Giving customers what they want - when all they want is more, more, more

We hear a great deal these days about how customer expectations are growing. Plus ?a change, plus c'est la même chose. The trick for retailers has always been to not only meet customer expectations but, ideally, to anticipate and exceed them. And this is still possible in an omnichannel world.

These are challenging times. In the last couple of weeks, the BBC in the UK was reporting that retailers had closed 2,700 shops in the first half of 2018 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46142025). Each day, 14 shops were closing their doors, with fashion retailers and electrical stores suffering the most. And this turmoil looks set to continue. From a consumer perspective, it’s in the nature of people to want more: each generation wants more opportunities and hopes for better a quality of life than its predecessors. So expectations generally increase. At the same time, I see a lot of research papers and opinion pieces shouting about how the customer is really in charge these days. It’s almost as though retailers didn’t really need people to buy from them until now. Which is nonsense, of course. But what is clear is that technology and digital platforms are changing the game, throwing new light on the fundamentals of retail.

 In general, consumers now expect things to run more smoothly than previously: instant access, when they want it, without the friction that used to be the norm. What is now called the customer experience. This shift is thanks to providers like Amazon, Netflix, Uber and JustEat, and has taken place in little more than a generation (other drivers include progressively greater bandwidth, the rise of smartphones, social media, and more). This means that if retailers are not giving people what they want and how they want it (i.e. now) the customer is probably already thinking about the next place to look, or has gone there already. How can a retailer adapt and align with that level of expectation? They can start by carefully considering three issues.

First, avoiding one of the biggest mistakes a retailer can make these days: having too many barriers or steps for customers to hand over their money. We can all think of times when we’ve scratched our heads and wondered if a retailer was actually interested in taking our hard-earned cash. Retailers need to look at existing processes, and how and where people fit in, then identify ways to strip it back: to retain precisely what a customer needs to make the purchase and get rid of everything else. Technology can help, to develop and offer a seamless experience across all touchpoints and channels: bricks and mortar, online, mobile, social. Make it easy.

Second, providing an instant and effective response to a customer’s needs and wants is far more valuable than a fancy gimmick or unnecessary ‘bells and whistles’ that can actually slow things down and muddy the retail waters. Technology, media or platform should never get in the way of a great customer experience. If in doubt, leave it out. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, and think about workflows and processes that will enable a customer to find what they want and pay for it as smoothly as possible. People want their needs to be met quickly and painlessly – with a high degree of professionalism and, ideally, in a way that leaves them feeling good thoughts about your company and its brands. That’s how loyalty grows.

Third, dealing with the first two issues clearly requires more focused, creative and collaborative thinking behind the scenes. This means developing a strategy that involves the business understanding and harnessing new technologies, and most likely reaching into the cloud to (a) not only keep up with customer expectations at all times but also to (b) actively plan to exceed those expectations through new approaches in communications, planning, merchandising and buying, supplier relationships, pricing, campaigns and promotions, supply chain management, etc. etc. - delivering consistently great service regardless of touchpoint, the customer’s preferred channel, time of day, device, or whatever

I believe retailers will need to do more to reinvent themselves in the next 2-3 years than they’ve done in the previous 30 years, innovating for new services and customer experiences. As new retailers emerge and established names continue disappearing, we’ll see an inexorable rise in next-generation working practices, collaborative tools and shared workspaces to drive that renewed customer focus, make life easier for consumers and to ensure retail operations run in smoother (and more profitable) ways. Dropbox can clearly help in that space by enabling new workflows and environments for people to unleash their creative energies, to develop and share fresh ideas, turning them into innovation. It’s a vision for retail that we’re developing right now.