Rethinking In-Store Experience with Collaboration

The in-store experience isn’t dead yet. Though it’s safe to say that e‑commerce has grown increasingly popular in recent years, there’s still a place for brick-and-mortar retail stores in the current environment. The catch is if today’s brands want to achieve profits and delight their customers, they need to offer an in-store experience that’s just as connected and convenient as the journey a buyer can access online.

A study by Capgemini Consulting found that 40% of consumers consider in-store shopping to be a serious challenge. In fact, 30% said they’d rather be at home washing dishes than shopping in person. This means that retailers need to embrace both digital transformation and customer experience strategies to ensure that every client gets a straight-forward and efficient experience. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Collaboration could be key to unlocking a new era of retail.[/inlinetweet]

Empowering the in-store team

Online customer representatives can offer powerful, personalised experiences to customers because they have huge stores of information to tap into. When a customer orders something from an e‑commerce site, they’re already logged in to an account that contains all their information, previous purchasing decisions, and more. This means that if they come to the brand in search of assistance, there’s plenty of context available for an agent to access.

Collaboration tools in the retail environment bring team members together as a cohesive, informed, and empowered group, ready to tackle customer problems together. Click To Tweet

Since 75% of customers expect a consistent experience wherever they engage with a brand, and around 68% say that it’s essential for a business to understand their personal preferences or needs, companies need to find a way to share the same useful background information during an in-store interaction.

Collaboration tools in the cloud can provide an instant hub of information for all members of a team, allowing every staff member on the floor to evaluate the needs of a client at the same time. A cloud app leveraged on a mobile device gives every employee access to real-time interactions, shared files and the possibility to reach out to colleagues in the same store or in other locations so that resolutions to client issues can be found quickly and effectively.

Creating faster, more personalised customer service

Collaboration tools in the retail environment bring team members together as a cohesive, informed, and empowered group, ready to tackle customer problems together. This means that when a client approaches a staff member in need of help, they don’t have to worry about being dragged around the store in search of someone with the right knowledge to solve a problem or answer a question.

Each team member has access to a universal source of customer context, product information, and professional support, so they can deliver the first-time resolution that customers are looking for. This helps to build stronger relationships with consumers and reduces the risk of churn. After all, 70% of customers say that technology has made it easier for them to take their business elsewhere.

If a staff member doesn’t have the right knowledge to respond to a customer query, they can send an instant message on their collaboration tool to a manager who can help. Presence information ensures that each employee can see who in their network is online and available to help in an instant. This leads to faster, more efficient customer service.

Speeding up the purchase process

A collaboration platform can act as a knowledge base for team members in a retail setting, giving them easy access to a single point of truth. This empowers in-store staff to deliver exceptional service based on the unique needs of each customer. Additionally, it also means that employees won’t need to waste time seeking support from colleagues when they could be helping consumers to move through the purchasing process as quickly as possible.

Checking out is the last thing your customer will remember. Delays and complications on the path to purchase can not only reduce a company’s chances of making a sale, but they can also have a negative impact on brand reputation. With collaboration tools, an entire team can work to streamline the customer journey, improve profits, and build long-lasting relationships with clients.