An honorable mention to See All Her Faces new favourite: Jigsaw.
As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I have recently been involved in an epic struggle, the like of which I have never faced before, and one in which I wasn't sure I would make it out alive, let alone victorious.... Yes, I was looking for a Winter Coat... In January.... I found one in Jigsaw, and an example of how retailers can continue to delight their customers in what looks to be another uncertain year for the industry.
I found the coat of my dreams on their website, although neither it, nor my local store had my size. I left a message on the website with the details of what I was looking for, and also with my local store..
I received an email from their Retail Operations Controller later that day, to confirm that the option I was after was at a branch who would be phoning me that day to arrange payment and delivery. Which they did. And subsequently my local store also phoned to say they had also found one and had it transferred to their store for me to collect- from famine to feast on the stock availability front.
So yes, I got my coat which was great, but that isn't why this story is important. It's important, because Jigsaw demonstrated that whatever channel you choose to shop using (store or online) they will go the extra mile to please. And that is going to make an even bigger difference in 2010.
It shows that Jigsaw have parity of shopping experience whatever channel you are shoping via, making them much closer to the true 'multi-channel' Holy Grail that all retailers aspire towards. Providing a good shopping experience whatever the method, builds the brand- it builds loyalty, confidence and credibility- in the same way that some of us will go to a Macdonalds on holiday because we know what we are getting (Yes I'm a philistine), we are more likely to repeat shop with a particular retailer, and potentially by another method as well, if we know what will expect, (and we like it)- we know we can trust them.
Many retailers are not so good at replicating their positive store experiences online (I will try not to name and shame today because there are just too many, but for goodness sake Selfridges haven't even got a transactional website yet- it's 2010!!), it's confusing, and disappointing... and once we lose faith in the retailer's credibility and/or service, we are less compelled to shop with them at all....
The other key part of this story was the positive difference the stores made to my customer experience. It was a store who phoned me promptly to arrange despatch of my coat, and another store who took my details and transferred the coat in for me to collect.
Today's crowded market includes a number of retailers who have no 'bricks and mortar' store locations- they are pure play online retailers- Asos being one of the most successful examples. Pure E-Commerce retailers cut rent and staff overheads hugely with no high street presence, savings which can be passed on in part to the customer, making the online retailer a seemingly more competitive and attractive proposition.
So those retailers who are lumbered with the high operational costs of managing an estate of stores, such as the Jigsaws of this world, should use those stores to add value to the business- not just in terms of the turnover that each brings, but the customer service experience the store can provide with it's knowledgeable and dedicated personnel, that means that customers will come back, loyalty is much easier to build with face to face interactions than online.
Customer Service is how bricks and mortar stores can prove invaluable in the next year, and how smart retailers will use their multi-channel shopping experience to differentiate themselves in a crowded and still precarious market place.
Your Mother's old saying 'being nice costs nothing', has an addendum... it can cost a lot if you're not.
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