Contact Centers

People still want what brick & mortar can deliver them, especially when customer service is based on a single view of the customer.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that holiday sales this year will increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over the 2017 holiday season. Deloitte's annual retail sales forecast was even more positive, putting the figure at 5.6 percent. This means retailers are looking at between $717 billion and $1.1 trillion in sales this holiday season.…

By implementing a self-service artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot solution, TechStyle Fashion Group (parent company of JustFab, Fabletics, ShoeDazzle) saved more than $1 million and was able to reduce the overall number of calls to its contact centers for transactional and traditionally self-service issues. In addition, the chatbot’s proactive, context-inclusive handoff of more complex chat sessions to live agents…

By implementing a self-service artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot solution, TechStyle Fashion Group (parent company of JustFab, Fabletics, ShoeDazzle) saved more than $1 million and was able to reduce the overall number of calls to its contact centers for transactional and traditionally self-service issues. In addition, the chatbot’s proactive, context-inclusive handoff of more complex chat sessions to live agents […]

With the busiest retail season of the year behind us, it’s the perfect time to assess performance and reflect on opportunities to improve and ensure an even more successful holiday season in 2018. The holidays always bring with them the highest ticket volume, as customers reach out to businesses with a flurry of questions around returns, password…

For consumers, the most wonderful time of the year is here. For retailers, it’s the busiest time — and customer service plays a vital role in the sales process. Contact centers are the backbone of any customer service strategy, and this is never more important than during the holiday season. Having an effective contact center…

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and its year-over-year transformation cannot be overstated. Twenty years ago, the ramp up to Black Friday looked vastly different than it does today — Cyber Monday didn’t even exist! — and that's entirely due to the ever-evolving technologies that are shaping our digital landscape and market demands. For…

Online sales continue to grow as a proportion of overall retail sales, and returns are growing at an even faster rate. With the holiday peak season upon us, retailers will need to focus more than ever on handling returns in ways that avoid alienating their customers — and consequently losing future sales. Given the rising…

My previous post outlined how consumer behaviors are changing and technology is creating new expectations. While these should be welcome developments, they're posing major challenges to retailers. That post also explained why an omnichannel-enabled contact center is a critical part of the solution. In this article, I detail how omnichannel will help retailers positively impact both…

As consumers partake in the busiest time of the year for shopping, retailers everywhere will be wondering how they can maximize their share of wallet. While the spending is still happening, the foundation is already in place that will determine how those buying decisions will be made over the next few weeks. Consumers are increasingly…