Many retailers put the customer in the center of everything they do. Or at least, they say they do. How much do you know about your customer? Do you know enough about them that you can tailor their shopping experience through every channel?

A recent survey conducted by MyBuys and the e-tailing group convey just how important it is to have access to information about customers. The ability to engage shoppers in relevant conversations – regardless of channel – improves buyer readiness, engagement and sales activity throughout the lifetime of patrons. Four in 10 customers claim to buy more from merchants who are able to comprehensively personalize the shopping experience across channels.

"Results revealed that consumers increasingly reward customer-obsessed retailers. Survey results showed buyer 'readiness' requires finding the right product at the right place," explains Multichannel Merchant, referring to the report. "In addition, personalized promotional emails and personalized online advertising are top vehicles prompting consumers to purchase."

As many as 60 percent of consumers rely on product recommendations offered by merchants to find the products and goods they are most interested in, citing the feature as a valuable service.

Additionally, more than half value communications from retailers that are customized and personalized based on transactional and past behavior data.

Having the right data is critical to retailers' success. Taking a customer-centric approach was shown to increase purchase frequency by 100 percent, average order value by 50 percent and the conversion of cart abandoners to buyers by 25 percent, the survey adds. Given the right product at the right price, consumers are very willing to buy. If they don't make a purchase, it's likely either that the price wasn't ideal or they are still researching goods before making a commitment.

"We've followed consumer attitudes and behavior regarding personalization for over a decade and the latest surge in awareness, value and purchase intent shows that consumers' desire for customer-centric marketing has hit the mainstream," said Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, who conducted the study. "Understanding the influence on buyer readiness will help retailers building winning online strategies."

ECommerce software, such as SalesWarp, is critical in helping companies collect this customer data, allowing merchants to meaningfully engage these individuals and create a customer-centric retail experience.