When it comes to customer experience in retail, there are absolutely no truths, only perceptions. We have all been shopping, in-store and online, and ended up with that ‘so near, yet so far’ feeling you get when, despite your best intentions, you fail to make a purchase. This always feels like a defeat, for both the customer as well as the retailer, and nobody likes to lose.
My recent retail experience
I had a recent shopping experience in Nottingham that characterises a common problem. I was greeted and assisted by a very friendly retail assistant with strong product knowledge that gave me confidence in the advice I was given. After perusing a number of different options, I made my decision and we set off on the final leg of the journey: to complete the transaction. This is when the wheels started to fall off.
The assistant assured me that because the item was own-brand, delivering it within 2 weeks would be “no problem at all”. A mobile device was pulled out and the details to place my order were quickly entered. Then we hit the buffers, ‘Out of Stock’. The assistant told me not to worry, as the system on the mobile device was often wrong. We moved to a till point and another attempt to enter the order details was made. This time it was ‘In Stock’ so everything was good again. Or at least it was, until it came to booking the delivery slot. When a date and time combination were entered, the system showed that fulfilment wasn’t possible due to the item being ‘Out of Stock’. This time, the assistant was flummoxed and called over a colleague. The explanation given was that whilst the till system was probably right, and there was stock, the delivery couldn’t be booked because it checked availability against the same stock record as the mobile device, which you will remember said ‘Out of Stock’. Neither the assistant, nor the colleague, knew where to go with this in-store, so I was pointed to their website. Apparently, the website used yet another different system, and it was likely I’d get what I wanted from there.
By this stage, my early confidence had been destroyed, not by the actions of the assistant, or their colleague, as they had provided me with excellent customer service. My trust was broken by the lack of consistency this retailer had across its supporting systems. I left the store without making a purchase and with no intention of buying online. I didn’t want to place an order and rely on it being delivered, only to be let down. I finally made my purchase elsewhere.
How could my experience have been improved?
I’m fascinated by the potential of using personal data to tailor shopping experiences, and I believe that serving the specific needs, and accommodating the different behaviours of individual customers, is a must going forward if retailers want to get ahead of their competitors and stay there. But whilst this is an aspiration for most retail businesses, there are things that need to be done now to improve a customer’s shopping experience. These things are not ‘quick wins’ and should not be labelled as ‘throw away’ in the future. These are the foundation stones that even the most sophisticated of customer experience solutions will need to rely on in the future.
Having good, accurate product, price and inventory data is imperative when it comes to customer engagement, and I don’t think anyone would argue with this. However, many retailers should be asking how accessible their data is across each of their selling channels; how accurate it is, and how consistent it is. Having multiple product catalogues, with different pricing records and multiple stock records is what causes the problem that I encountered when I went shopping in Nottingham.
This is not meant to be an excuse, but because of retail’s ‘here and now’ approach to innovation, system development in the past has led to complex infrastructures being constructed. Without someone giving you the narrative behind why things were done in the way they were, this complexity seems unnecessary, and the result of bad planning, bad practice and a lack of control. Whilst some of these things may be true in some settings, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that most technical debt has been accrued by an overwhelming desire never to let the business down.
But retailers need to move forward, and in 2021, it is hard to justify continuing to build your customer engagement points on such poor foundations. If you want to provide a shopping experience that will delight your customers, then you need to get the basics right. Those retailers who try and build a digitally enhanced future will fail to achieve their stated objectives unless they address their underlying issues. The good news is that there are solutions available and unlike systems of the past, implementation is more straightforward, and adoption is easier and more cost effective than ever before.
Whilst retail is often difficult, sometimes weird, and very unpredictable, it’s very simple at the same time. It’s all about the customer, and their shopping experience is rooted in perception.
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