Customer lifetime value!!!

I'm overdue a blog, and something popped into my mind today...


I'm doing a piece of coursework on the retail marketing strategy of Ikea, and they got me thinking about an interesting topic. Customer lifetime value.


We know the population of the UK is ageing. People are living longer and theres a social demographic shift towards this. First time homeowners are older, and research shows that more people are redecorating their home as an alternative to moving. Ikea are very good maximising customer lifetime. They offer ranges of furniture and homeware for families of any age. And companies such as John Lewis are booming as the only people with money are the older generation.


Companies should use created relationships (which I have been blogging about previously), in attempt to maximise the time that a customer will stay loyal (if there's such a thing) to that brand. Customers who have a relatively young target market should be thinking, 'we have these customers now, but how can we keep them in 5, 10 years down the line'. The population is ageing and yes, this includes your customers! It might be a smart move to keep up with them rather than isolating them.


You can incorporate these ideas into your retention strategy, creating handy segments of customers who are interested in the different products/services you offer. This sort of database management will help you keep contact relevant, keeping everyone happy. The customers you have now, and the customers you still have from before. Sure there might be business growing pains, and some product diversification and extension, and Ikea are a big company, but don't dare to dream!


From cradle to the grave.