As autumn moves into full swing, retailers work to finalize their preparations ahead of the holiday shopping surge. Each year, the fourth quarter plays a significant role in ensuring retailers remain profitable, but this season holds even more weight, as some experts predict it to be the most successful holiday season since the “retail apocalypse” began.
The road to a profitable season is paved by those who do right by their customers; by those who provide a positive, personalized and multi-channel experience that leaves their customers wanting more.
https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/executive-viewpoints/how-cx-will-make-this-holiday-less-apocalypse-and-more-revival/
For retail shoppers, the customer journey often begins with a local mobile search. In fact, 80% of retail shoppers have searched the terms “near me” on their smartphones. After performing local mobile searches, 61% of shoppers go on to call a business, while 59% visit the location. Their calls are often inquiries about inventory and pricing. The higher the price, the more likely retail customers are to call, since expensive purchases are more considered.
In addition, online retail shoppers often call an agent to learn additional product specs, clear up billing issues, and finalize purchases. For retail marketers, these calls to brick-and-mortar locations and contact centers are one of the richest sources of customer insights available.
In order to boost website and marketing ROI, retail marketers and their agency partners should harness the voice of the customer from inbound calls to locations and contact centers to inform their strategy.
https://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/how-retail-marketers-use-the-voice-of-the-customer-to-increase-online-and-in-store-sales-02123711/
Customer experience is the new battleground for consumer-facing organisations (yes – retailers and shopping centres) as the industry fights for loyalty and customer needs increase.
Recently Forbes indicated 75% of companies report their top objective as improving customer experience and those companies who do it well will reap the financial benefits according to the ASX company financial results.
https://www.shoppingcentrenews.com.au/shopping-centre-news/industry-news/amplifying-cx-customer-experience-and-retail-trends/
Most retailers understand that upstream factors such as customer loyalty, retention, advocacy, satisfaction and brand preference have a causal relationship on both financial performance and operational variables. However, linking and measuring customer experience initiatives to tangible return on investment (ROI) can be a challenge. If retailers do not have a well-defined, structured measurement strategy, it’s very difficult to gauge how much CX is worth and show where it generates value – both for customers and for the business. Delighting customers comes with a cost. Delivering a superior customer experience should meet; even excel customer expectations. But, not at any cost.
http://customerthink.com/how-to-measure-retail-customer-experience/
The ecommerce industry has experienced a tremendous amount of growth in the past decade. Having jumped from 3.5% of all retail sales in 2008 to nearly 11.9% in 2018, this growth – in combination with a (still) relatively low market share – represents a huge opportunity for more innovative ecommerce companies looking to overtake their traditional counterparts.
However, in order to latch on to the ‘growth train’, these same ecommerce companies (and therefore, ecommerce managers) are going to have to put their best foot forward. In other words, they’ll need to be sure that they are providing a first-rate online customer experience. And the best way to do this is to start listening to the voice of the customer. After all, your customers can be your best resource in terms of understanding what you’re doing wrong (or right!) on your website or mobile app. So allow me to introduce you to online feedback…
https://mopinion.com/online-feedback-ecommerce-managers/
The retail landscape is undergoing rapid change. It has always been one of the first industries to be affected by economic fluctuations or political turbulence, but when you add to that the myriad of other factors impacting the sector today—chief among them being technology—traditional retailers and disruptors start speculating about and often fearing the future.
For starters, the retail industry is and will continue to be alive and well for the foreseeable future. A recent study by Deloitte predicted that “consumers will spend confidently throughout 2018.” In fact, the research highlights that the sector is expected to see a growth of 3.2% to 3.8% this year. This projected growth is for the global retail industry, which includes brick-and-mortar and online formats. The competition and the wide range of choices in channels and formats is also expected to continue, according to the study. The customer has always been king—and despite the changes the sector is undergoing, retail has remained and will likely always be the customer’s kingdom.
https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/for-retail-to-thrive-online-and-offline-retailers-must-learn-from-one-another/
If tere’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that customer experience is the fundamental driving force behind eCommerce as we know it. Gartner predicted that by this year, more than 50% of organisations would implement significant business model changes in a bid to improve their overall customer experience. So clearly we’re not just talking about the importance of having a picture-perfect online store here. Not even close. Because, in reality there isn’t a single aspect of the eCommerce journey where customer experience isn’t important. From website navigation to the checkout process, to shipping and logistics, to returns – there’s an opportunity at every step of the process to provide your customers with a positive experience or a negative one.
https://internetretailing.net/customer/customer/4-ways-that-online-retailers-can-gather-quality-feedback-to-improve-customer-experience-18019/
In-store experiences are here to stay, and the technology being used is getting bigger, better and bolder.
With 81% of UK consumers seeing the physical store as vital to the shopping experience (according to November 2017 research from Vista Retail Support), incorporating new technology can enhance customer engagement and increase sales.
Current retail technology trends highlight the exciting new direction for in-store experiences and underline the importance of blending and balancing offline with online.
https://www.retail-week.com/retail-voice/retail-tech-trends-that-enhance-customer-engagement-/7029305.article?authent=1/
Have you ever purchased something, somewhere? If so, then surely you’ve felt this particular pain: Along with your bag of goods comes all kinds of marginally necessary offers and calls to action. And, if you take “almost no time at all” to complete the retailer’s robust questionnaire, you — yes you! — might be the proud recipient of some type of prize.
A study by Interaction Metrics discovered that, despite good intentions of improving customer happiness and overall experience, retailers are largely wasting customers’ time — and their own — by conducting flawed satisfaction surveys.
https://www.retaildive.com/news/whats-wrong-with-retailers-customer-surveys/525124/
With so many consumers to talk to, retailers need to ensure that they personalise their messaging to each every shopper. In this piece, Aaron Masih (pictured below), COO, Persado, tells RetailTechNews how Persado can help retailers achieve this goal.
https://www.retailtechnews.com/2018/05/29/personalising-your-consumer-voice-qa-with-persado/
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