Employee experience first

Store staff using live video with customers in their home. Store managers reassuring customers and chatting via the internet. Cashiers praised by customers for their commitment to their business. Driven by the need to sustain their activity and serve customers who are confined at their home, stores, businesses and employees are successfully creating social and sales bridges for customers.

As restrictions ease, managers must navigate the minefield of economic recovery whilst directing brands on to a new trajectory. This is focused on omnichannel capabilities and implies different ways of working for staff. How retailers mobilise their teams and equip them with new skills will make the difference. Anyone who has direct customer contact, whether on or off-line, must-have tools and training to deploy an integrated 360° vision of the customer.

The first good news is that there is significant room for improvement with start-ups. The next good news is that working in retail continues to be a vector for employment, as shown by the expensive recruitment drives by Tesco and Amazon.

The human factor will be the driving force behind a recovery, provided that retailers ensure the changes in staff jobs and skills, in other words, the employee experience, are aligned to delivering a new personalised customer service.

Gautam Chowdhury
CEO of RXG India