Customer experience has become retail’s biggest buzzword, and Retail Week’s new event aims to get under the skin of exactly what it means.

Peter Pritchard, commercial director of Pets at Home, says creating an engaging in-store experience that makes customers want to visit – without necessarily buying – has always been central to the brand’s success.

What’s the best way to approach data? Do you have the right culture to create a customer-focused strategy? How important is personalisation?

These are just some of the questions Retail Week’s Customer Experience conference will explore in October, when retailers will gather to discuss both what a ‘great customer experience’ means, and how to achieve it. Here, some of the speakers at the event talk about the challenges they are facing at the moment, and where they are trying to get to.

Dixons Carphone marketing director Julian Diment says information is his big priority: “We are seeing an increasingly savvy customer with more information at their fingertips.”

Over the past six months Carphone Warehouse has equipped sales staff with tablets to enhance the customer experience of buying a phone. “We have tried to bring the best of digital in-store,” Diment says. 

“At any point we have up to 30,000 deals available. And even with the best training in the world, our colleagues aren’t going to remember them all.”

Customers are asked a number of simple questions about how they use their phones via the PinPoint tablet system, which also includes tools such as signal coverage checkers and data calculators. The customer is then given a recommendation based on their individual needs.

“Customers have told us that a combination of digital recommendation supported by advice that a colleague can give is powerful,” Diment says.

The process also provides the business with valuable aggregated data about what customers are interested in.  “That helps us as a business to evolve and grow,” he adds.

For Breffni Walsh, group marketing officer at Maplin Electronics, the in-store experience is vital in distinguishing the retailer from its online competitors. “Customers have never had more choice on the high street and online,” she says. “But getting products to work and discovering if they are the right ones can be the tricky bit.”

“If we didn’t offer the service we offer, our customers wouldn’t be with us”

Karen Walker, First Direct

Walsh says going online is no substitute for speaking to an expert. “There is a lot of white noise out there, but the whole reason we exist is because we are a trusted authority.”

The company puts a high premium on the knowledge of its staff, running a dedicated academy to train employees, Walsh says. “Customers need to know advice is coming from a professional, authoritative source.”

Magda Kolesinski, commercial director at Sofa.com, says the brand has deliberately joined up its online and in-store channels to create the best possible customer experience.

“The website has a live chat functionality, which is the very same team that operates in the showroom and on the phones. These are the same guys, which helps us ensure customers

get the best possible experience because they are not talking to people hidden in a call centre completely separate from the product,” she says.

Because the internet has turned many goods into commodities, creating a strong brand is essential, Kolesinski says. “So it is about building a customer experience that stands out and creating a crowd of Sofa.com ambassadors: people who have experienced how nice it is to do business with you and communicate that on your behalf.”

Peter Pritchard, commercial director of Pets at Home, says creating an engaging in-store experience that makes customers want to visit – without necessarily buying – has always been central to the brand’s success.

But he believes the digital environment has forced a lot of retailers to work harder as customers can now easily compare products online.

“What is interesting is a lot of those retailers are having to re-invent themselves, because if you are just about products alone, it comes down very quickly to price and nothing else.”

Karen Walker, customer service director at online and telephone bank First Direct, agrees that the market has become more competitive, with more banks now having made the move into the online space.

“We are still number one for customer satisfaction, but it gets more difficult as people’s expectations grow and everyone tries to wow customers on service. That has been our competitive edge for some time, but I don’t think it is enough any more. We need to evolve with changing customer requirements,” she says.

“What is key for First Direct is being there for the customer however they choose to bank with us. Although we predominantly do everything via the telephone, it is about joining up all those conversations customers want to have with us through whatever channel they choose.”

Due to regulatory requirements, banks are limited in the conversations they can have via social media, as it is not a secure channel. “So we might start a conversation on social media, but then we have to direct them to a secure message on email or get them to call us. So the next venture will be developing that excellence in social customer service and making the process more seamless,” Walker says.

The bank ensures it remains responsive to customers’ needs, she adds. “We know they want real people 24/7 to answer their queries quickly and effectively, and we need to make it a seamless experience for them. That is what people expect from us and they choose to bank with us for those reasons.”

Its focus on the customer experience has meant that First Direct does not have to compete on price alone.

“We are comparable on value and price, but we are not the best value for money on some of those products all of the time. But the feedback from customers is that service matters more,” Walker says. “Our customers tell us that if we didn’t offer the service we offer, they would not be with us.”

Highlights of the event

Customer experience has become retail’s biggest buzzword, and Retail Week’s new event aims to get under the skin of exactly what it means.

  • Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, executive director, marketing and international at Marks & Spencer, will share the key ingredients needed to build a successful brand identity for your store. 
  • Learn how to unlock the value of your data and better understand the customer with Gill Whitehead, director of audience technologies and insight at Channel 4.
  • Julian Diment, marketing director at Dixons Carphone, will reveal how retailers can intelligently use insight to influence decision-making and how to engage with today’s digital consumer.
  • Join Karen Walker, customer service director at First Direct, who will discuss how to manage customer relationships through customer experience.

The details

Retail Week Customer Experience will take place on October 21 at 30 Euston Square, London. The one-day event is tailored to provide retail professionals with knowledge, ideas and inspiration to develop and implement a customer-centric strategy.

For help with your booking or more information please contact our sales executive Andrew Falconer-Borgars.

t: 020 3033 4247

e: andrew.falconer-borgars@emap.com

w: www.retail-week.com/customerexperience

To hear about our sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities please contact Imogen Jones.

e: imogen.jones@emap.com