The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the retail industry, forcing the closure of physical stores and causing uncertainty for the future of the in-store experience - we all know that right?

These abrupt shifts have left many retailers scrambling to effectively serve customers through other channels. Digital-first and omnichannel retailers have pivoted more easily, but retailers that prioritised physical stores and face-to-face engagement over omnichannel strategies have struggled to respond.

Consumers (you/me) don't think in process terms like companies and brands tend to do, we can have a great process but if the overall 'experience' doesn't live up to what your shiny intrusive adverts promised me then next time I'll go elsewhere, and chances are I'll probably share those thoughts on social media.  

To remain relevant in this changed environment, retailers should set a North Star to guide their aspirations for customer experience - it's vital they have an internally aligned realisation of the 'anchor' reason people should shop with you over a competitor.

Over the years I've been privileged to work with and manage numerous 'customer support' teams around the world, and they all do an amazing job. 

They have their own weekly KPI's that they work with, and report into the leadership team about, virtually all of those KPI's highlight 'customer experience inefficiency' from within.

In today's modern world if your company has a big customer service team who are kept busy it's probably because you're neglecting the one thing that makes us all choose one brand/company over another.

That one thing is 'how does this make me feel' - this is my emotional reaction to you, and it has a huge impact on our future (or not) relationship - it's what I call an outside in point of view because it's driven by the customer, not an internalised (inside out) view which is driven by the brand/company.

Or put in business speak - "what did I just experience".

My take on this after many years in multi-channel retail is that customer support teams are there to 'prop up' really crap internal alignment around the brand promise and what the 'customer experiences - and its hugely wasteful for everyone involved.

The savviest retailers have spent years creating omnichannel strategies that blend physical and online channels to engage consumers in the channel of their choosing. COVID-19’s impact on customer behavior has reshuffled the deck. 

In-person interaction has dramatically changed or been supplanted by digital engagement, and early indications suggest that much of this shift may endure in the long term. 

E-commerce sales in apparel, department stores, and beauty products have increased by nearly ten percentage points, on average, since the onset of the pandemic. In grocery, e-commerce penetration, which has risen from 2 to 3 percent before the crisis to 8 to 10 percent during its peak, is expected to settle at twice the previous “normal” level, 5 to 7 percent, by year’s end. 

Is it really about being digital, or is it simply about thinking 'experiential'?

Do you think 'service' instead of 'experience'?