‘Have a technology partner who can anticipate your needs'

Leo van de Polder, MaRC- Global Development Director for Shop! the global trade association dedicated to enhancing retail environments and experiences, who has a demonstrated history of working in the retail marketing and advertising industry for many years, shares more insights on the status of the global retail industry today in this second part of his exclusive interaction with VMRD.

- N. Jayalakshmi

Omnichannel has been a buzz word for some time now. But how do you think a retail brand can get the best business returns from investments in omnichannel? Any check list that you can suggest?

In assessing the success of a given retail store, traditional metrics such as sales per square foot and customer satisfaction have their place but are increasingly less meaningful in an omnichannel world.

With e-commerce as the new reality, retailers are realizing that the historical differentiators of price and location are not enough. In fact, for brick-and-mortar retailers who compete primarily on price, designing for CX is even more imperative.

This is because traditional metrics such as customer satisfaction typically focus on a single episode/ encounter or point in time, rather than the entirety of the customer’s journey leading to an overall emotional connection to the brand. While they give a good indication of past performance, customer satisfaction levels are relatively poor indicators of future loyalty. CX, on the other hand, reaches customers at a cognitive, emotional, and intuitive level, leading to stronger brand affinity.

Also, given that studies have found correlations between CX and topline growth, customer engagement and operational efficiencies, it is not surprising that CX has been heralded as a key source of competitive advantage.

How exactly can CX be made to drive value?