Customer Service Stagnating
Customer service
levels in the retail sector in 2018 are stagnating at a time when store owners
can least afford it, a survey by customer service training organisation
KiwiHost reveals.
KiwiHost CEO Jared
Brixton said the company has surveyed customer service levels annually since
2008 when customer satisfaction was around 33%, rising to 64% by 2013, where
they have since remained – give or take a percentage point or two.
“Rising wages, a
more transient workforce that doesn't see retail as a long-term career option,
tightening margins and rising fuel costs – not to mention competition from
online giants like Amazon – have created a tough environment that discourages
investment in people skills,” Brixton said.
“Ironically, it is
people skills – like communication, the ability to hold a face-to-face
conversation and friendliness – that offer the only real competitive advantage
to walk-in retail store owners.”
Brixton said the
advances of technology, including point-of-sale software solutions like Vend, have
dramatically changed the landscape, but come with both problems and
opportunities.
“Where your millennial
work force understands and is comfortable with technology (and the efficiencies
it offers) the people with the money who still enjoy going in to the store are
50-years-old plus; these are the customers who want personal, friendly
engagement.
“It is imperative
that store owners return to personable, informed customers service as a point
of difference – the technology is there to make it happen, but training your
staff in interpersonal, customer service skills will enable them to sell
better, negotiate better and serve better.”
Brixton said for
many customers there’s no real incentive to come instore except to try on sizes
and perhaps listen to the opinion of a real human being.
“Your customer
researches online. They’re informed with reviews. They know prices,
specifications and availability. They can even buy cheaper online, but when
they come in store, even to try on a product or a get a feel for it, that is
your opportunity to get them to buy then and there too.
“If price and
supply are a bricks-and-mortar retailer’s only differentiators, then they’re
going to struggle,” Brixton said.