PROMOTIONAL RESEARCH

A new report by Retail Week showcases the businesses empowering their store staff to deliver best-in-class customer service and an experience that can’t be beaten online. Find out how you can do the same

The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the maxim that the greatest asset of any business is its people.

But even before Covid-19 struck, many retailers had built a brand proposition around the high level of service delivered by their frontline staff.

As Waterstones retail director Luke Taylor says: “People will return to bookshops because of the experience. You can’t replace what a bookseller can do with an algorithm on Amazon.”

Retail Week’s new report, Customer Champions, features in-depth case studies of leading retailers detailing how they are making store staff their greatest assets as we emerge from the pandemic. They include: 

  • John Lewis
  • Kingfisher
  • Waterstones
  • Lush
  • Tesco 
  • Richer Sounds
  • Dixons Carphone
  • Liberty 

From the “tonnes of power” Lush gives store workers to make instant decisions on the shop floor, to the reward system that enables Waterstones’ best booksellers to earn more than managers, Customer Champions shows how retailers have built a reputation for delivering outstanding customer experience through the interactions of their frontline staff. 

The report also features global case studies from retailers such as Sephora and Atol, which have become synonymous with high levels of face-to-face service.

And it explores how companies like Dixons Carphone and Liberty are making the best use of store colleagues’ wealth of product knowledge to serve customers digitally through virtual product demonstrations and video consultations.

Critzr Customer Champions front cover

  • Profiles of retailers from the UK and overseas that have built a reputation for delivering outstanding customer experience through the interactions of their frontline staff
  • First-hand testimonies from store managers on how they get the most out of their colleagues on the frontline
  • The value to be gained from positive human interactions and the importance of generating and acting swiftly upon local customer feedback
  • How aspects such as company culture, training, empowerment and rewards or incentives can help ensure frontline staff become your greatest assets
  • How technology is being used to build human connections between store staff and customers through new digital services