brand, can’t identify – if not anticipate – their next need, you probably don’t deserve their business.

How are your clients evolving their marketing programs to become more customer-centric and relevant to each shopper?

Context has been the core driver of our integrated marketing strategies for quite a few years now. So as the technologies that allow marketers to reach customers with content that is contextually relevant improve, our clients have more opportunities to have more meaningful interactions with their customers. Helping our clients build that relationship with each customer often starts with data; aggregating and analyzing relevant data to reach the customer when and where it makes sense – context.

About Havas
Havas Canada is the Canadian division of a global integrated communication agency that brings digital, mobile, media, and creative services to local and global brands. With reach into 121 markets, Havas helps Canada’s leading brands become market leaders, while trailblazing into new markets worldwide.

Also published on Medium.