In 1998, two students came up with an idea that would revolutionise the home delivery market, previously dominated by pizza sales. Grégory Marciano and Hervé Louis were the first to create and deliver sushi to consumers' homes.
Today, Sushi Shop is European leader with more than 170 points of sale in France and around the world. The brand is present in 12 countries including France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. We spoke with Jeanne Salaün, CRM & Customer Data Manager at Sushi Shop.
"We use SMS and email to keep in touch with our customers. While we were satisfied with our local provider at the time, we faced a new challenge: internationalization. We needed a partner who could support our international growth and the new challenges it brings. We have active users of our services in 12 countries, speaking different languages and having different cultures.
We wanted a trustworthy partner that could help us in our international deployment. That's why we chose CM.com. We knew that they offer a reliable solution with an international dimension since they are present in 15 countries and are connected to more than 1000 operator networks around the world: we could rely on them in the long term. "explains Jeanne Salaün.
"CM.com has really helped us launch our loyalty program in the countries where we operate. It is not an easy task because we are not at the same stage of development in each country. We can have more than 80 points of sale in one country but only 2 or 3 in another. It is therefore important to launch and animate our loyalty program to develop the activity in each country and engage consumers. And what could be better for this than SMS? "explains Jeanne.
Sushi Shop always seeks to innovate and adapt to the needs of consumers and offer them the best experience. This is why the brand wants to include conversational tools to offer them an optimal path to purchase and customer support.
In addition, each country has its own characteristics. For example, SMS is very little used in Spain. The exchange of SMS messages between individuals decreased by 85% between 2004 and 2015, a drop accelerated by the appearance of WhatsApp.
CM.com is therefore working together with Sushi Shop the possibility of integrating WhatsApp Business or Apple Messages for Business into their strategy.
Jeanne explains: "CM.com is not just a service provider. For us, it's a true partnership. We can call them, they are always available to help us send out a campaign, but also if we encounter difficulties, if we have questions or thoughts about what we can do tomorrow.
They also have this vision and ability to explain to us what tool we should use to improve the customer journey. They also tell us what customers and the world will be doing on these communication channels. This collaboration means a lot to us.
I know I can call Albéric to think about how Sushi Shop can handle any crisis: What can we do? How can we keep the link with our customers while ensuring the safety of our employees? And they are really there to give us tips for the tools that we can already put in place. It's very satisfying to see that they care about us in such a certain way."
"It's a real pleasure to support a brand like Sushi Shop: a company that never stops trying to innovate for its customers and bring them the best solutions! Their curiosity, their ability to listen and their transparency allow us to support them in their customer relationship strategy. "Alberic Tournier, Account Executive at CM.com
Jeanne admits, "We were not prepared for this crisis. We are a dynamic group that is expanding internationally. We were used to open new shops, not to close them, let alone close whole countries! It's a complicated and stressful time for everyone I think. But the most important thing for us is to keep in touch with our employees and customers.
Of course, we are trying to foresee what the consequences of this crisis will be. How will we be able to serve our customers tomorrow? Maybe they won't be able to visit our shops in the same way or their way of consuming may change. We are really trying to understand what is happening now and what the consequences will be tomorrow. Of course, we don't have the answers to these questions, only the future will tell us, but we will adapt to new consumer habits.
One thing's for sure, the future is definitely about being conversational. Especially for the "digital native" generation and the new consumers entering the market today. For them it is natural to engage in conversation with a brand through the channels they use every day."
Sushi Shop uses Adobe Campaign to send marketing campaigns to its users. They therefore chose to use the SMS plugin from CM.com in order to be able to manage all their communication channels in the same environment.
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