Customer Service

The Kroger Co. said Monday it plans to hire 10,000 permanent employees in its supermarket divisions. The Cincinnati-based supermarket chain currently employs more than 440,000 workers nationwide. The Kroger family of companies includes stores such as Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Harris Teeter and Food 4 Less. Kroger said its total active workforce grew by more…

Staples is using IBM's Watson cognitive computing technology to help its online shoppers with "low-end tasks" such as customer service inquiries. In this interview with Staples’ Chief Technology Officer Faisal Masud at the National Retail Federation's Big Show, he explains that Watson also helps influence sales by making the buying process easier and quicker for…

On Tuesday, six retailers agreed to stop the practice of on-call scheduling after they received inquiries about it from a group of state attorneys general. They join a growing number of retailers that have vowed to ditch on-call scheduling and give their employees more predictable hours. Aeropostale, Carter’s, David’s Tea, Disney, PacSun and Zumiez all said…

Long lines, impossible parking lots, the overall stress of the season — it’s no wonder you see frazzled, frustrated customers during the holidays. And who can blame them? Well, apparently retailers can. In a recent survey by alldayPA, 76 percent of respondents complained about brands’ reluctance to apologize for problems, while 47 percent said they…

Nordstrom is expanding on its efforts to engage with mobile shoppers, using the holiday gift-giving season as an opportunity to launch its first-ever chatbot. If you can’t decide on the perfect gift for your mom this holiday season, for example, the bot is a click away on Facebook Messenger as well as Kik. Nordstrom teamed with New…

Santa and his elves work year-round making sure all the good girls and boys get the Christmas gifts they desire. Lands’ End is embracing that spirit of Old Saint Nick, giving shoppers the opportunity to become Santa for a day for the company’s feel-good holiday 2016 campaign. “We’ve always embraced the spirit of giving,” explains…

Online sales continue to grow as a proportion of overall retail sales, and returns are growing at an even faster rate. With the holiday peak season upon us, retailers will need to focus more than ever on handling returns in ways that avoid alienating their customers — and consequently losing future sales. Given the rising…

Consumers have options, and they know it. Brands need an intelligent order management system to fulfill orders profitably.

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Don’t fall victim to another failed app project. Here are eight must-haves to ensure a successful store associate app project.