16 Awesome Examples of E-commerce Personalization from Top Brands

Reading Time: 16 minutes

E-commerce personalization can help to close the customer experience gap, or well, make it worse!

Here are a few brands that have implemented e-commerce personalization strategies and made them work:

1. Spencer
2. Bigbasket
3. Speedi
4. Foodhub
5. Stitch Fix
6. Yelp
7. Starbucks
8. Forever 21
9. Cocomelody
10. Amazon
11. Walmart
12. Alibaba
13. Sephora
14. Target
15. Zalando
16. Blibli

These are some brands that offer hyper-personalized customer experiences and improve their overall conversion rates.

Bonus Reads: Build relevant micro-moments for your customers with B2C personalization Do you know what your customers are saying about hyper-personalization in retail?

E-commerce retailers today know how important it is to capture customer attention using personalized marketing.

80% of respondents say they are more inclined to do business with an organization that delivers tailored experiences, and 90% say personalization is desirable. –Epsilon Research

Market leaders keep a close eye on every action shoppers take; for instance, the recommendation engines powering Netflix and Spotify learn more about your tastes and preferences whenever you pause a show or abandon a song midway.

Want to get behind the scenes of E-commerce personalization? Book a demo with MoEngage here.

A Forbes article reports that Netflix runs 250 A/B tests annually and harvests personalization information from 300 million profiles to drive its watchlist curation.

The world’s biggest brands are simply better at the personalization game. They stay ahead of the curve by leveraging the sophisticated intelligence they have on consumers and acting on data they have collected from billions of transactions across different platforms.

As a product marketer at a large or small e-commerce firm, you can also learn how to build and roll out hyper-relevant, timely, and compelling campaigns. This article will quickly take you through some examples of companies that are acing e-commerce personalization.

Let’s start the guide with a basic understanding of e-commerce personalization.

“When best customers produce 18 times the revenue of the average customer a retailer must prioritize giving the shopper what she wants.” RJ Metrics

What is E-commerce Personalization?

All brands want to treat their customers as a VIP. E-commerce personalization allows just that.

E-commerce personalization software like MoEngage uses AI and machine learning to analyze on-site or app behavior and use the information to create unique experiences.

16 E-commerce Personalization Examples (and Their Strategies)

Using marketing automation, you can personalize every touchpoint of your customer journey. Besides marketing automation, e-commerce personalization platforms also consider customer segments based on browsing behavior and enable online retailers to deliver personalized experiences across the customer journey.

1. Spencers Retail, the Hypermarket

Spencer, established in the 1920s, is one of the biggest e-commerce brands in India.

They wanted to address the needs of their customers constantly changing behavior and empower them to make smart choices.

Spencer wanted to deliver personalized omnichannel experiences to every customer based on their behavior, location, gender, preferences, and actions on their e-commerce site.

Spencer used an e-commerce personalization platform like MoEngage to deliver omnichannel experiences. The e-commerce personalization platform enabled Spencer to segment its customers.

The result:

• • 30% conversion rates across cart abandonment campaigns with personalization using Flows
  • 15% increase in LTV
  • 10% uplift in conversion rates on cross-selling campaigns
  • 10% improvement in repeat purchases using WhatsApp as a channel

Bonus reads: Have a burning question about mobile app user engagement in e-commerce? Read here to know more.

2. BigBasket’s E-commerce Personalization Strategy

Bigbasket improved its customer reachability by delivering push notifications at the right time throughout its customer journey.

The brand offered its customers hyper-personalized notifications and emails—an instant upgrade from customizations-based basic username personalization and category-based recommendations.

The result: Bigbasket E-commerce stores saw an uptick in their click-through rates from 1.8% to 2.5%-3%. There was also a 26% uplift that BigBasket observed in the “Add To Basket” conversions on their online store and app.

Bonus reads:  While social media and email marketing remain the go-to marketing channels, push notifications are slowly emerging as a strong contender to feature on the list. And e-commerce websites are not the ones to miss out on this opportunity. Click here to learn more about push notifications for E-commerce websites.

3. Speedi

Speedi is a leading e-commerce website based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and uses e-commerce personalization to improve customer retention rates and reduce cart abandonment.

Besides segmentation, the brand also implemented personalized messages to minimize cart abandonment.

The result:

• 3X increase in active customers
• Improved conversion rate by 28%
• Increased customer loyalty 6X times

4. FoodHub

Founded in 2017, FoodHub is an online store that delivers food in the UK. To get more engagement, this online store wanted to deliver personalized product recommendations based on the food habits of their customers.

FoodHub implemented e-commerce personalization software like MoEngage to segment its customers based on previous selections, purchase cycle, and affinity. The brand wanted to use the browsing data to deliver multi-channel hyper-personalized experiences.

5. Stitch Fix

Forbes describes Stitch Fix not just as a fashion company but also as a data powerhouse.

Stitch Fix went the extra mile with its e-commerce personalization and customized product recommendations.

The customers are prompted to answer a series of questions that help the brand better understand their sense of style. The company’s process starts with thoroughly understanding each customer’s style, accomplished through questions about preferences, taste, and fit.

Bonus Reads: Do you know what top retail brands are doing to provide personalized customer experiences? Download the Ebook today.

In other words, Stitch Fix is a leader in e-commerce personalization, delivering personalized customer experiences according to the preferences of each customer.

Stitch Fix has revolutionized online shopping by putting the focus on e-commerce personalization. By gathering information about each customer’s style, body type, and preferences, Stitch Fix can create a unique and tailored shopping experience for each individual.

The company uses cutting-edge technology to analyze this real-time customer data and provide personalized recommendations. Still, it also adds a human touch by having a stylist handpick items for each customer.

Stitch Fix’s commitment to personalization has differentiated them in the E-commerce world and has proven to be a successful business strategy.

Stitch Fix has built an incredibly loyal customer base, and the company has an astonishing six-month retention rate of around 30%, significantly higher than any other player in the space. Customers appreciate the convenience and tailored experience Stitch Fix provides, making them more likely to return for future purchases.

6. Yelp

Yelp, a popular restaurant and local business listing app, has been around for 15 years and has over 200 million customer reviews.

Yelp has recently implemented a personalized customer service strategy that collects information about customers’ preferences, such as food types and lifestyle habits, through a survey.

This allows the app to make highly relevant and valuable recommendations, such as suggesting pet-friendly, vegan-friendly Japanese restaurants with a short wait time. These hyper-personalized customer service efforts have paid off, with 2.4 million monthly customers making reservations or waitlist requests and 2.2 million service requests across 300+ categories.

Bonus reads:  The only omnichannel cues you need to know for your E-commerce business. Distilling down 30 experts’ take on video marketing trends for E-commerce

To add more, Yelp is finding new ways to win at personalization to meet customer needs better and provide a seamless customer experience. Their co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, told Fast Company, “One of the things that we’ve heard repeatedly is, ‘Hey, I’m a vegetarian’ or ‘Hey, I’m a parent’ or ‘Hey, I have a dog… All these personal aspects weren’t necessarily captured and then considered in search results.”

Yelp is now building new features and adding functionality to address these need gaps to ensure it stays relevant even during the upcoming decade. With its new focus on personalization, Yelp has transformed itself into a genuinely hyper-personalized E-commerce platform.

This has made Yelp an indispensable tool for users looking for their area’s best dining or service experiences.

Additionally, Yelp’s ability to combine information about its users’ preferences with rapidly-changing details, such as wait times, has made it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to quickly find the perfect place to eat or get a service done.

Their Chief Product Officer, Vivek Patel says, “Throughout the years, if you were doing the same search in the same spot, you would get the same results, but everyone’s different. Everyone has different tastes, and I think we can do a lot to help surface the things that resonate with people, at that moment in that context.”

7. Starbucks

Starbucks has led the loyalty program, utilizing its app-based customer rewards program to build customer relationships. The company introduced gamification and personalization in the app to engage with customers and reward loyalists. This resulted in a revenue increase to $2.56 billion, and the app generated about 22% of all U.S. sales.

Starbucks leverages app-centric data to personalize its offerings through AI-based real-time personalization. Customers are willing to share personal data to receive delicious rewards, and Starbucks can analyze this data to create effective marketing campaigns.

Bonus reads:  Marketing automation tactics that are guaranteed to be headache-free!  Top 10 brands that embraced omnichannel marketing strategies to reach customers everywhere. Want to know how omnichannel retail revolutionized the shopping How do repeat purchases prove vital for your customers in E-commerce? Read here to know more. Boost your business’s bottom line with ROI-driven omnichannel marketing – get started now

The Starbucks app is personalized for each customer, and the brand sends hyper-personalized messages, resulting in a win-win situation for both the customer and the brand.

To achieve a greater customer experience, Starbucks also uses machine learning algorithms to make personalized product recommendations to customers based on their purchase history and habits.

This creates a more personalized and seamless ordering experience throughout the customer journey with their product. Starbucks has also implemented augmented reality features in the app, such as the ability to try virtual drinks before ordering.

This personalized approach has increased customer satisfaction, gained loyal customers, and helped Starbucks maintain its position as a leader in the E-commerce and coffee industries. Starbucks’ personalized approach has improved customer satisfaction and gained loyal customers, and significantly impacted the brand’s marketing efforts.

The personalized games that the brand introduced have helped to triple Starbucks’s marketing campaign results, double email redemptions, and generate a threefold increase in the incremental spending of customers who redeem offers. This demonstrates the effectiveness of Starbucks’ personalized approach in engaging with customers and driving sales. For those interested in learning more, a case study on Starbucks’ rewards program can be downloaded for further analysis and understanding.

See how MoEngage can help turn your customer insights into real results.

8. Forever 21

Forever 21, one of the customer experience leaders and the California-based fashion giant, has continued to decrease its brick-and-mortar footprint and is turning to E-commerce in a bigger way after filing for bankruptcy in 2019. The fast-fashion brand has launched an international site to engage consumers in Asia, Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. Not surprisingly, personalization is a big priority for them.

Forever 21 is leveraging E-commerce personalization to improve the shopping experience for its customers. The retailer uses personalized search results, offers, and product recommendations to capture shoppers’ attention. This dynamic personalization adjusts the results based on each shopper’s browsing behavior, making the experience more engaging and increasing the likelihood of a purchase.

For example, when searching for sweaters, the results will initially show women’s clothing, but after browsing through men’s listings, the search results will display more men’s clothing options. By actively listening to customer behavior and adjusting the experience, Forever 21 provides each shopper a personalized and optimized shopping experience.

Furthermore, Forever 21 is leveraging technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its personalization efforts to increase customer satisfaction. These technologies allow the retailer to process vast amounts of data in real time and make recommendations and decisions based on that data to offer personalized customer experience. This enables them to provide a more personalized customer experience and continuously improve their personalization efforts.

Bonus reads:  Engage your audience now with customizable push notification templates (free) for E-commerce brands! How to implement web push notifications for E-commerce marketing App retention statistics that you should know right now!

9. Cocomelody

Cocomelody‘s E-commerce personalization was all about automating their cross-channel communication and triggering relevant content to their loyal customers.

Focusing on customer insights, Cocomelody used an E-commerce personalization tool to analyze and optimize campaigns in real-time and act on those insights. The result:

• 30% improvement in email campaign open rates
• 20% spike in yearly conversion rates
• 30% increase in online ROAS

Enhance your customer’s experience – personalize their customer journey with MoEngage.

10. Amazon

No article on personalization in an E-commerce context can afford to ignore Amazon. Regarding behavioral targeting, predictive modeling, and contextually relevant marketing, Amazon aces the game because of the sheer amount of data. Amazon has mastered the art of ecommerce personalization by leveraging vast amounts of data it has collected from its customers.

This data, which includes information such as a customer’s full name, search history, past purchase history, browsing habits, and spending patterns, allows Amazon to create a detailed profile of each customer, providing an experience beyond what customers expect. The information is then used to provide personalized recommendations, aid product discovery, and improve marketing efforts.

Amazon’s “frequently bought together” and “customers who bought this item also bought” prompts have proven highly effective, with over 44% of customers making purchases based on these recommendations.

Additionally, every time customers visit Amazon’s marketplace, they are greeted with a personalized homepage tailored to their unique shopping habits, wishlist, and real-time shopping cart data, further enhancing their shopping experience.

With Amazon’s extensive use of data and personalization techniques, it’s no surprise that, compared to other E-commerce brands, conversions from Amazon’s on-site recommendations are 60% higher. Being a pioneer in the E-commerce personalization sector, Amazon also uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and understand customer behavior, making the recommendations even more accurate over time.

With all these personalized touchpoints, Amazon can create a seamless and convenient shopping experience for each customer, leading to increased engagement, a boosted personalized customer experience, and repeat business. Hence, Amazon’s commitment to personalization has set the bar for E-commerce companies, making it a leader in the industry.

Amazon customer service reps also play an important role in helping to provide a personalized shopping experience for their customers. They are in constant contact with new or existing customers, answering questions about products and services, resolving issues, and providing recommendations for products that may interest them.

During customer interaction, they also have a habit of collecting customer feedback to help inform Amazon about what their customers want and need, thereby providing them with highly personalized customer experiences. This information collected is then used to create tailored experiences for each customer.

Know how Sherpa AI (of MoEngage) can guide you toward optimal business strategies.

11. Walmart

Walmart is leading its E-commerce personalization strategy by recognizing its importance in increasing sales and is committed to providing customers with a convenient and personalized experience.

Right now, for their E-commerce personalization tactics, they employ a variety of customer service channels to personalize the omnichannel customer experience.

The other way Walmart provides customers with a personalized message is through its app. The app allows customers to create a personalized shopping list, save items for future purchases, and take advantage of exclusive offers.

Walmart implements E-commerce personalization through various means to provide a personalized customer experience. Firstly, the redesigned website offers relevant product recommendations to each shopper based on their browsing and purchasing history. This includes considering the customer’s location and providing recommendations based on what’s trending in the area to offer a seamless customer experience.

The success of Walmart’s E-commerce personalization efforts can be seen in the impressive results it has achieved. According to The Boston Consulting Group, prioritizing personalization can help brands outperform their competitors by as much as 30%. This prediction has certainly come true for Walmart, as its U.S. sales have reached their strongest point in nine years, with 270 million customers served each week.

Walmart’s efforts have been noticed, as the company was also in the top quartile of Sailthru’s Retail Personalization Index, demonstrating its expertise in E-commerce personalization.

12. Alibaba

Alibaba, the world’s largest E-commerce company, has implemented personalization through data analysis and machine learning algorithms to provide a customized shopping experience to its customers.

The brand collects data on customers’ browsing and purchasing habits and uses this information to create personalized product recommendations and targeted advertisements, offering a seamless customer experience.

Additionally, Alibaba uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand customer queries and provide relevant search results.

The company also offers personalization through its various platforms, such as Taobao and Tmall, which use customer data to recommend products, show personalized content and promotions, and provide a personalized homepage for each customer.

This approach to E-commerce personalization has been instrumental in driving customer engagement and sales for Alibaba. Alibaba’s use of personalized advertisements has led to a click-through rate (CTR) that is 2-3 times higher compared to non-personalized advertisements.

The company has also reported that customers with a personalized shopping experience on their platforms are more likely to return and make repeat purchases. These statistics highlight the importance of personalization in E-commerce and the significant impact it can have on customer engagement and sales.

Make your customer stay in the loop with real-time transactional alerts feature from MoEngage.

13. Sephora

Sephora has been a leader in E-commerce personalization by combining technology and customer data to deliver personalized customer experiences to their online shoppers.

Their customers expect to be able to quickly find products that match their skin type, hair texture, and beauty goals. They also want personalized suggestions based on their past purchases and reviews.

To accomplish this, Sephora uses data such as buying history, browsing behavior, and customer preferences to suggest products and create a unique or personalized shopping experience for each customer. Sephora also allows customers to save their beauty profiles and preferences, making it easier for the system to recommend products that fit their needs.

Sephora also uses self-service portals that allow customers to quickly find the products they want and make their purchases seamless without speaking to sales associates.

Furthermore, they also develop intelligent chatbots and AI-powered virtual assistants to provide real-time assistance and product recommendations.

Additionally, Sephora has a “Beauty Insider” loyalty program that offers personalized rewards and key benefits based on a customer’s purchase history and engagement with the brand. All these efforts demonstrate Sephora’s commitment to personalizing the E-commerce experience for their customers and providing them with a seamless, tailored customer journey.

Sephora has also implemented personalized email marketing campaigns, sending targeted promotions and product recommendations based on a customer’s previous purchases and interests. This has led to a higher open and click-through rate than generic, mass-marketed emails.

Sephora’s successful implementation of E-commerce personalization has contributed to a boosted customer experience and brand growth and has set a high bar for the industry. Using relevant data and technology, Sephora has created a personalized and seamless shopping experience for its customers, increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

14. Target

Target, the American retail giant, has successfully implemented E-commerce personalization to enhance personalized customer service.

The company leverages data from various sources, such as customer behavior, purchase habits, and demographics, to personalize its website and mobile app. This includes personalized product recommendations, dynamic pricing, and tailored promotions and offers, exceeding customer expectations.

To implement E-commerce personalization, Target also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to understand the customer’s needs and preferences, making the shopping experience seamless and convenient. Additionally, the company has integrated voice-activated virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa, to streamline the shopping process and provide customers with quick and easy access to product information.

By prioritizing personalized customer experiences, Target can differentiate itself from its competitors and gain loyal customers.

Since Target has successfully implemented E-commerce personalization by leveraging technology and data-driven customer insights, its mobile app has been downloaded over 45 million times and sees a high rate of engagement from its customers.

The company’s integration with voice-activated assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home has significantly increased voice shopping.

Target’s loyalty program, Target Circle, has also seen strong engagement with over 75 million members. Such retail touchpoints loyalty programs are a terrific method to enhance customer experience and can be powerful tools for customer personalization.

These initiatives, along with Target’s personalized product recommendations, promotions, and exclusive deals based on customers’ browsing and past purchase habits, have contributed to a seamless and convenient shopping experience for customers. It also resulted in positive customer feedback for making their product journey seamless.

Connect with your customers in real-time – implement web messaging on your website with MoEngage today!

15. Zalando

Zalando, one of Europe’s leading online fashion and lifestyle retailers, is acing E-commerce personalization by leveraging data and technology to provide personalized customer experiences.

The company collects data on customer behavior, preferences, and past purchases to understand their individual needs and preferences to provide them with an exclusive customer experience.

This information is then used to provide personalized product recommendations, targeted marketing campaigns, and tailored content on their website. Additionally, Zalando uses machine learning algorithms to analyze customer insights and improve the accuracy of their recommendations over time.

Through these efforts, Zalando can increase customer engagement, retention, and loyalty, ultimately leading to higher sales and revenue. Zalando also uses targeted marketing campaigns, tailored website content, and personalized product recommendations to engage customers, build brand loyalty, and satisfy customer expectations.

Zalando’s approach to personalization has already been successful, leading to increased customer engagement, loyalty, and sales. The company has set a high standard for ecommerce personalization. It serves as a model for other retailers looking to offer a similar experience to their customers, thereby getting positive customer feedback in return.

16. Blibli

Blibli, the largest E-commerce in Indonesia, engaged MoEngage to maximize conversions, especially from customers who have abandoned carts.

To maximize the abandoned cart conversion rate, Blibli adopted Geofence Push campaigns and Dynamic Product Messaging emails. This resulted in

• Improved brand recall value
• Improved engagement and conversions, especially during the holidays
• They also adopted an omnichannel insights-led engagement strategy which saw a 100% increase in Monthly Transacting Users.

Benefits of E-commerce Personalization

66% of customers want brands to understand their specific requirements and expectations. But only 32% of online retailers believe they can transform data into tailored pricing, offers, and items in real time. Salesforce

78% of consumers have chosen, recommended, or even paid more for a brand that provides a personalized service or experience. McKinsey

These are some of the game-changing facts of personalization in E-commerce. Still, as we have seen from the E-commerce personalization examples, personalized experiences result in

• Increased conversions
• Increased average order value,
• And overall revenue growth improvement.

How can Brands Provide a More Personalized Experience?

MoEngage is a no code E-commerce personalization platform that lets you personalize the website experience for each customer.

Benefits of Using MoEngage for Enhanced Customer Experience:

• With the no-code builder, you can go Live in seconds – All you have to do is identify customer segments, create campaigns with our visual builder, and analyze and optimize with our analytics suite.
• Deeper segmentation, micro-segmentation, we have it all – You can analyze your E-commerce sales and build contextual one-to-one experiences, and trigger personalized experiences based on segments, attribution, location, device type, time spent on the page, pages viewed per session, and more.
• Unlimited dry runs until you are satisfied – Preview and test your campaigns across browsers and devices until you are satisfied with the personalized experience delivered across your customer journey.
• The dynamic duo – MoEngage and Dynamic Content – You can personalize your website content with product recommendations based on the frequency of visits, device type, and even the location of your customers.
• Personalized experience based on cart activity – Customers left before check-out? You can use MoEngage to help your customers continue from where they left off. Improve your conversion rates by showing relevant content across the home, category, or product page.
• Real-time personalized content experiences – You can now contextualize E-commerce experiences based on browsing activity, traffic sources, and viewed offers.

Wrapping Up!

Personalization has become a crucial aspect of the E-commerce industry. E-commerce personalization examples have successfully used ‘personalized experiences’ to improve conversion rates and customer loyalty.

Explore the power of automation by giving Rocketium’s Banner Builder Tool a go, and begin generating greater ROI from performance marketing campaigns on your website or E-commerce app.

As a Storefront Manager, Category Head, Product Marketer, or Revenue Head at an E-commerce firm, you too can leverage the power of personalization and display highly relevant display banners and hyper-personalized marketing messages to your customers to drive clicks and conversions.