Customer Service

Your customers’ store experience — and impression of your brand — starts and ends with your frontline employees. Store associates are directly responsible for delivering your customer service model. Unfortunately, retail work has long had a reputation for low employee morale and high turnover, which can negatively impact employee satisfaction. Retailers have the opportunity to…

Without a doubt, e-commerce has permanently altered how people shop. Even those who still prefer to shop in-store frequently do preliminary research online by visiting retailers’ websites, comparing item specs, and reading customer reviews. While online shopping has made more products available to more consumers all over the world, it’s also introduced a host of…

Retail is facing more stress and complexity than ever before. U.S. population growth is less than 1 percent annually, shopper journeys no longer follow predictable demographics, and customers are simultaneously demanding more human interaction and more self-service technology. Add to that the rising cost of shipping, the looming threat of tariffs, and the tight labor market. Retail…

Brands today are equipped with a bevy of digital tools and data to get an intimate look into consumers’ purchasing habits. But at a time when, unlike any other, we have a population that spans four generations — each with a distinctive relationship with brands, social media and technology — customer expectations are more unpredictable…

Brands have traditionally invested heavily in customer service as a central component of the customer experience. However, new research from project44 suggests that may be changing. The apps that power our lives, and specifically those that power our purchases, have continued to evolve, reshaping the customer experience. As a result, delivery, which was once a…

To stand out during the high-stakes holiday season, merchants should start a conversation with shoppers — literally. Conversational commerce that combines human and machine intelligence is crucial to delivering the interactive customer experience shoppers crave. The conversational commerce revolution is underway. Fueled by the swift adoption of voice-activated “smart speakers,” which Microsoft predicts 75 percent of…

Technology is great. It has fueled innovation, increased reach to larger customer audiences, and provided broader product access to everyone. However, we know that sometimes simplicity is powerful. In all of our racing to be best and first to win the customer, the art of a simple verbal thank you has been lost. Sincere appreciation…

Today’s retail landscape is undoubtedly competitive. As customers flock to direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands (e.g., Warby Parker, Casper, Dollar Shave Club), many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to stay afloat. This is evidenced by recent store closures from Dressbarn, Charlotte Russe, Payless ShoeSource, and Gymboree. With Coresight Research predicting that U.S. store closures could reach…

The back-to-school (BTS) shopping season is well underway, with total retail sales projected to reach a whopping $27.8 billion. However, despite claims that Amazon.com is destroying retail, more than half of U.S. consumers are planning to shop for supplies in-store instead of online this year. So, what does this mean for brick-and-mortar retailers? The BTS…

While retailers have traditionally competed on the basis of the “Four Ps” — product, price, promotion, and place — increasingly this isn't enough. According to Gartner, 81 percent of marketers say they expect to be competing mostly or completely on the basis of customer experience in the near future. Yet keeping up with the demands of…