Insights
Shocking! Retailers Will Think About Customers in 2012, US Report Finds
- 17th February
- Campbell Phillips 154
A report from the US indicates that retailers think customer service requires an immediate facelift. Unfortunately, there’s no indication why this hasn’t been a concern before now.
Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. A new report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and KPMG implies that US retailers may be waking up to the same realisation.
The report found that US companies plan to invest in customer engagement with a variety of initiatives. The focus will be on building services via information technology and e-commerce systems as well as mobile platforms.
The report, called Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2011, Forecasts for 2012, surveyed 247 retail executives and discovered that many are taking on customer-centric initiatives.
“Holy smokes, Batman!” reply the general public. “Retailers are intending to make customer service a priority? Inconceivable!”
Sarcasm aside, it is a sad state of affairs that leads us to infer that perhaps customer service hasn’t been at the top of the list of many retailers’ priorities. Between financial pressures and a retail industry in a state of dynamic change, it is no surprise that some consumers are feeling forgotten.
The good news is this report indicates that attitudes are changing as retailers have begun to understand the online dimensions of their business. Old prejudices about technology are melting away and being replaced by a hunger for innovation – a transition that can only improve the shopping experience.
“Retailers are poised to enter 2012 with a renewed focus on building up and building out many of their most important operations,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.
Shay doesn’t believe that retailers are ‘rediscovering’ customer service as an important element, but it’s difficult to find an alternative explanation.
“Customers are always a company’s top priority, customer satisfaction will get a huge facelift this year,” Shay told Drug Store News. ‘Retailers have indicated 2012 is all about the customer.”
It’s simple; customer service is always a retailer’s highest priority, but this year it is even higherer.
Key Statistics:
- 85% of retailers surveyed will emphasise increasing sales
- 38% intend to boost m-commerce over the next year
- 53% say they will specifically focus on web personalisation engines, including location-based services
- 45% are already developing social media channels, with widgets, gadgets of advanced links to social sites, while another 41% are planning to develop these technologies over the next 18 months
