Customer Service

As the holiday shopping season gathers pace, retailers are working extra hard to satisfy increased customer demand. There’s a strong emphasis on in-store teams, but contact center agents are also critical, serving as the touchpoint between retail brands and millions of customers grappling with online order issues, delivery delays and other complex questions. Artificial intelligence…

The holiday season is a double-edged sword for retailers — a time of immense opportunity and significant stress. Deloitte is forecasting sales growth of 2 percent to 3 percent this season, which will put pressure on retailers, their online platforms, and customer service teams. They will face a spike in questions, requests and returns. Add…

With the holiday season upon us, retailers are presented with one of the year’s biggest opportunities to drive revenue and customer loyalty. To master this seasonal rush, thoughtful planning across inventory, staffing, marketing and customer experience is key. Here’s how retailers can strategically navigate these elements to make the most of the holiday season. Start…

The holiday season is here, and retailer leaders have much on their to-do lists, from hiring extra staff to managing suppliers. Preparing and managing for this shopping surge is complex and time consuming. Modern hybrid unified communications (UC) technology is uniquely positioned to help address the challenges retail managers and their employees face, especially during…

Customer Experience (CX) Day, which is marked on Oct. 1st, comes at a time when retailers are busy preparing for the festive period. They have limited time to oil their proverbial machines and ensure a seamless and positive shopping experience, especially as customers navigate the often panic-inducing task of holiday gift buying. To mark CX…

Customer expectations are at an all-time high. The facilitation of near-instant gratification has led to reduced consumer patience and more frequent temper tantrums. Though no-wait resolution is a common expectation from customers seeking support, delivering abuse to contact center agents shouldn't be the default response to an imperfect interaction. Unfortunately, a recent study found that…

For years, brands have assessed the return on investment of customer experience automation by asking three questions: What does it cost to serve a customer today? What could it cost to serve a customer tomorrow? What is the investment price to get from A to B? With these questions guiding the way, we’ve seen a…

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has taken retail commerce by storm, drastically changing the behaviors of online customers to a point that retailers are making investments in the technology to improve the customer experience. According to Forrester’s March 2024 Consumer Pulse Survey,  consumers use of GenAI is growing, with 48 percent of U.S. consumers agreeing that…

The three use cases where the convergence of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things underpinned by event streaming is making a real difference to retailers and their customers are as follows. Enhancing Every Customer Journey Within the Store AIoT enables retailers to intelligently take advantage of in-store and customer data to offer highly customized shopping…

Artificial intelligence adoption is no longer a question of “if.” The debate on whether AI will add value is over — yes, AI brings value, lots of value. We can look at the how, but the focus should be on the why. According to a Metrigy study, only 34 percent of retailers said that 2024…