Overview of Splash and CRM Approach

Splash is a part of the Landmark group UAE operates as one of the biggest retail conglomerates based in Dubai, UAE. The company has been emerged and grown to over 150 stores and 50 brand stores across 14 different countries. The company has been recognised as the trend setter in the region, and offers an extensive prime collection of clothing for men, women, and the teens. In addition, the company has been identified as one of the best place to work for in the UAE.

CRM in splash has been well operated, and monitored as the retail business has been effective in storing customer and prospect data, and tracks customer interactions effectively. As discussing about the approach of CRM, it is referred to a CRM tool, which helped Splash in managing contact, sales management activities, workflow processes, productivity, and other such processes. Thus, CRM software or the tool helps the fashion retail business to manage and improve their interactions with their customers, and access to the customer data and business information (Castaldo  and Grosso, 2016).

The companies like Splash as one of the biggest apparel retailers are involved in extensive advertising of their products to enhance the interest and interaction with their customers. Advertisements helps the company to increase customer loyalty towards their products and other offerings, as the clothing retailers always aim at retaining their current as well as future customers in the long-term. The aspects of customer orientation, relationship marketing, and database marketing form the crux of the CRM in Splash (Kaul, 2017).

SHUKRAN CARD is used as one of the CRM tool in the fashion retail, Splash as a reward point in their organisation. It is an exciting reward programme used by the fashion retail, Splash as a way to thank their customers and it can be used at any outlet to earn or redeem any reward points against the expenditure. Shukran is the landmark group’s award-winning loyalty programme, especially found in the Middle East, which has been designed to offer better rewarding shopping experience at Splash (Costa et al., 2017).

Members or customers earn valuable Shukrans on the purchase made by them and they utilize the card on the instant savings on every product offered by the company, such as accessories, footwear, clothing, furnishings, electronics, restaurants, and others.  Thus, analysing the tool of CRM established in the fashion retail it has been observed that customer’s provided positive response or feedback and stated that Shukran provides real rewards for the money invested in the products (Kerbache, Amann and Burquel, 2017) 

Shukran Card as a CRM Tool

Thus, the above description has stated that the company is able to establish and nurture sound relationships with their customers in the market, which indicated about effective Customer relationship management practices in the company leading to higher success.

Key Issues of CRM (customer relationship management)

The approach of CRM has been widely applied in the businesses to increase customer loyalty, and enhance their relationship with the various customers. However, recent researches have revealed some of the aspects or the issues in the implementation of CRM tools or software by the business organisations. These are four major issues such as neglecting attitude of employees in using CRM methods or tools. Most of the employees recognise updating of the system, as a waste of their time. Thus, it is the responsibility of the businesses to recognise the problem and identify the reasons of the negative response towards using the system.

Lack of integration capabilities: This has been one of the major issues, as the benefits of CRM or the tools will only be received when it has been integrated with the existing IT system like ecommerce, marketing automation, ERP and several others. The lack of support from the staff of vendors of the existing system which needs to be integrated into the system, will lead to the burden and wastage of time of the staff in the organisation. In context to the fashion retailer Splash, there are number of challenges that the company face in terms of implementing CRM, such as growing consumerism, creating a unique experience for the consumers and the process of inventory management.

Splash being one of the biggest fashion retailer in the middle east it has been found that due to the indecisive nature of the industry’s business it faces issues in better implementation  of  CRM. Growing consumerism as the consumers have variety of options to fulfil their demands, as they have access to many channels apart from the retail stores like e-commerce platform and mobile commerce. The issue of demand variety for the products which attracted by the social media is another problem for the brand owners of Splash to offer new collections in the short period (Costa et al., 2017).

Players or brand owners inn Splash faces problems in the aim to create unique experience for their customers and gain customer’s attention. Brands obtain higher brand loyalty from their customers as they engage in creating positive feedback from the customers.

Key Issues of CRM in Splash

Managing inventory is another CRM challenge for the company, as it has been known that fashion retailers roll out their new collections on the basis of seasons. For an example, if the summer’s is not that hot, then the apparels brands will reduce their prices to dispose unsold stock in the market. Thus, excellence in the stock visibility, operations planning, and the inventory intelligence is the primary challenge faced by Splash within the region. Thus, above mentioned are the issues faced in the company in context to CRM, affecting their relationship with the customers within region (Tuite, 2018).

Customer Relationship Management (CRM), as defined by Linoff and Berry (2011), is the approach that refers to the practices, principles and technologies that a business organization follows at the time of interacting with the clients to manage and analyze their wants and needs. In other words, CRM is adopted in various companies to enhance the overall experience of the customers. More particularly, with the increased rate of growth of technologies, customers feel more concerned about privacy and safety of their information.

Hence, Khodakarami and Chan (2014) mentioned that to ensure proper storage of their data and provide protection against identity theft, the companies use this tool in a huge array of procedures in different fields. Continuing in the same vein, Wang and Feng (2012) asserted that it is significant for any organization to reduce forecast customer needs in an effective way. Since CRM contains every bit details of customers, it becomes very easy to track their performance and determine whether they are profitable for the business or not.

The CRM system is implemented through segmenting and storing the collected data, which assists in analyzing customer behavior (Ernst et al., 2011). Then the system provides solutions as per the trends understood from the analysis done to offer positive experience to the customers. Additionally, CRM systems also improve coordination and collaboration among employees.

In fact, as argued by Sultan (2010), most of these systems are cloud-based; the performance of the employees can be accessed easily and almost from all location. Also,  a CRM platform assist in providing quality customer service by making the organized data visible, resulting in better development of the understanding of customers. Nevertheless, the CRM systems can also be applied to businesses by integrating with e-commerce platform too and have greater visibility regarding the delivery of products (Kumar and Reinartz, 2018). This business-facing tool, if utilized properly, can make an expansion in the business by generating more leads on the basis of database. The leads can then be assigned and converted into sales by providing high quality service to the customers.

Conclusion

As a result of higher sales conversion rates, CRM also boosts revenue. In other words, with greater accessibility to details, the sales employees have better ability by allowing in managing customer profiles and keeping detailed notes on meetings (Baird and Parasnis, 2011). Moreover, intricating data using CRM platforms also assists in turning customers to long-term patrons. This is because the CRM software allow to have good records of meetings with the customers, thereby maintaining strong personal rapport with each of them. CRM also increase revenue by expanding customer base. For instance, many companies set up automated emails to obtain information regarding referrals from the existing customers. Tracking the prospects of the company also help in recognizing the pattern of sources and make better use in future marketing.

Customer Relationship Management in Splash

To understand more about the customer relationship management, Splash, the largest retail clothing store in the Middle East can be considered. Being established in 1993, this store has grown to almost more than 200 stores across 14 nations around the world (Splash, 2016). This business offers latest styles for people including men, women and teens and for different age groups. Along with more than 4000 employees, the company passionately helps customers to set trends. Though usually, clothing retailers struggle to attract new potential customers, yet with the help CRM software Splash has managed to increase foot falls and achieved higher sales. Along with better customer analysis, this software has helped to enhance customer satisfaction and improve revenues (Splash, 2016).

Kim and Ko (2010) further argued that to bear this competitive world, the higher authorities of this retail clothing store decided to implement this tool to integrate inventory management, sales, customer communication and other marketing units. This tool helps in acquiring, evaluating and differentiating customer data, in turn, helping retailers to generate customer centric insights, and hence optimize productivity. Nevertheless, as Wang, Cavusoglu and Deng (2016) proposed to apprehend the implementation and working of CRM software, it becomes important to understand the touch points between retailers and customers of any company. In case of Splash, the interactive channel acts like a touch point while providing positive experience to any customer.

On the other side, Muther (2012) argued that besides conventional channels such as print advertisements, television, direct mails, product can also be considered as the most significant touch point. These touch points influence, attract and impact on customer’s purchase decision. It has also been observed by Levy, Weitz and Grewal (2012) that CRM software in this retail clothing store has integrated with other marketing tools and assisted in managing the customer touch points so as to make effective use of mediums of communication in the form of internet, e-marketing and social networking. Over time this has again helped in grabbing attention of more and more number of customers. Also, the CRM systems have provided a multi-channel approach considering the increasing influence of changing demands of customers and fashion trends.

Most importantly, CRM include various details of customers and store it to obtain information regarding their behavior, buying influences, backgrounds and feedbacks as well (Moore, Doherty and Doyle, 2010). After assembling the data, this tool then helps to analyze and interpret the findings from which it becomes easy to find out the interested customers and the amount they are willing to pay. Moreover, Keller (2010) further stated that the factors impacting the decision making process of the customers can also be identified from the interpretation.

The collected customer feedbacks not only motivate to focus on the drawbacks of any product but also indicate specific information regarding the loyal customer groups (Johnston and Johnston, 2012). Thus, interpreting data with the help of CRM software in Splash has helped the apparel retailers to improve existing knowledge of customer base. Accordingly, a better plan can be devised to increase the sales of the products of this business, thereby increasing revenue sources.

Usage of Shukran Card

To reach out more number of customers, Splash also use Shukran Card, which is an exciting award-winning program designed to offer rewards and extensive collection of popular clothing for different age groups. Shukrans basically make up a virtual currency that people can earn and spend while shopping at either any Landmark Group brand or other partner brands, be it online or in-store (Shukran, 2010). The cardholders get to know about the special events, offers and updates first as compared to other customers. Moreover, they also get special and personalized deals from this company. Furthermore, these members get early access to new launches, in-store events and sale previews, in turn, gaining more benefits. Splash offers membership to only those members who spend at least AED 1500 on purchasing within one year period (Shukran, 2018).

As a cardholder, the customer can enjoy exclusive benefits as discussed above and can even earn 10 percent cash back too. In fact, the cardholders can also become the shopper of the month by purchasing more and more products. As a Shukran member, not only people can earn points during promotions and sales but also learn about exclusive offers. More so, they also receive invites to events at participating outlets, and through managing the points balance, the members can update their preferences through online account. Nevertheless, as identified by Montjoye, Radaelli and Singh (2015), this card has certain limitations too. For instance, customers often have to give out personal information, resulting in privacy concerns regarding security of customer data. At the same time, people also receive numerous contacts depending on policies and practices of Splash. As a result, to mitigate these risk issues, the company needs to develop payment security strategy, such as in the form microchip technology and enhance data security standard.

Research methodology refers to the method which has been used to conduct research in a specific area or subject. It is considered as the systematic and logical way to solve any problem, and consists of the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles in relation to the branch of knowledge. Research methodology serves the purpose of collecting information and data which has to be used to strategize business decisions. Researchers in their study use methods qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, with some more specific methods such as surveys, interviews, case-studies, and self-reporting (Taylor, Bogdan, and DeVault, 2015).

In context to the company in the report, Splash there are two basic and most popular research methodologies which are used in conducting the research in a particular field. With the fashion retail business, these two methodologies are found to be used to provide information. ;thesemethods are called as Agile and Waterfall. Waterfall methods is called as more traditional approach, and agile is the specific type of rapid application development, and newer than waterfall.  It is a linear approach towards software development (Naidu and Babu, 2016).

Waterfall method of research in Splash it has been found, that developers and customers in the company agrees on what will be delivered in the development lifecycle. It leads to effective planning and designing which is easy to understand for both the users and the customers. Waterfall approach of research allows easy measurability of the data or information gathered from different sources.

Agile research methodology is an iterative and the approach which is based on the team to development (Serrador and Pinto, 2015). The main advantages of using agile methodology are that the customer has frequent opportunity to review the work and recommend any changes if required. The development in the agile approach tends to more user-focused and they gain sense of ownership by working with the team directly (Mahadevan, Kettinger and Meservy, 2015).

Framework to collect Quantitative data

The framework which has been in this report to collect information about the company Splash and the aspect of CRM (customer Relationship management) has been studied or collected through experiments, surveys and the other such methods. The company has been earning huge profits also due to the reason that it runs or operates in multiple countries, which defines about the large number of brands. Thus, several surveys have been conducted in the fashion retail Splash who aims to fulfil the desires and expectations of the men, women, and teens in the fashion industry. Being a part of the landmark group, the data has been collected in an optimum manner, as they focus on a number of values such as listen, empower, adapting and delivering best  and valuable products or services to the customers (Khodakarami and Chan, 2014).

Source of Secondary data

Secondary data refers to the information or the data which has been collected by someone who is other than the user. Thus, it is the market research which has been already conducted by someone else. Market research is a term which is used to describe to the process of gathering or collecting information about any topic or company (Burns, Bush and Sinha, 2014).

The data has been obtained in this report including the sources such as the annual reports, trade associations, universities, and others. In addition to these, the secondary data in this research is to be collected using the internal sources, which has been already collected by the company and states about further use in the future projects or business activities. These included balance sheets, statement of profit and loss, inventory records, and sales figures (Johnston, 2017).

Use of the Secondary data

Secondary data which has been collected using quantitative methods is beneficial as it provides data in an effective manner and helps in recognising the future growth and scope of the fashion retail. The fashion sector or industry in the UAE has already expanded in around 9 countries, with the members in millions. Thus, the secondary data which has been collected acts as the baseline for the primary research to collect the data which will be useful in further analysis and reaching to conclusions about the company.

SWOT analysis of Splash

Strengths	Weakness
· One of the strength in the fashion industry is the growing income levels of the people working in the firm. The growth in the level of income of the people leads to an increase in the disposable income. · Splash has been working great and has been considered Middle East’s largest fashion retailer since a long time. · The company has award-winning collection within the region, and caters to the demands of different age-groups including men, women and teens (Wu and Tso, 2018).	· One of the weakness found in the fashion retail businesses‘Splash’ is the development or production of a kind of product which does not appeal to the population of the community, leading to stagnation of capital. · In splash, there are huge losses when there is a decreased demand for the apparels in any season, as it creates a burden on the producers to dispose the unsold production.
Opportunities	Threats
· Number of stakeholders in the fashion retail is increasing who are willing to make investments in the businesses like Splash. Thus, it can be an opportunity for the company to increase their profits in the future. · Splash can work more upon involving the use of advanced technology and investment in information technology will be beneficial to increase sales, and leading to higher profits in the long-run (Jenkins and Williamson, 2015).	· One of the threat for the fashion retail businesses like Splash faces some downturn in global economy in the case of specific products or accessories such as footwear, and sunglasses; which decreases the purchasing of these products. This leads to reduction in the income of the company. · Trade barriers, shift in the trends and preferences of consumers, and the government legislations acts as major threats to the fashion retail business in theregions (Palvia et al., 2015).

Some of the research topics related to the customer relationship management (CRM), which includes customer focus, customer acquisition, customer care, sales management, CRM comparison, CRM consulting, CRM groupware, data quality and others (Erdem and Jiang, 2016).

Conclusion

To conclude the above discussion it has been analysed that customer relationship management is an important concept in the field of marketing in any organisation. It is the aspects through which a company is able to increase reach and enhance brand loyalty through targeted content or promotional methods. In context to the company chosen in this report called ‘splash’ which has been dealing as  a fashion retailer in the middle east and several other countries. The report discussed in detail about the CRM and the tools used by the company to enhance their relationship in the market. 

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