CASE STUDY
How eCommerce clienteling drives 86% higher sales values
One brand's strategy for leveraging in-store and eCommerce clienteling to maximize impact
Background
eCommerce clienteling
What is eCommerce clienteling
eCommerce clienteling is all about personalizing customer engagement in the digital space. It’s when an associate reaches out to a customer via email, text, WhatsApp, or phone calls to follow up on a purchase, assist with online orders, or book virtual styling appointments.
The future of retail lies in merging the online and offline experience. eCommerce will no longer be just a transactional platform, but will also offer the personalized service of a physical store. Sales associates will play a crucial role in this transformation, assisting customers with their eCommerce purchases just as they would in a brick-and-mortar location.
The case for eCommerce clienteling
eCommerce clienteling is a key driver of growth, taking the benefits of in-store clienteling even further by expanding engagement beyond the brick-and-mortar. By connecting with customers through digital channels, associates can continue building relationships and driving sales long after a customer leaves the store.
For one global retailer, sales influenced by clienteling—referred to as Tulip Influenced Sales (TIS)—have increased by 68% from Jan 2024 to Jan 2025, while total sales have decreased by 17%. eCommerce clienteling, in particular, has proven to be an essential part of their strategy, with orders closed through eCommerce clienteling generating an average order value (AOV) 79% higher than the AOV of total store sales over the last 12 months.
Digital engagement isn’t just an extension of in-store clienteling—it’s a revenue driver on its own. We'll explore this use case more in the next section.
Best practices in action at one Tulip customer
How the brand uses eCommerce clienteling
The retailer leverages Tulip Clienteling's functionality to engage with its eCommerce customers. By integrating Tulip with its CRM, the system can automatically assign specific eCommerce customers to virtual clienteling associates. These customers are added to the associate’s Tulip client book, ensuring they receive dedicated follow-ups and personalized service.
New client assignments trigger automated notifications, allowing associates to act quickly and engage customers at key moments in their shopping journey. Unlike traditional CRM systems that require manual steps for multi-channel outreach and can only be done from a desktop, Tulip enables associates to manage everything from a single mobile app. This allows for quick and easy communication across SMS, WhatsApp, and email, making clienteling more efficient, scalable, and impactful.
One associate's impact at the brand
Michelle, a virtual eCommerce clienteling associate for the retailer, covers the entire U.S. market from the corporate office in New York City. She is part of a small global team, with six other associates handling different regions worldwide.
Like in-store associates, Michelle conducts clienteling using an iPhone, which she finds more convenient than a tablet or computer. With Tulip’s mobile-friendly app, she has everything she needs to engage customers and manage her client book efficiently.
Features Michelle Uses
Client Book & Profiles
Michelle regularly updates her client book, adding notes on purchases and preference changes to tailor future interactions.
LookBuilder
She curates and sends personalized look recommendations to her clients, enhancing the shopping experience.
Proactive Follow-ups
She leverages corporate-led follow-ups to identify key customers for outreach, ensuring no opportunity is missed.
Michelle’s influence on sales and order values
Michelle’s outreach efforts have delivered impressive results that showcase how Tulip eCommerce Clienteling can significantly boost revenue.
In the past 12 months, she single-handedly contributed 20% of all eCommerce-influenced sales generated by the six-member team.
Her sales are also 86% higher in value compared to average in-store transactions, highlighting the power of eCommerce clienteling to drive high-value purchases.
How she does it
Michelle tailors her outreach approach based on her relationship with each client
Group emails
For general topics like welcome messages or sales, Michelle sends group emails to a maximum of 20 customers at a time, particularly to those she is less familiar with.
Text for close clients
For clients she has built strong relationships with, she prefers text for direct, personal, and immediate communication.
In-store collaboration
Many of Michelle’s clients also shop in-store. By working closely with store associates, she ensures customers receive a consistent experience both online or in person.
Customer impact
Michelle’s clienteling strategy focuses on cultivating deep, meaningful relationships rather than just completing transactions. This approach doesn’t just elevate the customer experience—it drives measurable business results. Here are two key examples illustrating how this strategy benefits the retailer:
The VIP experience
One of Michelle’s clients primarily shops online but has a brother in Paris and enjoys stopping into that store when he visits. Knowing this, Michelle proactively calls the location whenever he plans to visit, ensuring the staff is prepared to give him the same experience that she does online. On his last visit, Michelle went the extra mile by arranging for his favorite French chocolates to be delivered to the store.
Scalable little moments
A client in Los Angeles recently got married, and Michelle referenced the occasion in a follow-up message, using it as an opportunity to re-engage them. This thoughtful outreach resonated with the client, who clicked the product link Michelle provided and completed an eCommerce purchase.
By building strong, personalized relationships through Tulip eCommerce Clienteling, Michelle’s approach fosters both immediate sales and long-term customer loyalty, delivering significant, scalable business impact.
The Takeaway
Retailers can no longer think of online and in-store shopping as separate experiences—customers expect a personal connection no matter where they shop. eCommerce clienteling extends the role of the associate beyond the store, allowing them to engage customers through digital channels, drive repeat purchases, and build lasting relationships.
The data is clear: retailers who invest in eCommerce clienteling see higher order values, increased customer retention, and stronger sales impact. By combining eCommerce and in-store clienteling, brands can create a more connected shopping experience that keeps customers coming back.
About
Tulip is the world’s largest cloud-based retail customer engagement platform provider, with best-in-class Clienteling and POS capabilities that let retailers realize the full potential of omnichannel commerce. The world’s most iconic retailers like David Yurman, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Mulberry, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ferragamo, COACH, and Michael Kors use Tulip to modernize the shopping experience, creating personalized shopping journeys that increase sales and improve customer loyalty across channels. Tulip enables retailers to build deeply personal connections with customers, fulfill orders, closeout purchases, and maximize store associate productivity and performance.
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