Internet
Retailer announced today that the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition
(IRCE) website is now live with complete details of the event.
This
years’ Conference & Exhibition will take place June 8 -11, 2010 at
McCormick Place West in Chicago.With
5000+ attendees, 375 exhibiting companies, and 175 speakers, this is definitely
an event to attend, and the world’s largest e-commerce event.Plus, if you register between now and January
15 you will receive a $100 cash rebate (presented to you when you pick up your pass at the show) in addition to
the $200 early-bird discount!
The results are in, and online sales from Black Friday and
Cyber Monday are up compared to one year ago.
According to comScore, a company that monitors online
consumer behavior, Black Friday experienced an 11% increase in sales to $595
million compared to the same day in 2008. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday rose 5%
from the same day in 2008, reaching $887 million and matching December 9, 2008
for online spend, which is the heaviest in record.
These statistics speak great for a recovering economy, and
definitely shed an optimistic light on the upcoming holiday season. But,
before we get ahead of ourselves we need to explore the full scenario and ask ourselves
– how are these sales going to be supported into the New Year?
See, the sale doesn’t end when the credit card is processed
online. After this is complete, retailers must shift focus to the
after-sale experience in which the customer uses the product and seeks help
setting it up, trouble-shooting, exchanging for an upgrade, or simply making a
return. Each of these can have a further positive or negative impact on
the customer’s experience.
Many businesses today rely on repeat customer purchases, and
therefore building a good rapport and reputation for beyond-the-sale service
amongst customers is critical. This is where contact center services –
done in-house or outsourced – will have a huge benefit to any company. A
24 hour help line to trouble-shoot on Boxing Day can mean the difference
between a happy child, and therefore happy customer, or a disgruntled
individual who will go elsewhere for a purchase in the future.
So, while the numbers stand to be beneficial to retailers
right now, will you follow-through and support these sales in 2010?
Just released, the National Retail Federation's 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey announces a decline in spending for US shoppers this 2009 Holiday Season. According to the report, U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $682.74 on holiday-related shopping, a 3% drop from last year’s $705.01.
This does not mean less gifts from a quantity perspective, but will definitely be looking for better deals to spend less overall.
MultiChannel Merchant reports, "According to the survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 66% of U.S. Shoppers say the economy will affect their holiday plans this year, with 84% of respondents say they’re adjusting by simply spending less. To ensure that they will spend less, 55% say they'll be shopping for sales more often, 42% will be using more coupons and 34% are putting up last year’s decorations."
Retailers will have to look for ways to gain new customers or repeat customers, not focusing only on discounting. This is the season where the customer experience is key to ensure companies bring in decent numbers for end of year results.
With Thanksgiving weekend only 5 weeks away, Retailers must act now to get what they can out of their customer's tight budgets this year.
Microsoft OneApp has been in development for a while. The biggest thing that stood out to me was in the first sentence of an article I just read, "Microsoft on Monday announced plans for mobile software that aims to allow people in emerging markets to access various Internet programs using lower-end feature phones."
The article goes on to talk about how OneApp will let users with older cell phones access the same popular social apps being used today, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MSN Messenger. OneApp makes things virtual, or follows the "cloud" concept - meaning apps aren't stored on the phone but accessed virtually.
I talked about it briefly before, "Cloud Telephony". From a user standpoint, it makes it easier for people's everyday needs (shop, socialize, etc). From a service standpoint, businesses and companies can take advantage and have another channel to effectively serve their customers. Especially with a market and demographic that can be predominantly found in the virtual world.
I’ve never been one for texting.It’s effective for the quick message of where to meet and what time, but a full-on conversation texting has always seemed arduous to me – although maybe that’s because until a couple weeks ago I had an old cell phone with the traditional word pad.Now with my BlackBerry, I see how efficient and easy it can be to type.
Having joined the new age of Smartphones, I now see just how easy it is to text and type into the device.Maybe this is why I’m not surprised to hear that there is now a call center that is accepting text messages.
The center is located in Iowa, and the text messages are for 911 emergencies.While this is a very specific and localized practice for the time being, it is also a huge leap forward in an ever-evolving world of communications.
You can email, Tweet, Facebook, MySpace and blog through your Smartphone.You also have the option to call, chat or email companies today for assistance.Therefore, it is a logical, progressional step to be able to text to receive help – especially from 911.
So, how long will it be until you can BBM or chat with a representative from your phone?Only time will tell, but that time is coming.
Tell us what you think – is texting in the near future to be included in call center services?
Apparently Microsoft will opening up a couple of retail stores in Arizona and California this fall, which will be their first ones. Their corporate communications director stated in an article: "Microsoft's stores are a way for the company to introduce consumers to its products in person, but they are not meant as a product showcase or a replacement for big electronics stores ... However, Microsoft does want the stores to turn a profit".
It'll be interesting to see how this turns out, especially considering economic timing. Dell's model of having kiosks seems to be successful in communicating it's products in person with distribution still remaining in tact. On the other hand, the obvious trend of consumer shopping and researching online still makes me think about the move to bricks and mortar.
With sales plateauing and margins shrinking, online retailers must optimize the use of their contact center, whether in-house or outsourced. One way to do this is to make sure that your agent staff is the best it can be.At the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Boson this past June, Greg Fettes from 24-7 INtouch and client Leslie Agerland from ShopNBC.com discussed how to select, identify, and motivate agent stars to ensure program goals are being met. Here are some of the main tips from their presentation that are somewhat simple in nature, and yet sometimes the first to be overlooked.
Establish a Culture of Excellence - Expect excellence throughout your organization. Lay out clear goals and tie them into your overall contact center culture. Empower your employees to add value at all levels, and accountability will come naturally.
Communicate & Share Information - Communicate what is happening within your company.Communicate program goals and where each person is doing well or needs improvement. Allow for networking to build a close culture.
Be Flexible - Contact centers have a bad reputation for being rigid in scheduling. Flexibility will result in higher retention and increased productivity in the long run.
Recognize. Recognize. Recognize - Everyone likes a pat on the back for a job well done. This is especially true for the typical younger demographic that works in the contact center. Remember to be creative – it’s not only about money! Have other incentives and perks that tie into your program goals.
Use Mentors to Build Teams - Your own employees are usually the best knowledge experts to help develop lower performing agents. Foster a mentorship atmosphere to develop tomorrow’s leaders and maintain your culture of excellence.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun - Improve morale by providing recreational facilities and break areas where employees at all levels of the company can socialize.Invite top-performing agents to company functions such as awards dinners and by reward them with perks.
Incorporate these tips into your recognition and reward strategy. The value-added ROI will be a more motivated workforce, enhanced brand, empowered agent group and higher retention of your top subject matter experts.
Ads and promotions are coming - will this cause an increase in traffic or customer service? Time will tell. Applications for mobile devices keep flowing. As Apple keeps reminding us, what ever we can imagine "there's an ap for that". Traffic and downloads in the mobile world are increasing, meaning more opportunity for advertising views - just not sure if they'll translate the same way as they do on a webpage.
Read more about Google’s Mobile AdSense For iPhone and Android Apps Now In Public Beta in this Tech Crunch article.
One small change can make a difference, if enough people take the time to do it. This is the concept around Blackle, the energy saving search engine, powered by Google custom search. Created by Heap Media, the goal of the site is to have enough people switch from a white to black search page, taking small steps to save energy in our everyday lives.
As Blackle states, "In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages. We <Heap Media> believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy."
This is a great concept, and allows everyone to make a small change that can have a great effect. I have converted this to my home page and do not find any issues with readability.
