Answernet Network

Welcome to Retail Online Integration's annual Resource Guide. This special section offers all the crucial details, company information, contact numbers and addresses of product and service providers to the cross-channel retail industry.

By Donna Loyle Before Sherry Comes outsourced contact center duties for her online business, she tried to keep operations in house, with reps answering customer calls only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. "But customers started saying, 'Come on. You're an Internet company. You should have longer call center hours,'" recalls Comes, president and founder of CoffeeCakes.com, a purveyor of gourmet baked goods. So Comes decided to outsource all of her contact center operations, including 24-hour order-taking, customer service, outbound telemarketing and conference calling. The outcome, she says, is that her business has been able to grow without adding staffers to the

From setting schedules for supervisory duties, to mystery-shopping overflow call centers, to setting bonus structures for seasonal workers — four catalog and contact center managers reveal how they tackle daily challenges. Debbye Schneider, contact center manager, Fire Mountain Gems, Grants Pass, Ore. Merchandise: jewelry-making supplies to consumers and businesses Contact center employees: 85 to 104 Overflow/after-hours contact center: Donnelly Communications Catalog Success: What are your top challenges, and how do you overcome them? Schneider: We’ve been steadily ramping up for the past five years. My staff of customer service reps has tripled since then. Because of the growth, I have