The UK retail sector is undergoing unprecedented change, with many long-established high street brands closing or having to cut back their number of stores. With all the pressures they are facing, how can retailers ensure that they are delivering the right experience to their customers?
Businesses have been running Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs for some time, but in many cases overall customer satisfaction has actually deteriorated. Part of this is due to rising consumer expectations, but it is also due to a failure of VoC programs to deliver a real return on investment by driving significant changes in the business.
The run up to Christmas is both the busiest time of year for most brands and the most stressful for consumers. So it is no surprise that consumers become more demanding of the brands that they deal with during this time. How can they cope?
We’re now well into the holiday shopping season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us but plenty of shopping days to go before Christmas itself. The trading picture so far this year has been mixed, and for many retailers this time of year is make or break time.
Good customer service leads to happier, more loyal customers who stay with you longer, spend more and are more likely to recommend your business to family and friends. However, it can be difficult to measure the exact impact of individual customer service interactions on these metrics, leading to the contact center being seen as a cost, rather than a department that boosts the bottom line.
New figures from the National Retail Federation point to sales increasing by 3.6% over the course of 2016 holiday shopping season in the US, hitting $655.8 billion. Ecommerce should grow between 7-10%, totaling as much as $117 billion. In the UK, retailers will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2015 festive season where heavy discounting hit margins in many parts of the sector.
It may seem like a long time in the future for consumers, but as every retailer knows Christmas is coming – fast. Now is the period for finalizing plans and ensuring that the vital holiday season goes as well as possible. Customer service and the experience you offer consumers is a critical part of this, so what should companies be doing NOW to ready themselves?
We live in a world where time is of the essence, and everyone is trying to cram more and more into their lives. This has a major impact on the customer experience – consumers increasingly choose companies that value their time and minimize the effort they need to put in when making a purchase or finding out information. For example, online consumers don’t want to break...
Retail is one of the most competitive sectors in the economy. Transformed by the internet, new entrants and ever more demanding consumers, retailers cannot afford to rest on their laurels.Customers are pushing retailers to innovate and deliver new services, improved experiences at lower prices. Loyalty is a thing of the past, with consumers are now able to choose from an enormous range...
Customer experience is important to every industry, but particularly vital for retail. Fierce competition, exacerbated by the rise of ecommerce, means it is increasingly important for retail companies to differentiate themselves. And with many stores often selling the same products, customer experience is a more appealing way of differentiating than competing on price...