However, significant gaps often exist between the in-store service and that offered via contact centres, as they are often considered two very separate functions.   

Understanding the Silos: The Gaps Between Employees 

Studies show that up to 49% of companies struggle with breaking down silos when serving customers through various channels. While contact centres invest in integrated solutions like CRM systems and AI tools to support their agents, these employees often lack detailed product training. Conversely, in-store staff receive extensive product training but may lack the knowledge of wider issues such as delivery and ongoing product quality issues. This disconnect results in disparate customer experiences across touch-points when consistency is key. 

Why the Employee Gap is a Problem 

To thrive, organisations must adopt a holistic ‘customer-first’ approach, ensuring all customer-facing staff are equally equipped with training, guidance, and tools. Viewing contact centre agents and in-store representatives as separate entities ignores their shared goal: delivering excellent customer service. 

Merging the Customer Experience Across Channels 

1. Provide Uniform Training 

All customer-facing employees should receive comprehensive training on emotional intelligence, brand ethos and product knowledge. This ensures everyone can handle complaints, guide customers to the best products, and deliver consistent service regardless of the channel. 

2. Empower with Technology 

Equip in-store staff with tools and platforms used by contact centres, like inventory management systems and CRMs. Mobile-ready interfaces enable quick access to necessary information on the shop floor or at a desk. Ensure that contact centre staff have access to extensive product information and easy points of escalation to support customers at the first time of asking.  

3. Foster Collaborative Growth 

Create a unified team by encouraging collaboration across all customer-facing roles. Conduct regular cross-channel meetings to share insights and strategies to enhance the customer experience. This strategic alignment drives innovation and cohesive company culture. 

4. Integrate Customer Feedback 

Gather and integrate customer feedback from both in-store and contact centre interactions. Use this data to continuously refine and improve service delivery across all touchpoints. 

5. Real-Time Data Sharing 

Implement real-time data-sharing solutions to ensure that both in-store and contact centre teams have access to the most current information. This enhances response times and accuracy in customer interactions. 

6. Maintain Unified Customer Profiles 

Develop unified customer profiles that are accessible to both teams. This will personalise the customer experience and ensure continuity across different channels. 

Align Your Teams for Better Customer Service 

In-store and contact centre interactions can be integrated to provide seamless, consistent, and efficient customer experiences. By aligning training, technology, and teamwork, retail businesses can bridge the gap between in-store teams and contact centre reps, ensuring every customer interaction is positive and professional. The more effective you are at aligning your teams, the more your customer satisfaction rates will grow. 

Partnering with an outsourcing expert like DDC Outsourcing Solutions for your contact centre can significantly enhance your customer experience strategy. Benefit from their extensive market exposure and specialised expertise in customer experience (CX). To start that journey, get in touch with DDC today. 

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Our solution offering for New Era Cap involves providing customer services in five languages – which made our multilingual hub in Sarajevo the ideal choice of location. “As a major retail brand, it is crucial that our customers feel the essence of our brand in every interaction, whether it’s over the phone, through email, or on social media,” said Michael Nong, Head of E-Commerce. Our team takes immense pride in delivering the highest level of service to every customer. While statistics on quality and productivity reflect this commitment, nothing compares to witnessing our team in action – delivering on Michael’s objectives.  

With all our clients, we strongly believe in fostering strong relationships between teams, irrespective of the distance between them geographically. This partnership is an excellent example of that; the teams have developed a remarkable bond, functioning as a cohesive unit. The thoughtful gifts they had gotten for one another in anticipation of the trip represent that bond. 

During their visit, our clients had the opportunity to spend valuable time with their dedicated team, observing procedures, participating in brainstorming sessions, discussing best practices, exploring innovations, and witnessing problem-solving firsthand. These trips are the perfect opportunity to further develop these relationships both in and out of the office…  

Beyond work-related activities, we ensured the team from New Era Cap had the opportunity to explore the beautiful sights of Sarajevo. Our colleagues, with their extensive historical knowledge and expertise, provided fun guided tours full of interesting facts, which gave us all a better understanding of the wonderfully diverse culture. Of course, no visit to Sarajevo is complete without indulging in its exquisite culinary delights, washing it down with the local drink, rakija. 

Michael Nong, New Era Cap, Head of E-Commerce, who had the opportunity to meet the DDC team during the site visit, said: “After meeting the DDC team in Sarajevo, it is evident why they are regarded as one of the best global customer experience service providers. Their team exhibits great professionalism and consistently delivers high-quality work. The exceptional customer feedback we have received is a testament to the outstanding service and dedication they provide for New Era Cap.” 

Sarajevo provided the perfect backdrop for celebrating our five-year partnership whilst providing the opportunity to look at the project’s future. Thanks to all the team that made it such a memorable experience. 

To learn more about the benefits you could gain from our nearshore outsourcing facilities, please get in touch.

The good news is that companies recognise the need for exceptional service, with 65% of brands saying they plan to increase their investment in customer experience solutions during 2023.  

The bad news is that many companies still don’t know where to get started with their strategies to boost client satisfaction. As the landscape we know continues to change at a phenomenal rate and customer expectations evolve, it’s challenging to determine where organisations should be focusing the majority of their efforts. Fortunately, if we look at the current patterns in the customer service landscape and the statistics surrounding CX, we can see some emerging trends. 

Here are 5 of the key customer service trends businesses will need to prepare for in 2023:

1. Customer Service Channels Continue to Evolve 

First, companies need to be prepared for the channels they use to interact with customers to change more aggressively in the years ahead. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a range of new platforms for customer communications emerging around the world.  

Consumers have started connecting with brands on social media, interacting via video, and even using instant messaging tools like What’s App. Going forward, experts predict the lines between the digital and physical world will become increasingly blurred, thanks to the emergence of the “metaverse” and XR technology. “Phygital” experiences, which blur the line between physical and digital with AR-enhanced apps, and QR codes, are likely to increase in the years ahead.  

We’ll also see a larger number of companies investing in extended reality to meet their customers in the digital world. Brands like Nike, Wendy’s and Gucci have already started expanding into these areas.  

2. Hyper-Personalisation Becomes Crucial 

Consumers are becoming increasingly less enamoured by their favourite brands. Customer satisfaction levels have dropped to their lowest point in 17 years, and clients are becoming increasingly frustrated by one-size-fits-all experiences. Analysts like Gartner believe the companies who will succeed in the years ahead are those who focus more aggressively on “hyper-personalisation”. 

Companies will need to think more carefully about how they can transform customer service experiences to suit the individual needs of each user. This will mean not only giving customers more say over how they interact with a brand (in person or on digital channels) but also providing each customer with unique offers, guidance, and support during their purchasing journey.  

Going into 2023, we can expect to see more companies exploring ways to help customers have more of a say in the services, support, and offers they get.  

3. Companies will Leverage AI for Proactive Service 

Demand for artificial intelligence in the customer service landscape has been increasing rapidly in the last few years. Brands have begun to learn that leveraging AI allows them to provide more personalised and unique experiences to their users across virtually every channel. Already, we’re seeing companies utilise intelligent tools to automate customer service requests, route conversations to the right agents, and analyse sentiment during conversations.  

As customer expectations continue to evolve, one key area where business leaders are likely to increase their investment in AI is to develop proactive services. Artificial Intelligence can use historical information to pinpoint trends and patterns and provide business leaders with insights into how they can solve customer issues before they even begin.  

Moving forward, we’re likely to see more companies looking for ways to get one step ahead of their customer needs with proactive support, assistance, and sales.  

4. Automation Will Continue To Increase 

As staffing concerns and shortages continue to wage war on company productivity levels, countless businesses have begun turning to automation to reduce the pressure on their teams. Intelligent chatbots and conversational AI tools have emerged as valuable resources for businesses looking to reduce the number of support and service requests actually requiring human interaction.  

At the same time, businesses are also leveraging automated systems to help reduce the number of repetitive tasks their team needs to complete daily. The right systems can automatically store information, record conversations, and even follow up with customers without the need for human input. This gives team members more time to focus on the conversations that really matter.  

In 2023, these intelligent automation tools will likely become indispensable tools for companies that need help making the most of their human resources. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to address the staffing shortage alone, which leads us to our final trend prediction. 

5. Service Teams Will Invest Substantially in Outsourcing 

While automation and AI will go some way towards empowering companies to accomplish more with fewer employees, they won’t eliminate the need for informed, educated, and empathetic human interactions entirely. As consumers continue to demand more hyper-personalised and engaging interactions across every channel, companies will still need to ensure they have access to the right human resources. 

Since cost constraints and severe skill/people shortages will make it difficult for business leaders to hire full-time employees to fill the gaps, many will begin looking into outsourcing strategies to augment and supplement the workforce.  

For those who are looking to engage with outsourcing for the first time, those returning to the solution, or those looking for a hybrid approach, DDC OS can support you from a range of global locations to suit your requirements.  

Get in touch to learn more.  

DDC OS was shortlisted for three awards: Best Multilingual Customer Service with Boohoo, Best BPO Partnership – Large with Photobox and Best Pan European Contact Centre.  

In what was a very glamorous evening, with appearances including Fiona Bruce and Linford Christie. Guests were entertained with performances of Moulin Rouge and Lion King, amongst an array of acrobatic acts.  

As ever, the competition was fierce, with the best in our industry shortlisted. Along with the anticipation of categories we were shortlisted for, Joe Beal (CCO) presented the award for Small Contact Centre of the Year to Estee Lauder. Huge congratulations in order for all of the team there.  

First up Best BPO Partnership – Large. Big cheers followed to mark a fantastic first year in partnership with Photobox as another silver award was presented to the team. 

Up next for the DDC OS team was the Best Multilingual Customer Service category, and we were delighted to take home the Silver in partnership with Boohoo. 

In the penultimate award of the evening, Best Pan European Contact Centre, whilst not taking home silverware, we did receive a High Commendation – the only shortlisted business to receive it in the category.  

All in all, a wonderful evening for DDC OS and the teams from the UK to Bosnia & Herzegovina and beyond. Thank you to all involved, from our internal teams to our clients who made this a possibility.  

To discuss your outsourcing project with us (so we can enter many awards together!), then please get in touch.  

Until next year, when we hope to be even more successful, all the best…  

Team DDC   

In the UK, 81% of consumers have said they’re planning to shop more during the Black Friday period to help manage the cost-of-living crisis while still ensuring they can stock up on gifts. All over the world, these trends can present excellent opportunities for retailers to increase revenue and loyalty. However, it’s crucial to have the right plan in place to handle this demand.  

As tempting as it might be to double down on your marketing and try to cultivate additional sales during the holiday, the promise of short-term revenue wins shouldn’t come at the expense of long-term loyalty. After all, while 58% of consumers say they’re willing to accept long waiting times and delays during the holidays, only 8% will accommodate bad customer service.  

Perfecting Customer Service at Peak Times 

Peak periods, ranging from Christmas to Black Friday to other seasonal events, can be a double-edged sword for brands. On the one hand, they’re a chance to connect with engaged customers and accelerate sales. On the other hand, they can often lead to issues with inconsistent customer service and overwhelmed operational facilities.  

Implementing an enhanced sales strategy for the holiday season means not only creating the right marketing campaign but also ensuring you have the right resources on-hand to support an increase in demand. More sales mean more questions, service requests, and demands from consumers.  

If you can’t handle this extra pressure, pushing your business beyond its limits could cause more damage than good. In 2020, a report found that around 50% of Brits began actively avoiding companies with bad service at Christmas, leading to a loss of around £1.9 billion for those brands.  

Before you dive head-first into a peak retail season, you’ll need to ensure you’re not over-promising and under-delivering. Ask yourself: 

• What do customers expect from you? Start by assessing the kind of expectations you’ve already built in terms of customer experience for your customers. Does your company offer ultra-fast delivery, convenient returns, and rapid customer support? If so, can you continue to deliver on the same promises as demand increases?  

• Do you have a stable supply chain? Do you have what it takes to continue delivering products to a higher number of customers? If your current suppliers are unable to deliver on-demand, do you have backup options in place? How will you deal with popular goods going out of stock during the holiday period? How are you going to manage fulfilment and ensure items arrive at customer destinations on time? Even if the answer is no to some of the above, you can alleviate some inbound traffic by proactively updating your customers and them offering options.

• Can your existing team members handle extra work? Any increase in sales will automatically lead to an increase in work for your team members. If your staff are already overwhelmed, how will you provide additional support? In-house recruitment, outsourcing partners? Short-term solutions can pose a range of problems.  

Plan for Peaks Beyond the Holiday Season 

While the holiday season may be the most common time for many businesses and retailers to experience a peak in demand, it’s important to remember that there are other peaks to think about too. Different brands have different peaks and troughs depending on their industry and target audience. A sports company might see an increase in sales around annual competitions, while a florist may have additional demand during Mother’s Day and Valentine’s day.  

There are even instances in which retailers can manufacture peaks and demands with sales, events, and clever marketing. Ensuring you’re effectively prepared for the unpredictable nature of retail is crucial to ensure you retain loyal customers. Because of this, simply hiring seasonal staff for a couple of months each year may not be the most cost-effective and resourceful strategy. Could it be tied into other activities? Where else could you benefit from support? Can you create long-term solutions to short-term demand?  

Rather than having to find, hire, and train temporary team members on a consistent basis, many brands will benefit from creating more consistent agreements with third-party customer support agents, which allow them to structure a steadier flow of orders and maintain customer satisfaction throughout the year. Companies could even assign their outsourced specialists to different tasks each month to ensure they’re leveraging their available resources effectively.  

A consistent and holistic strategy will allow brands to manage not just holiday peaks but unexpected changes in customer demand whenever they might happen. Make sure you can always take full advantage of peak sales times without compromising on customer service.  

To learn more about the work DDC OS do in retail, please get in touch. 

Countless “traditional” brick-and-mortar stores transitioned to hybrid and omnichannel selling in 2021 and 2022, introducing new ways for customers to shop online, leverage delivery services, and even take advantage of click-and-collect opportunities.  

While softening restrictions in 2022 have allowed some companies to re-open their physical locations, retailers’ challenges are far from over. Not only do these companies need to adhere to new customer expectations for contactless, personalised service, but they’re also now dealing with a different set of threats imposed by impending recessions and energy crises.  

So, what will these changes mean to the future of retail? 

The Impact of Rising Energy Costs on Retail 

At present, the biggest threat facing stores strong enough to survive the pandemic comes in the form of rapidly rising energy costs. Throughout the United Kingdom, energy prices have soared to record-breaking levels, leaving many unable to pay their monthly bills. These huge energy costs aren’t just a major concern for consumers; they present a significant problem for business leaders too, who are already struggling with depleted post-pandemic budgets.  

According to one report from the Federation of Small Businesses, around 15% of SMBs believe they may have to either downsize or close completely due to spiralling energy expenses. With the energy pricing cap set to continue rising into 2023, the issue could soon become a lot worse.  

It’s not just niche businesses feeling the pinch either. The Association of Convenience Stores, which represents around 48,000 stores in the UK said energy bills had soared to an average of around £45,000 for some smaller members. Collectively, the ACS says its members are facing energy bills worth approximately £2.5 billion.  

If government bodies don’t step in to reduce the expenses these companies face, the average UK consumer could find themselves with a lot fewer options in where to shop going forward.  

The Trends Likely to Emerge Going Forward 

While it’s difficult to know for certain what the new energy crisis challenges will mean to the future of retail and commerce, there are some trends which are likely to be important for today’s companies. First and foremost, the transition away from in-person retail into omnichannel and digital commerce is likely to continue as fewer businesses can afford to run their own physical location. 

During the pandemic, many businesses already began creating e-commerce versions of their stores to give consumers a way to continue purchasing essentials when brick-and-mortar locations were closed. The use of e-commerce opportunities may continue to accelerate as businesses look for ways to reduce the overheads associated with running a physical store.  

Outside of the transition to more digital commerce options, we’re also likely to see an increasing focus on customer experience to help “recession-proof” struggling businesses and maintain customer loyalty as retailers are forced to raise their prices. If bills continue to accelerate for retail stores, there’s a good chance the cost of common products will also rise to ensure these businesses can stay open. Unfortunately, many consumers will quickly abandon a store with rising prices.  

Fortunately, better customer service could be the answer. According to one study by Ipsos, around 70% of women and 75% of men say they’re more likely to continue buying products from brands even after they raise their prices, if they feel “valued” by the company.  

Ipsos isn’t the only group to establish the benefits of maintaining high levels of customer experience in an economic downturn either. Leading analysts like McKinsey and Forrester have found customer experience leaders have 3 times higher total returns than their counterparts during difficult periods.  

What Does the Future Hold for Retail? 

With economic uncertainty on the rise, along with business energy bills, retail companies have a number of challenges to deal with in the pipeline. However, there may still be ways for these companies to protect themselves. Embracing new forms of digital commerce and doubling down on excellent customer service will give more organisations hope for the future.  

There has never been as much choice as there is today; the world of e-commerce has ballooned, which means that there are seemingly endless options at the click of a button. The pandemic has only accelerated this trend, and, as a result, some of the best-known brands globally have seen a considerable peak in sales. For example, in September 2021, Boohoo reported a record £976 million in sales over the previous six months.  

Competition is tough, so retailers must make sure that they meet consumers’ current needs and even the future needs they don’t yet know they want. Additionally, modern customers are increasingly concerned with the environment and sustainability. Developing an offering covering all these bases is taxing on retailers’ resources, particularly for less established brands. Consequently, retailers are turning to partnerships more than ever before in order to resolve these challenges. 

Collaboration is the Key  

There are multiple benefits to partnerships that can help us manage the biggest challenges set to hit retail in the coming years:  

• Recruitment, Floor Space, and Infrastructure. 

One challenge that every organisation is up against is finding enough skilled people to facilitate the number of roles available. For example, it has been commonplace for some companies to partner with department stores or other retailers by utilising some of their store space to sell products. This means that existing staff are upskilled to be able to support a level of customer queries for partners.  

Another way to tackle recruitment challenges is to partner with an outsourcing organisation, such as DDC OS. Slight sales puns aside, outsourcing has been a huge supplier of customer services for many years, giving brands strategic insight and access to a skilled workforce, all without the pains of resources and intricacies of contact centre management.  

Back to physical retail space, despite high street struggles, we still see mega supermarkets appear on what sometimes feels like a weekly basis. Interestingly though, we are witnessing the collaboration of brands sharing floorspace (or what is known as brick-and-mortar benefits) and, in turn, footfall, infrastructure and setup costs. Take Asda and Greggs, for example, which became the first supermarket to open the bakery goods counters within its own stores. There’s no doubt we’ll see more and more of this in the coming years.  

• Technology 

The challenges of keeping up with the fluid world of technology are plain to see. The sheer cost of reimagining your tech offering every few years is enough to scare even the most established organisations – the cost of not investing is even scarier. So, to help share this burden, we see a rise in collaborations:   

Take Virgin Media and O2 – a broadband giant and a mobile giant, working together to offer customers the ultimate bundle. Rather than competing and investing huge sums to do so, together, their offering has sent ripples through the telecoms market.   

Taking a more physical view of how technology partnerships can work, we shift our gaze to the US, where Walmart and Verizon have joined forces. The 5G rollout is well underway, and what would be a costly release for Walmart in its superstores is instead handled by their mobile partner, who in turn benefits from more users and exposure thanks to Walmart’s customer base; a win-win.   

• Brand building for specific demographics. 

We have all become increasingly more aware of the impact our actions are having on the planet. For some brands, attaining a green image is a vast and costly task, yet there is hope in the shape of collaboration.  

Roll back the years, Body Shop was making waves in the cosmetics industry. By highlighting how ethical they were, they, in turn, were displaying how lacking some cosmetic firms were with their own practices (at least in the eye of the customers). Impressed by their work, L’Oréal bought Body Shop in a huge deal, in turn showing a massive investment in ethical cosmetics and gaining an existing customer base and chain of stores. Natura have of course since purchased the Body Shop brand from L’Oréal.  

Ok, maybe a buyout isn’t the best example of collaboration. But, as ‘environment’ and ‘sustainability’ continue to gain airtime in boardrooms up and down the land, we see new articles every day highlighting the latest projects and partnerships.  

Take Tony’s Chocolate – their passion for improving the supply chain in the cocoa industry is inspiring. Aldi, possibly the UK’s biggest disrupter in the supermarket game, has partnered with them by first joining Tony’s Open Chain, which facilitates their supply chain’s goal. This was then followed by launching a chocolate bar partnership with them, the first in the UK.  

So, if you’re looking to increase your green credentials and appeal to conscious customers, ask yourself, who can I partner with?  

In a post-Covid world (still an uncertainty even today), things will continue to change quickly and remain challenging, and handling this as a retailer, regardless of size, will be testing. Therefore, partnerships are more appealing than ever.  

Collaboration felt like the ideal place to conclude this short blog series. We hope you have enjoyed the topics covered; we’d love to hear your take on any of the areas important to you. Moreover, we’d love to hear about your services that will help take retail forward.  

As we continue to develop in the wonderful world of retail, we will share more thought pieces with you. Why not get involved?  

With thanks, 

Team DDC.  

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DDC OS in Retail 

AI is here and here to stay…  

With higher volumes of online shopping comes more data, which means the emergence of Artificial Intelligence. The next generation of insights is here, and their ability to create tailored customer experiences are exciting. As per DataRobot, at least 70% of retailers are expected to adopt AI in the next two years. Here’s why:  

Utilise your existing data – many retailers have data-rich processes but are yet to unlock its potential, with 2/3 retailers claiming their greatest challenge is utilising their data. The uses can be endless; from planning your upcoming promotions and when to run them to choosing your next store location, data enables you to work smarter, not harder.  

Operational excellence – what operational team hasn’t questioned what can be done better? How many hours have been spent pouring over data looking for quick wins, big wins and that extra 5%? AI is helping retailers discover three times the gains in their efficiencies, saving time, resources, and even cash. 

Increase your revenue – each element of a retailer’s processes is under scrutiny to be more cost-effective, including any investments. Thankfully, AI is proving to increase revenues up to 31%.  

The Power of Personalised Marketing  

Setting yourself apart from the crowd could be as simple as understanding your customers better. In fact, according to recent data, a massive 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that offer a personalised experience. Fortunately, you can use data-driven insights to determine what it is that your customers expect and need from you.  

Inevitably, more customised content increases your marketing spend, but the added value for customers could be the difference between them spending with you or a competitor. Insider Trends offered the following insight into how retailers are creating this more customised experience:  

• Create personalised recommendations based on customers’ search histories.  
• Customise your website based on the customer profile so they can access relevant items quicker.  
• Show products suited to their sizes and tastes. (Maybe you’ve already noticed a little note on your recent shopping experiences online: ‘you usually purchase this size’).  
• Advertise on their social media feeds based on their viewing of your website.
   

The possibilities that come from social media alone are endless. Facebook IQ’s report on the next era of hybrid shopping encapsulates the power of social media platforms perfectly: ‘With social feeds increasingly curated to personal tastes, these platforms act as tailored catalogues for shoppers to find products or brands that they may never have known existed before. It works too: 84% of shoppers purchased in-store after finding or discovering the item on social media.’ 

If that list isn’t exhaustive enough, we are seeing the entire marketing mix (the 4 P’s) utilised –let’s look at the product element. Customisable products and solutions are more popular than ever. Even major global brands notorious for their consistency are offering levels of personalisation. Take McDonald’s; whilst no longer in play; they launched the “create your taste” option across restaurants worldwide, letting customers build their perfect McDonald’s burger for the first time, a great example of mass personalisation.  

We don’t have to look in great detail to find many more current options for personalisation, from designing your own football boots with Nike, editing your Moet Champagne label, and getting your name on a jar of Nutella or a Dairy Milk bar.  

On that note, we’re heading to the snack cupboard as we look towards the next instalment which focuses on the role of collaboration in the future of retail.  

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DDC OS in Retail 

The Rise of Digital Window Shopping 

A quarter of consumers return between 5 and 15 per cent of all the items they purchase online, which is one of the more conservative estimates. There’s a variety of reasons for this trend, not least the fact that it’s hard to judge the quality and fit of certain products when online shopping. Notably, this statistic sharply rises when customers are effectively ‘window shopping’ from the comfort of their own homes.  

For example, when it comes to fashion, a consumer may buy three different sizes of the same item or three outfits for one event, intending to try them all and choose a favourite. The return rate shoots up for such purchases; it’s a whole new level of stock management and returns processing. 

Some retailers are choosing to walk into the ‘£7bn storm’ –consider the Amazon Prime Wardrobe service. It allows customers to select eight items, receive them, try them before returning any they don’t like, before finally being charged for the items they keep. We must ask, would we have imagined a service like this ten years ago? Or would it have been considered too high risk? Which is the higher risk move now, to ignore the demand for these services or embrace them?  

Alongside this trend, the demand for swift deliveries and return options naturally grew. Of course, specific retail sectors were impacted more by this shift than others; according to the IMRG Quarterly Benchmark Q4 2020, women’s clothing has the highest average returns rate at 23 per cent, with footwear closely following, coming in at 20 per cent. Therefore, we must also consider what retailers can do to ensure deliveries and returns are as simple as ever for customers.  

Customers Demand a Smooth Returns Experience 

Returns remain a difficult and inconvenient part of the online shopping journey for many – with research InPost conducted finding that 83% of people who shop online say retailers should do more to make the returns process as easy and fuss-free as possible. Meanwhile, 86% say that a poor returns experience will put them off shopping with a retailer again*, highlighting the critical importance of retailers getting returns right.  

• Parcel Lockers 

With returns now a crucial part of the customer experience, innovations such as lockers can play a central role in driving customer lifetime value and giving retailers a competitive advantage. Available 24/7 and positioned at convenient locations such as supermarkets, train stations and petrol forecourts, lockers offer people a genuinely convenient and easily accessible way to return online purchases as part of their daily routine — be it during their daily commute or while meeting a friend for coffee.  

InPost’s Instant Returns solution is the first of its kind where there is no need for the customer to print out a label at all — not at home nor at the drop-off point — customers can simply scan and drop. With labels being replaced by QR codes, it means it is completely self-service, giving online shoppers ultimate control and convenience, with the whole process taking as little as 10 seconds to complete.  

• In-Store Returns  

There is a straightforward solution if your business has brick and mortar stores and an online presence. Allowing customers to return items in-store when they have purchased items online could be a significant advantage. This is because 62 per cent of shoppers are more likely to buy things online when they know this is an option. Moreover, it can lead to increased footfall instore and, therefore, increased sales.   

• Postal Returns 

Perhaps the best-known method here (and cause of queues at the local post office!) is postal returns. Most retailers now allow customers to print off their return labels at home and take them to a local post office/selected convenience store or have the label printed in-store.  

Steps are being taken by some retailers, such as Next, to make postal returns even more convenient by utilising the delivery vans that stop at our houses or a neighbours’ houses almost daily. It allows the customer to return items from their doorstep. Delivery services are now being used as tools for returns, a clear example of a UX focus.  

All of the above is great, but we must also consider the customer experience element. Here are some thoughts on what should supplement the above.  

• Excellent self-serve tools.  

Customers are happy to do things for you; in fact, 40% of customers now prefer self-serve over human contact. They are often happy to arrange their returns, collect items, and check status updates on their order. They’ll even chat to a bot. So, it’s important for CX that retailers recognise this and then deliver the tools that allow the customer to do exactly what they need to.  

• A knowledgeable customer service team.  

As we all know, irrespective of how innovative your organisation may be and how easy your delivery and returns processes are, there are always situations whereby your customers will want to talk to you. Therefore, the customer service team must know your processes so they can firstly relate and understand the customer and then solve the issue. This can be a difficult task given the options available. Still, through extensive training and support and knowledge bases, your customer service team should be able to provide the final touches to your delivery and returns processes.  

* All figures, unless otherwise indicated, are based on a survey of just over 2,000 UK adults conducted by Opinium on behalf of InPost from 25 February-1 March 2021. 

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DDC OS in Retail 

Flexibility in Delivery and Returns  

Perhaps one of the most significant changes in e-commerce is the customer’s decision-making process. For example, when a customer buys a piece of clothing online, they are unlikely to be sure of the fit and size; even the style can be hard to judge through a screen. In a physical store, much of this is negated. We have seen an increase in people purchasing more items online with the intention of returning much of the order – 1 in 3 fashion purchases are now returned. This change in purchasing behaviour has led to the need to modify and simplify returns processes. Ensuring that customers can return items quickly and efficiently isn’t an easy task, nor is it cheap, with an estimated £7bn cost associated with returns.  

As online orders increase dramatically, so have delivery and return demands, ‘with parcel deliveries rising 50 per cent to 4.2bn in the financial year ending last March, according to industry regulator Ofcom’. As a result, services such as, parcel lockers – like those provided by InPost – have become all the more necessary and popular. So much so that ‘the number of potential customers within 5 minutes of a locker has risen from 2 million to almost 7 million in the last year‘. Such infrastructures have been vital in easing the strain on even the biggest delivery giants whilst still living up to consumer expectations of a stress-free process. 

For those of us with an eye on innovation much further in the distance, enhanced touch screens are being discussed as an option to help customers feel objects. That would surely help reduce some of the return’s volumes. Watch this space, with some early versions of this expected in the next five years!  

Options for Payment  

The way that customers pay for online purchases is constantly changing. Before now, most retailers offered a single payment option. A consumer would input their card details and the money would leave their account accordingly. However, there has been a movement here to provide customers with more options. Using credit-based systems, such as Klarna, means that customers can buy products now and settle the balance at a time that suits them. Alternatively, a customer might choose to pay with PayPal, Apple Pay, Google, etc.  

Giving customers options is key – the easier their journey, the more likely they are to make a purchase. A word of caution, though; as the saying goes, more money (or, in this case, payment options), more problems. Therefore, your customer service team must be armed with the knowledge of the different options available to customers so they can effectively support incoming queries on payments. An informed customer service team is an effective one.  

Customised E-Commerce Experiences  

The major difference between in-store shopping experiences and the world of e-commerce is the presence of human interaction. So much of the online experience is automated; customers simply click a button and the products they’ve ordered get delivered to their door. This means retailers have limited opportunity to upsell products or encourage a purchase, as is possible in-store. Digital tools have come a long way in terms of the support they can offer customers online, but what can we do to make that situation more interactive and brand immersive?  

We are seeing more ‘customised’ shopping experiences appearing in the market. Take the fashion world with Stitch Fix and Thread – where the experience replicates having a personal shopper. These services show that creating more interactive offerings doesn’t necessarily mean increasing your headcount and therefore costs. We can certainly expect to see more of this as time goes on.  

Keeping up with Demand  

But, what of situations where a higher headcount might be required? Creating more interactive and immersive digital experiences will depend on your resources. As you add more strings to your bow, you aren’t replacing the old ones. Your customers will still want to call to see why that parcel is a day late, or to ask why they haven’t received a refund yet, or to complain that their order has not met expectations. This realistically leaves two options: 

Firstly, you can grow your own team – utilising that loyal, experienced instore team that has sadly seen its store close, giving them the chance to reallocate those skills. This has already been successfully implemented throughout lockdown; for organisations such as jewellers. Clearly, it is still possible to deliver high-quality customer service in such ways. 

Alternatively, you could choose to work with an outsourcing partner. They can deliver your standard customer service expectations and, importantly, go way beyond this by providing the kind of personalised services aforementioned. Outsourcers are flexible enough to grow with you, taking on the pains of recruitment during peak times. They can also offer you multiple locations for cost-saving purposes and, in most cases, provide access to multilingual, skilled staff – at least that’s the case here at DDC OS. More importantly, an outsourcing partner should be strategic, supporting your aims as an innovative, ever-evolving retailer.  

Indeed, lots to think about; in fact, next time, we will dive even deeper into the topic of delivery and returns.  

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DDC OS in Retail