What do you see as the biggest potential benefit to be gained from the use of handheld scanners in retail stores? How can these devices and supporting programs best be used to provide an improved customer experience?
I shop at Ralph’s here in LA, using a loyalty card, and they are obviously keeping track of all purchases. I just got a bunch of coupons in the mail for a list of items I purchase regularly. Recently, to promote a particular (remodeled) store, they sent three or four coupons (with specific use dates) for $10 off on a minimum $25 spent shopping (in that store only). You can bet I am a loyal customer.
The idea of having a hand-held scanner and getting coupons right in the store as I am buying sounds even more appealing. And as a retail analyst and consultant, of course I approve of the customization aspect. If loyalty and repeat (and increased) business is the goal (and it should be), then this seems a promising path.
http://retailwire.com/Discussions/Sngl_Discussion.cfm/13729
Filed Under Connecting Technology
Is it about technology or consumers? Both!
Bath and Body Works is a $2 billion business with 94% brand recognition. But the company doesn’t advertise. Its strategy is to build brand advocates and encourage positive word of mouth with great products, and more important, a top-notch customer experience. So reports 1to1 magazine.
Last year the company added a full-service web site and a catalog to its 1,550-store retail channel. Along with these new touch points came the strategy and technology to provide a consistent experience and a holistic view of the customer.Part of the firm’s strategy is to survey every customer who makes contact. The questions are designed by Bath and Body Works’ market research team to deliver real-time customer feedback about such topics as store design, product launches or selling initiatives. Contact center employees have access to detailed, integrated customer and product information in a knowledge management systems that allows them to answer almost any customer question immediately.
Contact center agents contribute significantly to the customer experience, so each agent is trained just like in-store associates. Employee empowerment is a big part of Bath and Body Works’ strategy. Agents are empowered to solve a customer’s problem with up to $25 per call. At first there was a fear that the strategy would lose the company money, but when agents give coupons or other incentives, that customer ends up spending twice the company’s average dollar sale.
The company also tracks customers’ reactions to its in-store experience. Previously it relied on market research and anecdotal information to judge its success. Now it publishes a toll-free number on every receipt, which drives more than 62% of call center calls.
Bath and Body Works has seen some impressive results from its technology optimization. From an efficiency perspective, the contact center exceeded $32 million in sales generation and cost reduction in 2005. On the customer side, customer satisfaction in the call center is 94%, and its compliment-to-complaint ratio runs 20 to 1. First-call resolution is 90%. Employee turnover is only 5%, and the employee promotion rate is 45%.
Its success has led to plans to roll out similar customer-centric efforts in other Limited Brands companies, such as Victoria’s Secret and Express.
Filed Under Connecting Technology
What is RSS?
Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is mainly used by bloggers and media companies to distribute their latest online content. But a company called Offertrax is bring RSS to the retail sector, offering consumers more purchasing intelligence, and giving online merchants a new way to convert site visits into sales.
According to Offertrax, less than 3% of site visits convert to a sale. But by letting merchants distribute updates on products, the use of RSS aims to bring visitors back for future conversions. How does it work? The web-based application creates RSS feeds for entire catalogs. Retailers add a “track this” button to each product page; consumers can then “subscribe” to a product’s feed. When the price changes or the retailer makes a special offer, trackers are notified.
Merchants can also send notes and deal alerts directly to trackers. The service is free for consumers; merchants are charged a fee.
While RSS usage by average Internet users is still relatively low, industry experts predict that 2007 will be a tipping point. Mainstream adoption of RSS could get a real boost this year as it becomes fully integrated into new versions of widely used applications provided by Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and others. This presents great opportunities for merchants and marketers who are finding it increasingly difficult to reach consumers via email.
Savvy multi-channel retailers will recognize RSS is not just for online merchants but could potentially be a great tool for driving traffic to web sites, catalogs and stores.
Filed Under Connecting Technology