Why personalising the customer journey has become a sales performance issue

Consumers no longer buy in the same way

The physical point of sale remains the decisive terrain. 84 % of the French prefer to make their purchases in-store (Havas Commerce & CSA Consulting, 2024). But simply showing up is no longer enough. Consumers expect an experience that is consistent with what they have seen online, personalised according to their profile, and seamless from one end of the journey to the other.

Personalising the customer journey can increase conversions by 10 to 30 % depending on the sector (Iconomie, 2024). This is not a theoretical figure. It's the direct translation of decisions taken on the ground: the right product, the right location, the right message, the right person, at the right time.

The point-of-sale conversion rate, an under-exploited indicator

Physical shops have an average transformation rate of over 20 %, compared with around 2 % for cold sales calls (Pipedrive, 2025). The potential is there. But it can only be realised if the customer journey is carefully thought out, built and executed.

A low in-store conversion rate reveals bottlenecks in the buying journey. Identifying these friction points is the first task. And this is often where brands struggle, due to a lack of reliable and regular feedback from the field (Conversion Mentors, 2024).

The four levers of a personalised customer journey at the point of sale

These four levers are interdependent. Taken in isolation, each produces a limited effect. Combined and piloted together, they form a coherent and measurable conversion mechanism.

1. Customer knowledge as the starting point for any field strategy

Personalising a shopping journey without precise knowledge of the outlet's customer base means working blindly. Before setting up or activating a store, you need to map out who buys what, when and in what type of space.

This in-depth understanding of the situation on the ground is not just controlled from head office. It is built up through direct contact with the points of sale: shelf surveys, store checks, consumer surveys and observations of buying behaviour. It is this material from the field that then enables us to fine-tune our actions: highlighting a product at the top of the shelf in a family hypermarket, favouring an expert section in a hypermarket, adapting our message according to the expectations, level of expertise or purchasing intentions of the customers of each store.

By collecting and analysing customer data as close to the ground as possible, teams can offer a tailor-made service and adapt their approach in real time (Conversion Mentors, 2024).

2. Merchandising layout: personalisation starts on the shelf

A customer journey is built up physically. The layout of products, the management of facings, the installation of point-of-sale and point-of-sale advertising, the dramatisation of shelf space: every decision to set up a store has a direct influence on buying behaviour.

An intuitive shelf layout makes it easier for customers to explore the shop. This means grouping products by category so that customers can easily find what they're looking for, highlighting new products and bestsellers to encourage impulse buying, and creating a seamless shopping experience.

But this logic needs to be broken down by channel. The optimum layout in a hypermarket on the outskirts of town is not the same as in a chemist's or DIY shop. Planograms need to be devised for each format, negotiated with the retailer's purchasing and merchandising teams, and then checked regularly to ensure that execution on the ground matches what has been sold.

The fight against shortages and the monitoring of restocking are an integral part of the customer experience. A product missing at the wrong time not only generates frustration: it also results in a lost sale, sometimes to a competitor brand. In a shopping journey where everything is based on fluidity and immediacy, a poorly stocked shelf remains one of the most direct obstacles to conversion.

To find out more about best practice for setting up in supermarkets, see our page dedicated to field merchandising.

3. Shopper activation: the human lever for conversion

This is often the missing link in the personalisation chain. Data can be used to target customers, merchandising can capture their attention, but it's the point-of-sale activity that triggers the act of buying.

Effective sales promotion is based on a direct experience between the brand and the consumer, embodied by ambassadors trained in the brand's products and issues. Tastings, product demonstrations, personalised corner advice: these formats convert customers because they meet a specific expectation. 62% of French consumers prefer to buy in-store and expect staff to help them through the purchasing process (Ayden, 2024).

For the activation to be truly personalised, it must be adapted to the channel and the season. In supermarkets, promotions create a direct connection between the product and its consumer environment, through tasting, promotions or competitions. In supermarkets, the focus shifts towards technical advice and demonstrations, because customers come with a more precise buying intention and an appetite for product expertise.

The most common mistake is to deploy staff with a superficial knowledge of the brand, without any real briefing on the objectives of the operation, the shop context or the expectations of the target customers. But what's the point of a retailer or brand financing a standardised promotion that has little personality and is sometimes disconnected from consumer expectations? Presence alone is not enough. Without adaptation to the context and quality of interaction, the commercial impact is often limited.

4. Omni-channel coherence as the foundation of the personalised journey

Personalisation follows the consumer throughout their journey, adapting services and communication in real time. This strategy is based on a unified view of the customer, regardless of the channel through which they interact with the brand (Orisha Commerce, 2025).

In the field, this means that the message conveyed by the sales teams at the point of sale must be consistent with what the consumer has seen online or in an advertisement. A brand that communicates about a national promotion but fails to inform the field team creates immediate frustration - and a missed opportunity to convert.

Teams in the field, whether they are the back-up sales force or sales animators, need to be integrated into the omnichannel logic: they need to receive information on current campaigns, understand the key messages and be able to articulate the digital offering with the reality at the point of sale.

What blocks conversion: the most common field errors

Identifying the obstacles is just as important as deploying the levers. Here are the dysfunctions that come up most often when analysing customer journeys with low conversion rates.

A poorly negotiated or uncontrolled establishment: the validated planogram does not correspond to what is actually on the shelf. The PDL (share of shelf space) is lower than agreed, and product visibility is inadequate.

Presenters not trained in the brand: They have mastered sales techniques, but not the product pitch or the brand's specific characteristics. The personal touch is non-existent.

A lack of feedback from the field: Without reliable data on what's happening at the point of sale, it's impossible to adjust actions during the operation. Decisions are taken after the event.

Activation disconnected from seasonality: peaks in consumer traffic are not capitalised on, and operations are deployed outside the relevant peak periods for the category.

A purely quantitative approach: The number of visits and sales is counted, but the reasons for non-conversions are not analysed. The friction points remain invisible.

By way of comparison, almost 70 % of online shopping baskets are abandoned because the purchase process is considered too complex (Fevad, 2025).
In shops, the friction points take other forms, but the consequences remain the same: out-of-stock situations, lack of advice, unclear layout, lack of entertainment at peak times, etc. These are all operational details capable of slowing down, or even reversing, a purchasing decision.

How to build a personalised customer journey: a four-step field method

Step 1 - Audit the existing system before activating it

Before any new operation, a diagnosis of the situation in the field is essential. Store check, shelf survey, mystery visit, shopper survey: these tools provide an objective snapshot of the actual situation at the point of sale. It is on the basis of this inventory that we can identify friction points, areas of under-performance and untapped conversion opportunities.

Step 2 - Define objectives for each channel and brand

It would be a strategic mistake to set a single objective for the whole of the retail network. The challenges are not the same in supermarkets, hypermarkets or pharmacies, for example. Personalisation starts with differentiating targets and defining specific objectives: increasing DN (digital distribution) in a given channel, improving PDL in a given format, accelerating sales in a given season.

Stage 3 - Training and briefing field teams on personalisation

Sales staff and field assistants have to collect information as they go along, such as the promotion carried out, the type of promotion, the number of products on the shelves, etc., and enter it into a CRM or a shared monitoring tool. This monitoring is only possible if the teams are trained not only in sales techniques, but also in reading field data and reporting qualitative information.

Stage 4 - Steering in real time and making adjustments

Monitoring does not stop with the launch of the operation. To measure its real effectiveness, a number of indicators need to be monitored closely, such as the conversion rate, the change in the average basket, the sales generated by the promoted range and customer feedback from the field.

By regularly analysing operational feedback, we can quickly pinpoint the sticking points, the best-performing shops or, on the contrary, the processes that are struggling to produce results.
It is often this ability to make adjustments during the campaign that makes the difference between an operation that is merely visible and one that really performs at its commercial peak.

Sectors where personalising the customer journey is most decisive

In the FMCG and hygiene and beauty sectors, repeat purchases are strong, but brand loyalty remains fragile. Personalising the shopping experience, through events, advice or tasting, helps to create a preference that goes beyond the simple criterion of price.

In DIY and garden centres, customers often arrive with a specific project in mind. In these cases, customisation involves understanding their specific needs, guiding their choice of product and reassuring them about how it will be used.

In the high-tech world, this is more likely to be achieved through demonstrations and hands-on support. Faced with products that are sometimes technical or comparable on paper, the in-store experience becomes a decisive reassurance lever.

In pharmacies and drugstores, the key is trust and quality of advice. An overly standardised approach can quickly undermine the brand's credibility or cause it to lose a recommendation at a key moment.

Regardless of the sector, companies that make real use of experience personalisation increase their conversion rate by an average of 20 % (OC&C Strategy Consultants, 2024).
And this result is built above all on day-to-day execution, shop by shop, operation by operation.

To find out more about the dynamics of personalisation by distribution channel, CCI Lyon Métropole's analysis of retail trends in 2025 provides a useful insight into consumer expectations by sector.

What the best terrain executions have in common

The most successful operations are generally based on the same fundamentals: a detailed analysis of the field before deployment, teams who are genuinely trained in the brand and capable of adapting their message to the profile of the shopper, merchandising execution that is monitored and controlled over time, events designed to be consistent with the high points of the store and the category, and field management that is responsive enough to adjust the strategy quickly if necessary.
It is not a single lever that makes the difference, but the alignment of the whole: understanding the realities on the ground, quality of execution and the ability to adjust continuously. This is where a customer journey ceases to be standardised and becomes a genuine, measurable conversion driver.

Conclusion: personalising the customer journey is all about execution!

Personalising the customer journey is not just about marketing promises or technology. At the point of sale, it depends above all on the quality of execution: understanding local realities, adapting systems to distribution channels, training field teams and adjusting actions as operational feedback comes in.

The best-performing brands are rarely those that come up with the most spectacular techniques. They are often the ones that consistently master the fundamentals: merchandising that is genuinely monitored, activations that are consistent with shoppers' expectations, teams that are capable of embodying the brand, and management that is agile enough to quickly correct anything that doesn't work.

Accelerating conversion at the point of sale therefore requires much more than a visible campaign. It requires a detailed knowledge of the field, systems designed for each retailer and the ability to adapt continuously, as closely as possible to actual buying behaviour.

If you would like to analyse your field network and identify the levers best suited to your distribution channels, our experts are available for an initial discussion.