JD Sports: How’s the King of Trainers Treating Customers?

Welcome to episode 36 of PostFunnel’s Seven CRM Commandments series, where we get to JD Sports Fashion plc.

“Supplying the latest and greatest branded street-style and sports fashion goods for over 30 years, with 1000s of exclusive products,” is how they put it – but is JD Sports running healthy customer relationships basics?

Let’s find out.

1. Be Transparent 9/10

On jdplc.com – JD sports provides key facts on the brand’s overall wellbeing – trading updates, employee headcounts, YoY revenue, profit earned before taxes, and more.

In addition, Business Live reported that “Sportswear giant JD Sports has snapped up US trainer retailer Shoe Palace for 325 million dollars (£243.8 million).”

Peter Cowgill, executive chairman of JD Sports Fashion, said: “We are confident that our combined fascias will provide us with the flexibility and expertise to fulfil our mutual ambition of becoming a prime customer destination for sneakers and lifestyle apparel in the United States.”

Finally, though, the fact that this unflattering story on The Sun did not include any comment from JD themselves costs them a point here.

2. Incentives and Perks 10/10

We were prompted with the following popup message when first logging on to the site:

At the top of the brand’s homepage, this bonus code promo appears:

The brand also has an entire Offer Page with deals up to 50% off:

And there are student discounts on offer too:

That’s certainly enough to get a perfect score in our book!

3. Be Relevant 10/10

Both banners at the bottom of the brand’s HP – Fitness Fits (taken from home) and Loungewear Looks – are relevant for these times as we still spend more time at home due to the lingering pandemic.

In addition, the brand has added a COVID-19 section to their FAQ page detailing the safety measures they are taking in their stores to combat the virus.

The brand also details various delivery, returns, and payment options that have been altered for customers to shop more conveniently, including click and collect options.

You can read more about it in their newly added lockdown FAQs:

4. Be Helpful 5/10

Asides from focusing on sustainability, the environment, and energy consumption as well as committing to battle modern slavery– we couldn’t find ways in which the brand has been helpful or given back to its community during this whirlwind of a year.

Especially now, customers want to know that your brand stands for something and that you’re “doing good.” This creates trust and loyalty – which ultimately means – more return customers.

See Pets at Home and Target for examples of brands that have aced it in this commandment.

5. Realtime Personalization 7/10

First, to get a localized shopping experience, we were asked to choose our country of residence when entering the site:

After adding white sneakers to our shopping cart, we were presented with “Customers also viewed” item suggestions.

However, when going back to the brand’s HP – nothing was personalized to display more products of our interest.

Though no realtime re-targeting efforts were made by the brand on our social media accounts – about an hour later – when browsing the net – we were presented with a Banner Ad promoting JD sports sneakers:

There’s more that could be done in terms of realtime personalization – but they are doing better here than most brands we checked. In other words – a little push here, and they may open a gap too big for competitors to close anytime soon.

6. Master UX 8/10

Overall, we had a good experience with the brand – without any major issues to identify.

The side menu bar when shopping allows customers to narrow down their search per category, brand, size, color, price, offer, and sale.

You can also shop according to collections – with all the items clearly listed under each brand – making the entire shopping experience simple, intuitive, and fun.

We were happy to see the brand’s website offer more than just shopping. JD Sports has an entire blog with tons of content to digest.

We deducted a couple of points here as we felt the brand’s HP was a bit too long (almost 10 scrolls) and cluttered, and although some users may find this convenient – we found it was overwhelming and lengthy. Basket and check-out were smooth and intuitive, but nothing to write home (or here) about.

7. Leverage Social Media 10/10

On Facebook, JD Sports has 3.38M likes, on Instagram the brand has 1.6M followers, and on Twitter, they have 172.5K followers.

On all three social media channels, it’s clear that JD sports know what it’s doing – as they cater to customers fittingly on each channel.

From interacting with customers on Facebook:

To weekly podcasts on Instagram:

And inspirational quotes on Twitter:

Well done!

**

Overall, JD Sports is getting a fantastic 59/70 here (84%), placing them in 6th place, in a tie with Paul Smith.

A little more work on JD Sports’ realtime personalization efforts and an emphasis on helping out – will improve the brand’s ability to create more fruitful relationships with customers.

Standing up for something that’s specifically relevant to these times (the “being helpful” part) – is no longer an option for brands. Marketing Dive says that 40% of consumers want to hear what brands are doing in response to the coronavirus pandemic – for starters. Not a number to take lightly.

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. JD Sports 84%
7. Paul Smith 84%
8. Vrbo 83%
9. N Brown Group 81%
10. West Elm 81%
11. The North Face 81%
12. Holland and Barret 80%
13. lululemon 80%
14. Brooks Running 79%
15. Best Buy 78%
16. Nando’s 75%
17. Etsy 76%
18. The Body Shop 74%
19. Gymshark 73%
20. William Hill 73%
21. Essence 72%
22. Iceland Foods 71%
23. Total Wine & More 70%
24. Tommy Hilfiger 70%
25. Walgreens 70%
26. Kohl’s 70%
27. United Colors of Benetton 69%
28. Buy Buy Baby 68%
29. Fiverr 67%
30. Next 63%
31. Patagonia 61%
32. Express 60%
33. Burberry 60%
34. Zara 59%
35. COS 57%
36. Dream11 53%

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