CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN CHALLENGING TIMES

With the cost-of-living crisis lasting for a year, the complex international environment, including the Ukraine invasion by Russia and the new set of global poles created between China and the US, followed by the uncertainty of the possibility of a recent bank crisis, it is unforeseeable in the short term the rise of consumer confidence from its current low level.

Under these complex circumstances, to maintain the #value provided to #consumers, many retailers make decisions driven by lowing prices, making special promotions or cutting costs to navigate through this tumultuous period. However, on the one hand, the increase in raw material prices has forced many companies to transfer those costs to consumers to control margins. On the other hand, a decline in consumption of non-essential products is forcing decision-makers to control costs and, in some cases, to hold on to planned investments or reduce costs, such as in training, recruitment or within the number of staff.

While we acknowledge the difficulties mentioned above, it is crucial to consider that value to the consumer is much more than the price. It relates to the whole #experience and what consumers consider worth paying. Because under these complex circumstances, what will make the difference for many brands is what consumers will experience in retail brick-and-mortar.

It is essential to consider that loyal and happy customers with a brand are a long relationship process, where consumers at some point felt in love with the brand for different reasons, such as product design and quality, the storytelling experienced when visiting a physical store, the level of service provided along the whole #consumerjourney, and so forth. Then, focusing on loyal customers and keeping the same level of their expectations is essential in this period.

#investing in staff is crucial, as they are the brands' ambassadors in the eyes of consumers and the facilitators of providing an outstanding experience. An unmotivated #staff member is a door for a bad consumer experience and a possible open window for a customer to lose engagement with a brand. This difficult period is the time to enhance your company #culture and #values in the eyes of the team, working for the best consumer experience. Investing in motivational activities, product and service training, and personal development will enhance employee net promoter scope and, consequently, the level of service provided to consumers.

To develop a #loyalty customer programme or enhance the existing one more creatively, use the intelligence #dataanalytics collected through the different channels, especially in the stores with staff feedback and other digital tools that provide you with relevant information about consumer behaviour in their visit to the stores. If there was a consideration to invest in experiential digitalisation, this is a perfect moment to do it. #understanding how consumers and loyal customers experience your brand's brick-and-mortar spaces in such a challenging and competitive environment can provide your company with better tools for making decisions in the short term and developing a differentiated and more #creative customer experience medium-long time.

Investing to seek operational efficiencies and to increase productivity in different areas of the business in crisis periods can help your company to reduce some costs to protect margins while at the same time enhancing the service provided to your customers. Examples of that efficiencies can be found in the buying or allocation processes using retail-professional AI software to reduce manufacturing cost, stock excess, and logistics allocations cost.

Finally, it is relevant to remember that customer experience is a non-stop process for adaptation and improvement in a changing environment and with competitors willing to fall in love with other brand's loyal customers.