CRM Strategy

Can Zara and Pull&Bear Pull Inditex’s CRM Practices Up the Ladder?

We conducted our 7 Commandments of CRM analysis for the global clothing company and its brands. And found another place where they lost to Uniqlo

Dafna Sheinberg

Welcome back to PostFunnel’s 40th (!!) episode of the LEGENDARY 7 CRM Commandment Series.

Today, we get to Inditex – the Spanish multinational clothing retailer.

Just like with N Brown Group’s analysis, this time around things will be a bit different. Instead of choosing one of the group’s brands, we randomly chose a different brand to rank for each commandment.

Here is the list of brands that you’ll find here: Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, and Uterqüe.

So, how will Inditex score and rank against the rest of the 39 brands? Let’s find out.

1. Be Transparent 7/10

When entering the Inditex website, we were instantly presented with the key points of activity:

  • Selling in 202 markets
  • 7,469 stores
  • €28.3 billion sales
  • +23% online sales
  • €1.2 billion in digital and sustainability transformation
  • €6,749 million in total tax contribution
  • 176,611 employees, 172 nationalities
  • 19% of join life garments
  • And so much more

This is pretty unique for a company to do.

On the other hand, there’s a lot of news going on right now about the company, mostly negative headlines regarding store closures and layoffs. The company’s lack of direct responses costs them a few points. This is not the time to hide behind weak, indirect statements.

2. Incentives and Perks 7/10

For this commandment, let’s find out whether Bershka is providing customers with incentives and perks to continue shopping with them – ultimately creating strong and loyal customer relationships.

On the brand’s HP menu, we immediately noticed that Berksha is offering discounts of up to 40%, as shown here:

In addition, the brand promises to provide customers with promotions and more when signing up to receive their newsletter.

When continuing to browse through Bershka’s site, though, we were a bit disappointed to see that no further incentives and perks were offered to us. For instance, a first-time order discount/promotion/deal or even a bonus code. Many other brands that we have analyzed to date (now reaching 40 cause we’re legendary, right?) do provide customers with these kinds of perks. And see them coming back thanks to them.

3. Be Relevant 1/10

Let’s take a look at Stradivarius for this commandment.

For starters, the brand has created a stylish and “comfy” zone for these WFH times.

However, when it comes to relevancy, we usually check whether the brand has altered its offering in one way or another, for instance, to be more convenient for shoppers during this last year of the pandemic.

A simple note on new delivery options – if they offer any – like curbside pickups, BOPIS, or other contact-free options – would be much appreciated. In fact, we couldn’t find any mention of how COVID has affected the brand/shopper at all.

Furthermore, we couldn’t find any ways in which the brand is giving back to the community or addressing societal issues that should be top of mind for every retailer today – everything from BLM, D&I, LGBT+, mental health, etc.

Remember, brands that exhibit social responsibility are the ones who will build more meaningful relationships with customers in the long run.

4. Be Helpful 10/10

Inditex is being helpful in a number of ways.

·       Supporting communities

·       Measuring impact

·       Social welfare

·       Humanitarian aid

·       Bringing clean water and better sanitation facilities to communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Brazil

·       Education programs in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

You can read more about their commitment to people and the community here.

Anyhow, that’s a lot of helpfulness.

5. Realtime Personalization 7/10

When entering the Pull&Bear website, we were asked to choose our country of residence and language of choice to shop in – also with the ability to have the brand remember our selection for the next time, we come to shop.

Then, our experience was further personalized when asked to choose our gender – so that we can tailor the experience and narrow it down before we begin.

When adding a printed dress to our shopping cart, upsell and cross-sell options were indeed there as the brand recommended, we “complete the look” with boots that are more expensive and, in another category/product of purchase.

The downside: After adding the dress to our cart and going back to the HP – nothing changed to personalize our experience, like showing us similar item suggestions and recommendations. Also, when logging off the Pull&Bear website and hopping onto social media, no realtime retargeting efforts were made by the brand.

6. Master UX 10/10

For this commandment, we chose to analyze Massimo Dutti.

The website has been created in full-spread design just like a magazine – making the entire experience very fun and engaging. The brand also has videos in some of its fold on the HP, further making it live and interactive for the shopper. Overall, memorable first impression.

The navigation bar and menu to shop according to category were all very clear and simple to navigate through – so the sleek design for sure did not come at the expense of functionality.

Finding the brand’s contact info was easy as well as helpful – and we especially liked the way their FAQ page is laid out.

The entire process of adding items to our cart, removing them, and proceeding to check out was simple. Therefore, making the site highly accessible and easy to use. Perfect score!

7. Leverage Social Media 5/10

For this commandment, we chose to analyze Uterqüe – perhaps one of Inditex’s less familiar brands that sell accessories, fashion extras, and a chosen selection of top-quality fabric and leather garments.

On Twitter, they have about 19K followers, 349K likes on Facebook, and 745K followers on Instagram.

On all three channels, they keep it strictly fashion. There’s so much more content that can be created to both improve brand awareness and increase brand loyalty. That’s a miss.

Perhaps posts that call for more engagement would help the brand create a stronger community which leads to stronger and healthier customer relationships.

**

Overall, Inditex is getting a 47/70 here (67%), tied with Fiverr for 31st, and towards the bottom of the pack. You could, for sure, expect more of such a huge brand. Perhaps Stradivarius, the brand we randomly chose for checking relevancy, is the one Inditex brand that doesn’t take relevancy into consideration. Too bad. Such voices should go top-down across the organization.

Here are the full rankings of all the brands we analyzed to date:

  1. Pets at Home 91%
  2. Lowe’s 90%
  3. Petco 90%
  4. Target 87%
  5. Uniqlo 86%
  6. Paul Smith 84%
  7. Vrbo 83%
  8. N Brown Group 81%
  9. West Elm 81%
  10. The North Face 81%
  11. Holland and Barret 80%
  12. lululemon 80%
  13. JD Sports 79%
  14. Brooks Running 79%
  15. Best Buy 78%
  16. Etsy 76%
  17. Nando’s 75%
  18. The Body Shop 74%
  19. Gymshark 73%
  20. William Hill 73%
  21. Essence 72%
  22. Angie’s List 71%
  23. Iceland Foods 71%
  24. Total Wine & More 70%
  25. Tommy Hilfiger 70%
  26. Walgreens 70%
  27. Kohl’s 70%
  28. United Colors of Benetton 69%
  29. Buy Buy Baby 68%
  30. Fiverr 67%
  31. Inditex 67%
  32. The White Company 66%
  33. Next 63%
  34. Patagonia 61%
  35. Express 60%
  36. Burberry 60%
  37. Zara 59%
  38. Treatwell 58%
  39. COS 57%
  40. Dream11 53%

We publish a new analysis every week, so watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way!