The Power of Customer Connection

I read a great article today by Jennifer Hewett in today's AFR about service being the future of shopping. https://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/the-future-of-shopping-is-in-service-20180220-h0wdev

Absolutely it is, but there are two parts to service that Australian retailers could do better; training staff and offering end-to-end service. Finding people isn't an issue; Australians have a great work ethic. The difficult part is ensuring their skills remain relevant in the ever changing retail landscape. Retailers need to invest in training their people on a regular basis and measuring their success by using a Net Promoter Score, which the majority of Fortune 1000 companies do. The Winning Group's NPS score for the month of January was 81.8 - the average for retail in Australia is 12. Importantly, service also isn't just about the actual sell. To remain relevant as a retailer you must be more thoughtful of your customers from the minute they enter your store or land on your website, to after the product was delivered or the customer has gone home with their product.

Some of the country's traditional retailers have had the opinion that the job of a retailer is to put products on shelves and the customers will come and buy. This strategy no longer works. Your job as a retailer is to really understand how to connect your brand to customers on a more emotional level. Efficiency is also not going to ensure your longevity against the likes of Amazon; yes you reduce costs, but it doesn't give customers a reason to shop with a retailer. To compete and survive, retailers must have a clear point of difference and must remain relevant to their customers' every changing needs and wants.