Putting the customer first, irrespective of channel

"What can electrical retailers learn from other sectors and how can they organise their systems, people and processes to put the customer at the heart of all they do”

About us

We’re a strategic ecommerce &

multichannel consultancy

We’re thought leaders

Me sharing a stage with the founder of the WWW – Sir Tim Berners-Lee

talking about what’s next for the web and what does it mean for retailers

Our USP is that we’ve all worked in retail…

Brands Our Team Have Worked For

A Selection Of

Our Clients

Some of our clients

Putting the customer first

Retailers pay lip service to it

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

And the stats prove it…

Customer churn increasing year on year

IMHO

We’ll see more transformation and disruption in the next 5 years than we’ve seen in the last 21 years of the WWW

Voice activated everything….

Video

Technology can clearly help to put the customer first

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Device of choiceWinning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Social

Mobile & Tablet Customer Services

In-Store technology Digital Signage

POS & Assisted sales Web

However…don’t get lost in the technologyIt’s just an enabler

Too often it gets in the way

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Therefore who is going

to unblock the path?

“I see myself like a B52 bomber

removing the roadblocks”

Greg Wasson

Ex CEO Walgreens

What does it mean to put the customer first?

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

It means behaving like a customer service business

If you were a customer service business that just happened to sell electrical products…

What would you do differently?

If you were disrupting your space, what would you do differently?

Metro Bank offers convenience & is pet friendly

► Branches open 7 days a

week

► 362 days a year

► From 8am-8pm

► Branches are dog friendly

► They refund new and

existing customers when

they rehome a dog or a cat

from Battersea Dogs and

Cats Home

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

What does it mean to put the customer first?

It means structuring around the customer and their experience and not around channels

Customer experience mustcombine online and offline functions

In some cases the Chief Customer Officer brings different marketing, service &

engagement channels under one umbrella

Some retailers are integrating customer channels

Some brands integrate sales channels

The Retail Director (in M&S’ and Debenhams case, the “Multichannel Director”)

brings all sales channels under one umbrella

It means a leadership team who look beyond cost

Putting The Customer At The Heart Of All You Do

Conversation with Wiggle CEO

3 years ago…..

If you only looked at cost, you wouldn’t do this…

Putting The Customer At The Heart Of All You Do

New Argos concept stores

Or this...

Putting The Customer At The Heart Of All You Do

Buying from an

order point and

choosing home

or the order point

for the fulfilment

of your order

If you need to be 100% sure, you’ll be 100% late!

Putting The Customer At The Heart Of All You Do

Putting the customer first means letting customers

shop ‘on the go’

What does it mean to put the customer first?

Putting The Customer At The Heart Of All You Do

Schuh now

has more

than

50%+ of all

online sales

through

mobile

Using mobile to add to customer service

Neiman Marcus mobile app lets users find and contact the sales assistant who

served them on their last visit.

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

https://www.practicology.com/thinking/reports/

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

It means offering customer service when it’s required

Schuh’s “live help” services

Schuh offers customers live chat with support staff for any queries

► Service available 7 days/ week

► Your own “personal assistant”

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Maplin uses it’s social media

accounts to promote it’s

instore experts.

► Individual stores use the

hashtag #askmaplin

► And post photos of staff

members who are experts

in any given product

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

It means having a strong customer value proposition

Price – Service - Satisfaction

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

It means being transparentin all that you do

Customer service loopWinning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

40 mins a day signing customer letters: Both good and bad

Personal Letters

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Fulfilment

It means letting individual customers choose how they wanttheir order fulfilled

Delivery Matters

Click & Collect usage in UK, France & Germany

Brits lead the way in using Click & Collect, but German’s are more likely to use a locker option.

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Image: MetaPack

It means ensuring returns are easy and free

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

76% of shoppers viewed a retailer’s return options before placing an order

51% failed to proceed with a purchase because the returns process offered was not easy or convenient for them

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Respondents across the US, UK, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands - .MetaPack Survey October

2015

Customers also want to

know what’s next?

59

62

It means personalised offers

Waitrose “Pick Your Own”

offers

• myWaitrose customers can

choose 10 of their favourite

products and save 20% on

them every time they shop

• This applies to shopping

instore and online and can

be changed monthly

It means localisingthe customer’s experience

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Practicology Localisation Report 2015

Example of how

unfinished a site looks

when not all of the

content has been

translated

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Winning the hearts and minds of customers in new markets

Local language is very important!

Video

martin@practicology.com@martinnewman / @Practicology

uk.linkedin.com/in/martindnewman