Dick’s Sporting Goods and Adobe Experience Cloud to drive mass personalization
It took Dick’s Sporting Goods just 48 hours to initiate curbside pickup for customers, right at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The move came out of necessity, as the company voluntarily closed over 850 Dick’s locations around the country, holding inventory in stores that customers needed. An early investment in technology (In 2017, the retailer brought its eCommerce platform in-house) and a scrappy work culture ensured that products would not sit idle on shelves. Millions of customers, hungry for fitness equipment and outdoor gear, could safely get what they wanted in just a few clicks. It was the right bet: In the second month of the pandemic, curbside pickup grew 208 percent industrywide per the Adobe Digital Economy Index.
The company has become a pandemic-era success story and remains the category leader. After a year of strong earnings, the second quarter of 2021 became the strongest in Dick’s history. Preparedness was key: Years before e-commerce became a dominant transaction channel, Dick’s had been planning for an omnichannel future. A strong website and mobile app created an easy path for new services like curbside pickup. As the shopping experience boosted customer satisfaction, the company’s loyalty program grew as well.
Dick’s Sporting Goods has selected Adobe Experience Cloud to drive the next phase of its digital transformation. It expands a partnership that first began in 2017, when the retailer selected Adobe as its customer analytics and A/B testing platform. Today, Dick’s business has evolved considerably: Every touchpoint, such as physical stores, e-commerce, and the mobile app receive top billing as the company accelerates an omnichannel strategy — one that customers have embraced en masse. Adobe Experience Cloud apps will support this effort, enabling Dick’s to quickly deliver new digital experiences that can scale during peak periods. Teams also get access to deeper insights on the overall customer journey, as shoppers move between digital channels. This data will serve as the backbone to a mass personalization effort as well, which will also activate a loyalty program that is now over 20 million members strong.
Dick’s Sporting Goods x Adobe
The Dick’s customer base has become more multi-faceted in recent years. Different athlete personas (from golfers to boxers) are intermingled with casual fitness enthusiasts (covering everything from pickleball to yoga). Each customer comes with specific needs, and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy that is viable. With Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target as a base, the company is able to grasp what customers are looking for when they engage online, and augment the experience to make it feel more relevant to the individual.
They can move quickly as well with Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service, delivering new web and mobile experiences that are modular and scalable during peak shopping periods. It powers Public Lands for instance, the company’s new chain that focuses on outdoor activities such as camping, biking, and hiking.
Dick’s is taking personalization a step further with their investment in Adobe’s Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP), part of Adobe Experience Platform. RTCDP provides a foundation to gather customer insights across channels, as the interaction itself is taking place. This creates a real-time pulse on shopping journeys, and it allows for personalization to happen in the moments when it counts most.
A first-time shopper who comes in for tennis equipment for instance, will receive content in the future on tennis balls instead of new wrestling gear. Another customer who perhaps had an unsatisfactory experience with the company, will instantly receive a personalized email with a product recommendation to give the team another chance. RTCDP will also help deliver more value to those in Dick’s loyalty program (ScoreCard), by personalizing perks so that shoppers get the most out of their membership.
“We have always prioritized meeting the customer where they are, whether that is inside of a retail location, or digitally through our e-commerce platforms,” said Steve Miller, SVP of strategy, e-commerce and analytics, Dick’s Sporting Goods. “We didn’t realize how valuable this would become in the midst of a global pandemic, when our customers unleashed their inner athletes, and needed us to show up for them in new ways. Our investments and new services in digital will come to life with the help of Adobe Experience Cloud, enabling us to deliver seamless experiences across channels, and drive a mass personalization effort that covers millions of customers.”