I came across an interesting article discussing how department stores have differentiated themselves in the past, what they should focus on now, and what they should focus on in the future.

What happens when the majority of department stores sell similar brands at competitive prices? Retailers then need to start focusing on customer experience and customer satisfaction as differentiating factors.

For instance, retail electronics giant Best Buy offers in home tech support with Geek Squad.

Can you think of any other examples?

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A survey of 1,110 consumers by Deloitte found that consumers think there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to product labeling. Consumers want to make informed decisions when they go shopping and many feel that the information on product labels are inadequate.

I think that for some who have allergies, improved labeling would provide better service. Also, in general, people are now eating healthier and are more interested in what they are putting into their bodies. However, most labels are hard to understand and read. If a company can make the effort to make labels easier to understand, then they will have a competitive advantage.

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From gasoline discount cards to emphasis on cheaper house brands, grocery chains are doing whatever it tales to keep customers coming back. Grocery chains are maintaining or reducing their costs to keep prices competitive and to prevent customers from going to Wal-Mart.

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Banks face a tough situation. While their most loyal customers are their oldest customers, Generation Y’s and X’s are the retailing banking customers of the future. However, the least loyal are the hardest to please. Results reveal more than half of Gen Y (61 percent) and Gen X (53 percent) respondents have either considered changing or actually have changed their primary banking institutions in the past 2 years.

Currently, the customer experience at most banks cater to the Silent Generation and Boomers who more frequently bank in-person. To reach the younger generation who are much more mobile and rely on more heavily on online interactions, banks will need to focus on the online customer experience.

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The first Biggby coffee shop was founded 13 years ago. Now the chain has 100 stores in nine states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Biggby’s franchise-based model gives it an advantage over other regional coffee chains by lowering the cost for the company to expand and it gives each store local connections.

Bob Fish, the East Lansing-based chain’s chief executive officer and one its co-founders said,

“We are a franchise company and Starbucks is not. Most of our operators are people from the community…There’s a big difference between an owner running the store and any other restaurant chain with many, many units. They’re not just an employee; they own the business. It adds energy, excitement and enthusiasm.”

Because each store has local connections, this contributes to more meaningful customer engagement and greater customer service.

So far Biggby’s business model has been working. They expect to grow to 250 stores by 2010.

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Last year, Circuit City laid off thousands of its best-paid and most knowledgeable sales staffers, only to see them snatched up by Best Buy. Circuit City sales have plummeted while even in this weak economy, Best Buy is thriving because of its emphasis on customer service.

Across many industries, we’ve seen that the retailers that grow customer-service ratings the fastest have greater sales growth,” says Chris Denove of J.D. Power and Associates. “Prices have come down dramatically on electronics items, and at the same time, the complexity of the products has increased. Expert advice is more important than ever.”

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Verizon’s small- and medium-sized business customers participating in the Business Link Rewards program are now eligible for discounts and special promotions every time they shop at the Verizon Business Links Online Mall.

Small- and medium-sized business customers who use the Online Mall can get discounts from more than 350 retailers, including Best Buy, Dell Computers, Office Depot, Expedia, eBay and Target

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Statistics show that even though there is a rise in loyalty cards aimed at retaining shoppers, about 22% of consumers say they are dissatisfied with the retailer where they do most of their shopping. Disloyalty is highest among supermarket shoppers at 32.4%.

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A Forrester study shows that customers think their financial services providers do not have their best interests at heart. Customer advocacy is the perception on the part of customers that the firm does what’s best for them, not just the firm’s own bottom line. According to the report, customer advocacy drives real loyalty — a willingness to buy, borrow, save, and invest more with a firm that a consumer already uses.

Bill Doyle, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research says, “Financial companies need to raise the bar on the customer experiences they provide in order to weather this storm and keep customers loyal.”

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Every day for 21 days (July 7- July 27), Domino’s customers will have the opportunity to win $10K when they order the Gotham City Pizza.

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