Customer Service
January 21, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Zumiez, a specialty retailer of apparel, footwear and accessories for young men and women, is blessed with a loyal customer base. The Seattle-based retailer has worked hard to create a culture of top-notch customer service, led by its store associates. However, those store associates were hamstrung by a dated point-of-sale (POS) system that wasn't integrated…
January 18, 2016 at 9:38 am
Online retailers hold the advantage of 24/7 accessibility, but their brick-and-mortar counterparts have found ways to chip away at it over the past few years. A major taboo fell by the wayside in 2014 when several national retail chains opened their doors on Thanksgiving Day. With the holiday shopping season recently concluded, retailers are evaluating…
January 15, 2016 at 10:56 am
With the holiday season now over, the joys of increased consumer spending, materialism and holiday spirit are quickly overshadowed by a spike in product returns. At these times, customer service agents can often be stretched thin and should be amply supported to maintain not only their own sanity, but customers’ as well. In order to…
January 4, 2016 at 10:33 am
My previous post outlined how consumer behaviors are changing and technology is creating new expectations. While these should be welcome developments, they're posing major challenges to retailers. That post also explained why an omnichannel-enabled contact center is a critical part of the solution. In this article, I detail how omnichannel will help retailers positively impact both…
December 28, 2015 at 5:00 pm
Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it added three million new members to its Amazon Prime service in the third week of December, boosting what was already a record holiday season for the online giant. Prime members made the company’s “The Man in the High Castle” television series the most watched on Prime Video this season, and…
December 17, 2015 at 11:03 am
Have someone on your Christmas list who is never happy with their gift? Be careful where you shop. According to Optoro, a reverse logistics company, roughly a quarter of retail returns take place during the holiday season — meaning an ill-advised purchase can turn from bad to worthless if it's bought at a store with…
December 17, 2015 at 10:16 am
As consumers partake in the busiest time of the year for shopping, retailers everywhere will be wondering how they can maximize their share of wallet. While the spending is still happening, the foundation is already in place that will determine how those buying decisions will be made over the next few weeks. Consumers are increasingly…
December 10, 2015 at 10:50 am
One month ago nearly the entire town of Hanover, New Hampshire woke up with something on their doorstep. While not a creature was stirring, a team of 30 Zappos employees descended upon the small town on Nov. 10 to deliver happiness. The gifts came in the form of 1,900 boxes, each containing cold-weather gear including…
December 4, 2015 at 10:42 am
According to the November 2015 issue of Retail News Insider, there's a whopping $630.5 billion bonanza of shopping that will occur this holiday season. When you consider nearly 80 percent of holiday shoppers surveyed by Interactions stated they plan to get gifts both in-store and online, spending will be plentiful this season. The question for retailers…
December 3, 2015 at 11:36 am
A recent study by VitalSmarts found that silence is killing customer service. We asked subjects how often they witnesses a fellow employee underserving, or even abusing, a customer. Then we asked: What happens next? Does someone in your organization speak up and address the problem with that employee? I was thinking of this study as…
