Mobilising teams around the customer experience

During the height of the pandemic, the retail staff managed the unexpected: inventory, new health and sanitary regulation and customers. When normal trade returns, it is imperative for retailers to enrich and personalise the customer experience. The shorter aim is to encourage a boost in trade, but a longer-term reward is only earned by a customer-centric management strategy. After reopening stores, how can retailers help their staff move to become customer-centric rather than product-centric, as Thomas Husson, Senior VP Analyst at Forrester suggests, (quoting Marc Cuban, Director of Customer Experience and Marketing at Volkswagen)? “To become customer-centric instead of product-centric, you must put customers first. To achieve excellent customer service, employees must embrace the brand on a daily basis.”

In the immediate term, all staff like cashiers, order pickers and store managers must be rewarded and appreciated. The strong social role of e-commerce websites managers has unexpectedly emerged during the crisis. As part of the unavoidable restructuring caused by several months of closure, retailers are keen to retain their in-store sales force. This is the case for Burberry, the brand that built its reputation on the unmistakable Trench coat. The company (turnover €3.02 billion, 465 stores in March 2020) announced a reorganisation across 5% of the…