Retail Food Group invests in marketing automation to drive digital transformation

Retail Food Group (RFG) will rollout Marketo’s marketing automation platform as part of ambitions to digital transform its brands.

RFG owns a number of food retail brands including Gloria Jean’s Coffees, Donut King, Crust and Michel’s Patisseries. Group chief digital officer, Kevin Wordon, said the technology investment stemmed from the desire to transform the customer experience and drive franchise efficiency.

With a commitment to putting the customer at the centre of the organisation, and an objective to build loyalty through better engagement, Wordon said it was vital RFG gained the ability to communicate on an individualised basis to consumers in a relevant and timely way.

Prior to joining RFG in June, Wordon was the head of digital for travel retailer, Flight Centre, and spearheaded roll out of the Marketo platform across the group’s B2B business globally. He said he was confident in the technology’s ability to deliver personalised one-to-one conversations at scale that could drive revenue opportunities across the business.

“We will be using Marketo to drive sales and loyalty amongst our customer base, generate leads in new franchise partner recruitment, and enhance network communications among thousands of internal stakeholders across the globe,” he said.

Wordon said the marketing automation would provide a stepping stone in transforming all aspects of the business and encouraging digital adoption across the group.

The business is based around a franchising model and has 2530 global outlets. In its most recent FY16 annual financial report, the group reported a 30 per cent increase in revenue to $274.6 million and 20.5 per cent rise in net profits to $66.4m.

Marketo A/NZ managing director, Bill Binch, said RFG’s big challenge is to bring millions of interactions across multiple market-leading brands together into a single view of the customer.

“Using Marketo will provide a 360-degree view of customers, empowering RFG to boost engagement and drive valuable incremental revenue for franchise partners using rich behavioural data,” he said. “RFG is taking exciting steps towards digital transformation and we’re glad to be a part of that journey.”

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