Customer Service

Why Retail is and Shall Remain a Human-Driven Experience
May 23, 2018 at 1:55 pm

Is physical retail really dying? Not according to statistics, which show that upwards of 80 percent of all retail sales ​still take place in traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Yes, marketplaces like Amazon.com provide the convenience of online and mobile shopping, but physical retail continues to deliver on the promise of human-centered experiences. After all, humans are…

Best Buy Launches a Tech Support Subscription Service
May 23, 2018 at 10:11 am

Best Buy is now offering a subscription service for a version of its Geek Squad tech support unit, betting that the growing complexity of smart homes and connected devices will create demand for offerings that go beyond the one-off repair job. The Verge reports the service, called Total Tech Support, offers subscribers 24/7 tech support…

Closing the CX Expectations Gap
May 15, 2018 at 10:36 am

The demands on small business owners and their operations teams are many — and their resources and time are not. Further complicating matters is the fact that while many of these businesses grow quickly, managing and sustaining that growth can be challenging. From disparate tools to outdated manual processes and lack of visibility into what inventory […]

Learning From the Holiday Season, Part 1
May 9, 2018 at 11:12 am

Over the 2017 holiday season, total sales rose by 4.9 percent, the biggest increase year-over-year since 2011. Consumers shopped via a variety of channels, but the biggest winner was e-commerce: online sales were up 18.1 percent from the previous year. To understand the ways consumers shop and the experiences brands and retailers offer, Astound Commerce…

Report: Ace Hardware, Dollar Tree Tops in Customer Experience
April 9, 2018 at 12:54 pm

Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience benchmark of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Of the 49 retailers included in this year's ratings, Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree tied for the top spot. Each earned a…

Why Customer Obsession is the Key to Building a Successful Retail Brand
April 9, 2018 at 10:55 am

Brands that understand their customers and strive to continuously improve customer service will be successful. Why? Because these companies understand, care about and are obsessed with their customers. We live in a time where consumers can have anything they want at their fingertips, but it’s up to the retailer to deliver. You never know how…

What Rainbow Shops is Doing to Manage Customer Data
April 6, 2018 at 12:50 pm

In episode 138 of Total Retail Talks, Michael Hoffman, director of e-commerce and customer service for Rainbow Shops, a women's apparel, accessories and footwear retailer, shares his thoughts on how retailers can do a better job of managing customer data. Hoffman was a speaker on Total Retail's most recent webinar, "Customer Intelligence 360: Laying the…

Why Retailers Need an Omnichannel Support Strategy Next Holiday Season
March 1, 2018 at 6:00 pm

With the busiest retail season of the year behind us, it’s the perfect time to assess performance and reflect on opportunities to improve and ensure an even more successful holiday season in 2018. The holidays always bring with them the highest ticket volume, as customers reach out to businesses with a flurry of questions around returns, password…