Retailer Rules for Meeting Customer Service Challenges this Holiday Shopping Season

A trip to the mall with my teenager and his friends last weekend made it clear to me the retail sector is booming this holiday season, while also facing a variety of challenges. Demand is massive, and retailers are struggling to keep items in stock while employing enough workers to handle customers' needs.

Whether shopping is done online or in person, retailers need to step up their customer service games to remain competitive this holiday shopping season. That means handling an influx of customer queries and demands as efficiently as possible. Thankfully, there are a few basic rules businesses can follow to ensure they handle operational and customer service challenges in a timely and graceful manner.

Embracing technology offers measurable returns for any retailer. That includes beefing up investments in automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and self-service to ease the burden on customer service representatives. Not all queries and issues can be handled automatically, of course, but many common problems can be dealt with through automation, chatbots and self-service. Not only does technology ease the load on busy human workers, it gives customers the tools to help themselves and solve their own issues in a timely manner. Ultimately that means happier and more satisfied customers who will likely remember the positive experience and return for future business.

Businesses should also be more proactive about communicating with their customers. That means keeping customers informed about shortages, delays or other complications throughout every step of their journey. Customers also have very specific preferences when it comes to communicating, so an omnichannel approach to customer service is critical. Technology is an excellent tool to achieve this, providing customers with a variety of ways to interact and stay in touch with retailers.

Finally, retailers must ensure their operations are running as seamlessly as possible. That means  front, middle, and back-office teams must maintain good communications and share important data. This will prevent issues that impact customer service and when there are problems, they may be addressed more quickly and efficiently with the available information. A happy, well-connected operations team is the backbone for a successful company and will directly reflect on customer relations. It will also help retailers retain employees, a critically important factor in ensuring the holiday shopping season runs smoothly.

Edited by Luke Bellos