TMCnews Featured Article

Econsultancy recently released the survey, The Retailer’s Imperative: A Strategic Approach to Customer Experience. One of its key results was that an overwhelming majority of retailers felt that providing a great customer experience was the most important strategy to adopt.

The modern retailer faces several challenges that make it hard to differentiate it from competitors. A retailer that sells widgets cannot use that fact alone to compel shoppers to buy; lots of retailers probably sell the same widget. It cannot differentiate on price unless it is a giant like Walmart nor can it boast about a great selection, because there’s always Amazon. Another problem with Amazon is that brick-and-mortar stores have fallen into the trap of becoming a showroom for the online giant of retail.

When these and other factors are sorted out, one of the best differentiating factors that remains in a commoditized world is the customer experience. Eight out of nine retailers in the survey agree. It is one of the few things left a retailer has control over that can make or break their chances at success.

Having low prices and great selection means nothing if a customer is aggravated in the process. A great experience is more than the lack of such aggravation. It means not only that the customer went through without a hitch, but that the retailer went above and beyond the norm to serve them and the experience was so good, the customer wants to come back.

Retailers were surveyed on the importance of integrating customer experience technologies. This makes the transition between different contacts seamless without regard to method or time. Forty-five percent of retailers said this was vital to their growth, 45 percent said it was very important and eight percent said it was important. With 97 percent feeling that the issue is at least important, this is as close to unanimous as you can get.

Technology can be a huge benefit in providing a great customer experience. A customer who walks into a retailer is going to expect that store to know about issues that came up from previous emails, texts and other channels without needing to rehash their history of interactions. That was a key finding of the survey. These solutions can track all types of interactions efficiently. They can also identify customer tendencies to give them specialized service and provide opportunities to suggestively sell or offer customized promotions.

Retailers responded to the survey about the technology they used as follows: 72 percent used Web content management; 66 percent used an e-commerce platform; 64 percent used customer analytics; 62 percent used search and merchandizing; 55 percent used personalization; 50 percent used campaign management and 37 percent used testing. Since the totals add up to well over 100 percent, many retailers would have used more than one of these technologies.

In one sense, the Econsultancy survey confirms what many who follow the retail industry have believed for several years. Retail has become commoditized and the competition is stiff. As a result, the traditional ways to gain an edge, like price and selection won’t work. Although this is nothing new, one key conclusion may be: the retailers themselves recognized the need to change and have taken action.