High Street to Haute Couture - Why a Custom-Fit Contact Centre is Critical for Omni-Channel Retail Success

In a period of increasing Bricks and Mortar retail closures, it is glaringly obvious that investment in the digital space is critical for retail brand survival in a modern connected world. Mass consumer marketplaces such as Amazon have trail blazed the digital ecosystem but, leaping to the upper end of purchasing, there is also now a paradigm shift in the luxury market where digital now influences more than 45% of all luxury purchases (online & offline), growing 4 times faster than in store, and BNP Paribas estimations that the luxury market shift to eCommerce could bring £43 billion between now and 2020.

With the digital world growing at such a fast pace, online sales AND the quality of online service, are pivotal for brand dominance and loyalty in ecommerce.

Today’s modern, connected consumer is doing a lot of things in a lot of places. Their path to purchase is no longer linear and, at some point between browsing and buying, there is a critical digital pathway that can make or break where they spend their money and place their loyalty. This shift to online means more channels and more devices and the customer expectation is for high-quality, service-led brand experience, even more the case as the price tag increases towards the luxury market. Customers want relevant, interactive and targeted experiences when, where, and how they choose, whilst at the same time expect a superior level of customer service.

As we consider what online support means, it is important we also consider WHO are the rising force of future customers of this new digitally driven space.

Millennials continue to lead the key demographic for online commerce, spending more money online than any other age group. Despite having a typically lower income than older adults, Millennials spend around $2,000 annually on e-commerce and they are not without co-shopping affluent peers. The Henry demographic (high income, but not yet rich), a relatively new consumer distinction who are profiled as living on their digital devices and, with an appetite for the latest and greatest in brand experience, are willing to sacrifice household consumption for their desired lifestyle. This combined fresh generation of digital consumers want a seamless digital experience both in-store and online – not only do brands need to deliver an compelling eCommerce offering but they must also optimise it for a range of additional platforms, including mobile and social, and ensure customer support excellence is as seamlessly available in the background, if they are to realise the true value of this emerging and growing new consumer group.

With such focus on content, channel integration, logistics and lifestyle experiences it is important NOT to forget about the role that contact centre will play in brand advocacy and success.  

As pre-purchase window shopping moves from shop-front to screen, customers are now in charge and the digital interface plays a larger role in influence and expertise than the somewhat dying breed of retail assistance in-store. Beyond the technology that drives the brand interface, the online digital support team is now the influencer of the online shopping experience – click to call, online chat, social response, brand ambassador service pre and post-sale – a well-designed contact centre can monitor and influence digital customers in a variety of experiences and ways to buy, including in-store bricks and mortar.

• Connect with customers – a real-time support team that can move at the same pace as the connected customer, co-browsing and offering real-time multi-channel support in multiple languages
• Unified content and support – friction-free customer experiences and lifestyle inspiration from socially engaged brand ambassadors
• Low touch luxury and personalised shopping experiences - tools and devices that drive convenience and ease, data to drives customer centric solutions, support that enables tailored customer service
• Joined up thinking – consistency across all channels, replicating or bettering the in-store experience online

So critical is this role of the contact centre in advocacy and revenue share, 75% of the luxury market now has a visible customer contact centre online – an increase of 49% compared with 2015 – and 25% now also have a ‘Live Chat’ facility.

An example of early adoption success is pure-play etailer, Net-a-Porter, mobile transactions account for 75% sales and, with a growing number of millennials purchasing luxury products, it’s expected that they will count for half of the total global luxury market by 2025. (The Telegraph, 2016).

So, as regrettable as it is to see closure of the bricks and mortar high street, a ‘virtual’ retail support infrastructure is never more essential. Curating expertise to build a well-designed omni-channel digital contact centre will mean that new high customer demand can be serviced with more than just a product, but an entire lifestyle to go along with it through enjoyable, friction-free, customer experience.