This past holiday season saw retailers pulling out all the stops with discounts, BOGO deals and the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas to induce shoppers to buy.
But where was good customer service? Some retailers still don’t get it. Here’s what really happened in stores across America:

• One in four shoppers walked out because of poor customer service (America’s Research Group).
• 58% avoided stores they believed were understaffed. (America’s Research Group).

• 48% of shoppers refused to shop in stores where others claimed a bad experience (2005 study conducted by the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania).

But what constitutes good customer service? That’s not so easy to define, because customer service means different things to different people. For example, grocery shoppers don’t expect a high level of customer service. Grocery shopping is a fairly self-service experience. Generally, if you have a question, there are store personnel available to answer. But send that same person to buy a mattress, or an automobile…and the scenario changes completely.
Thom Blischok, president of the Retail Solutions group for Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based business-consulting firm, applauds any retailer that makes the extra effort.

“Customer service is not static,” said Phoenix-based Blischok. “It’s highly dynamic and constantly evolving. Customer-service excellence is achieved only after company’s truly listens to what their customers are asking for.”

The customer experience is driven by product availability, convenience, and service. The quality of employees, the way they are managed, and their ability to support the customer experience often means the difference between retail success and failure.

What’s one way to get there? The U.K.’s Somerfield grocery store chain is using advanced work force management technology across 920 stores to achieve improved customer service, lower labor costs and increased product availability.

Somerfield focuses on smaller supermarkets that offer a neighborhood feel, averaging less that 9,000 square feet per store, and offers a more upscale, fresh food appeal, while sister store KwikSave serves the discount grocery market.

Somerfield began in Bristol, England in 1875. After many manifestations, including several name changes, the first Somerfield store opened in 1990, positioned as an upscale market, with a bright and cheery atmosphere that emphasized fresh foods. Somerfield merged with discount grocer KwikSave in 1998, acquiring 900 stores. Today, Somerfield is one of the biggest U.K. retail employers, with 60,000 employees and more than 1,300 stores that attract over 13 million customers weekly.

Work force management technology has helped fuel this growth and overall customer satisfaction with the Somerfield experience. This customized technology makes use of integrated budgeting, forecasting, scheduling and attendance management functions, allowing Somerfield to more accurately match staff schedules to customer traffic.

Adrian Peace, Somerfield’s head of simplification, claims this focused technology increases productivity, while at the same time improving customer and employee satisfaction. He stated, “Somerfield required a fully automated workforce management solution to support our mission of providing the best possible customer service in the most cost effective way possible.” Peace believe managers need “simple, easy-to-use tools to improve productivity and focus activities on delivering excellent customer service.”

Work force management technology software positions Somerfield to create optimal employee schedules based on store-specific data that includes business trends and customer demand, ensuring the ‘right employee is always in the right place at the right time.’

Most retail businesses avoid risk, and it’s no mystery why. With daily announcements of divisions or entire retail companies shutting down, there is a fear of being next. Should companies invest more in their online presence? Lay off more people? Invigorate sales with some sort of contest? Some do nothing, hoping that the way they’ve always done business will continue to work. Others, however, know that thinking ‘out of the box’ to provide the best customer experience is the right choice.

One retail company with this ‘out-of-the-box’ concept is Sleep Squad. Rather than reinvent the wheel, owner Michael Cote applied the old-school models of pizza delivery and mattress sales, combined them with modern Internet salesmanship, and developed an innovative way of running his business.

Cote’s fresh approach typifies new thinking in retail. Having worked successfully in sales, he chose to focus in on mattresses and set out to uncover what people hated most about the process. He discovered:
• People disliked laying on mattresses in public
• They were turned off by walking into a store and confronting 30 or more all-white mattresses
• They wished they could buy mattresses effectively online
• They detested spending a whole day mattress shopping, then waiting for delivery

Cote realized he could address each of these concerns by bringing the store to the customers. Call them at 8 a.m., and they can deliver a mattress to your specifications by noon, along with two or three other comparable selections to choose from. With over 150 different skus and more than 45 different models,
inventory is no problem. In fact, their selection is greater than most physical stores.

So far, it’s working. Using only the power of the Internet — no traditional marketing– Cote’s company can set specific delivery times, give the customer exactly the product they want, make the awkward experience of shopping for a mattress comfortable and personal, and grow his business. And all of this simply from careful researching and thinking about what the customer wants most. Following in the footsteps of other highly customer oriented companies (think Best Buy, Starbucks and Apple) Cote is on the success track because he offers an excellent customer experience. In today’s atmosphere of beleaguered retailers, getting the customer experience right is the key to long-term success.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that Apple is enjoying amazing success. Their stock is up almost 135% for 2007, compared to Google’s 52%, and the NASDAQ Index, up 12%. While the iPhone and iPod deserve some of the credit, Apple’s ability to provide a great customer experience is at the root. Their
retail stores contribute $1.24 billion of Apple’s $6.2 billion in sales. That’s a 42% increase over 2006. And it translates into stores that generate sales at a rate of $4000 per square foot. All this amid statistics that show other retailers, like Dell, Nokia and Sony, are barely making it.

What’s the secret? To begin with, shopping in an Apple store is a complete ‘experience’. Bright lights and great acoustics fill the room with energy and help customers feel like they’re attending an important event, rather than simply shopping at a store. The overall design of the space also contributes to the experience and ties in closely to the products themselves.

But nothing makes the Apple store more appealing than its customer service. From smiling employees carrying handheld terminals for faster credit card swiping and experienced and knowledgeable technicians servicing customers’ problems from behind the ‘genius bar’ to ‘personal trainers’ offering customized workshops and training, Apple seems to have thought of everything when it comes to serving the needs of its customers. You can even make an appointment with a personal shopper, and recently, Apple began stationing concierge teams in each store.

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