With its new push on the CX side, Williams Sonoma has given us some food for thought on how to segment those types of programs.  Typically, companies seek to focus on CX as a whole or in some cases at the customer segment level.  For companies like Williams-Sonoma, that means designing customer experiences around such segments as first home buyers, seniors or new parents.

The company has also taken their CX ‘segmentation’ to a different level, by focusing on product / purpose categories including specifically gift giving.  Recognizing that the gift buyer’s challenges are different, Williams-Sonoma is focusing on empowering its in-store associates to better markets gifts as a specific strategy.   Beyond that, they are also reaching into the gift buyer’s home by providing timely reminders and ideas when the same time of year roles around.

The most important thing to highlight here is the depth of focus on a specific buying situation which suggests three things:

1. Recognition by the company of the importance of gift purchases to their overall sales results
2. An understanding of the unique challenges of gift buying (including remembering and finding the right thought behind a gift)
3. Integration of human training with leveraging of systems to create a complete CX around the gift buying experience.