A recent discussion on RetailWire discusses how crucial it is for retailers to integrate selling channels. If a customer wants to make a purchase online and pick up the item at the nearest store, then they should be able to do so. Wal-Mart does a great job with this. I believe most retailers know that they should be integrating their selling channels to keep up with the evolving shopper experience, but the problem lies in the technology investment and logistics of it all. Are most retailers ready to make the necessary monetary and time investments? Probably not. However, those retailers that already have integrated selling channels are ten steps ahead of competition.

What do you think? 

Verizon Wireless aims to improve the wireless retail experience for customers by incorporating a new store design. Features to enhance the customer experience include a greeter kiosk that allows customers to check in once they enter the store and list their wireless needs so representatives can quickly assist them. In addition, the new store layout will have customer service and technical support departments, making it easy for customers to get account information, customer service and address technical issues from trained in-store staff.

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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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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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According to Nielsen, the number of shoppers buying less expensive brands is increasing from 23% in December to 35%. Stop & Shop, Shaw’s, and Whole Foods are responding by more heavily promoting their less expensive store-brand, or private-label, products.  “Some of the typical behaviors we see when people are feeling pinched is they do use coupons and they buy more private-label products,” said Judy Chong, spokeswoman for the West Bridgewater-based Shaw’s.

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It was predicted that luxury hotels would be able to maintain pricing power well above inflation but this didn’t hold true. Starwood hopes to stimulate traveler interest in their Luxury Hotels & Resorts with print ads telling affluent consumers, “Life is a collection of experiences. Let us be your guide.”

A new Luxurycollection.com site offering travel advice and photography from National Geographic Image Collection was launched July 8 to convey this message.

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There was a recent discussion on RetailWire  regarding Apple’s customer service. In the last few months, they have boosted the number of “concierges” that meet and direct customers in its stores. If better customer service and more frontline staff can help boost sales then why aren’t more
retailers increasing their frontline staff? Apple can afford to hire more workers because they have the margins to do so. This is not the case for most retailers, especially with the current economic state.

Let’s say a retailer can afford to increase their frontline staff. Is that enough? What drives customers to Apple Stores in addition to customer service are the ambiance, layout, and design of the store. All these components make up the customer experience.

Denny’s will start to offer a new breakfast takeout program to compete against fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King.

“More than half of time pressed Americans eat their meals on the go, but are forced to choose fast food because of busy lifestyles and time constraints,” the company said.

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Recent studies indicate that outsourcing customer service is most likely to have a negative effect on customer satisfaction.  The study analyzed the offshoring and outsourcing activities of 150 North American companies and business units from 1998 to 2006. As a group, those that outsourced customer service saw a drop in their score on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, or ACSI, a measure created by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan. The study did show that declines were roughly the same whether companies outsource customer service domestically or overseas.

Companies that saw their ACSI score decrease also saw their companies’ share prices
move in the same direction with. Market capitalization dropped roughly 1% to 5%.

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