Linda Grondsma – Wehkamp

Linda Grondsma is Research Manager and Senior Data Analyst at Wehkamp. Wehkamp started as a Dutch mail order company but has gradually evolved into a pure online player that as of today is one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the Netherlands. In her role as Research Manager, Linda is responsible for external research, such as doing qualitative research, brand tracking and pre-testing for Wehkamp. As Senior Data Analyst, Linda is responsible for sorting and analysing raw data and setting up reports including dashboards.

From MAIL ORDER to the largest e-commerce retailer

In recent history, Wehkamp transitioned from a mail-order company to one of the largest online retailers. Linda explains the process: ‘’The business started 70 years ago in Slagharen as a bed and bedding company. A thick catalogue was released and sent to home addresses twice a year. Next, a system that could automatically take orders by phone, even outside regular hours, was introduced. Wehkamp launched its online web shop in the 90s with an expanded assortment, and sometime in the first ten years of 2000 Wehkamp turned into a pure online player.”

“Because we are now fully online, we have less personal contact with customers. For instance, when customers call us, that is one of the rare moments we have interpersonal communication. For this reason, data is crucial to us.”

‘’Based on customer data, we can enhance our knowledge about our customers, learn about them, and improve the customer experience.’’

Transition to 100% data-driven

Generally, when it comes to data, people talk about to what extent data influences a company’s decision-making. At Wehkamp, data is extremely important. Linda: ‘’Data is incorporated into almost every decision.  Because we are incredibly data-driven and have been around for ages, we have known our customers through this data for a long time.

Having done decades of online business, we collect a lot of data and test a lot. Not just pertaining to our website, but also our communication. For example, we are doing pre-tests, and we recently did an advertising concept test for the first time. We are also incorporating CRM initiatives and doing A-B tests.”

Linda continues: ‘’Data comes back everywhere. Many dashboards answer different questions, such as developments and opportunities in our customer base, which is crucial for everyone in the company to know. In recent years, our customer service has also become more data-driven, so we are continuously learning and improving by the use of different data.’’

Customer JOURNEY as a moment of truth

Wehkamp focuses immensely on improving its customer service level. Linda: ‘’As an online player, the assortment on your webshop should be exceptional to ensure that customers can efficiently and smoothly find what they need. Therefore, the shopping experience is essential for us to evaluate and improve. Every moment of contact that our customers have is a Moment of Truth, both online and at service moments, where human interaction takes place.

Customers receiving their packages from the deliverer, returning their orders, or calling our customer service are key moments of human interaction. All these moments are extremely important for the total shopping experience of the customer.’’

‘’All communication moments are extremely important for the total shopping experience of the customer.’’

Wehkamp evaluates the customer journey in various ways. “We measure the customer journey by measuring the CSAT and NPS scores. We analyse the customer experience in all phases of the customer journey. When a customer has gone through all phases, we ask about their experience per phase and include this in a final grade. So if a certain phase in the customer journey is not doing that well, the total grade suffers because of it. We do this simply because it is so important for us to know how our customers experience our products and services and how they feel during the purchasing journey.’’ explains Linda.

‘’The entire journey of the customer makes up their final sentiment and judgement about our company.’’

role of media & creation for brand growth

Creativity and media go hand in hand. Linda explains the importance of creativity in Brand Growth and how creativity is coherent with the media mix of Wehkamp: ‘’Developing campaigns and creating interesting content for our target group is crucial to us. When looking at media, television is one of the most important channels in our media mix. Other channels also contribute, but looking at past evaluations, TV has been the most successful one so far.’’

Linda continues: ‘’Recently, we have also started being more active on TikTok. For example, we started posting videos to demonstrate how we package our products for delivery. In these posts, our distribution centre reveals how we ship as little air as possible. This shows how creativity in channel selection and content creation is incorporated in our media mix.’’

‘’People generally don’t associate TikTok and Wehkamp with each other, so perhaps this poses a challenge for us. Aside from TikTok, we are also active on Instagram and Facebook, with the latter having the largest number of Wehkamp followers. But overall, when it comes to content creation, I think it depends on what type of content you are producing that is more suitable for a specific social media platform. Facebook is about sharing experiences and photos. Instagram used to revolve around posting pictures but has become more of a video player. TikTok has grown rapidly into being the perfect platform to post video material, and provides a way to refresh and rejuvenate the brand, reaching an entirely different consumer demographic compared to Facebook.’’

Consistent messaging AS A TOOL during CHALLENGING YEARS

A lot has happened in the world these past few years, and businesses had to be creative. Physical stores and online shops have felt the impact in different ways. Linda explains what has- and has not changed for Wehkamp: ‘’When it comes to our media strategy, there is a great need to stay agile. More than ever, our media strategy needs to be hyper-flexible, because the market changes constantly as a result of COVID, the war in Ukraine, and inflation. That is why we made a shift towards increasing the number of messages we want to bring across and be increasingly relevant.

In doing so, we keep a close eye on telling a consistent story and bringing across consistent messages. Consistency in brand communication matters, and we will continue to work on this by conveying more concretely who we are, what we offer, and which audience we are addressing in our messaging.’’