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Industry Key Issues
The Internet’s impact has been tremendous– new online entrants (“pure plays”) have challenged the industry’s status quo. Companies throughout the industry are addressing their online strategy to remain competitive. All the while, customer loyalty is being tested. Traditional brick-and-mortars are struggling to transform themselves into “click-and-mortars”. True “pure plays” are taking market share, but at what price. Across the industry, competition continues to heat up as companies vie for customers’ attention and wallet-share. Today’s consumers want depth of selection, ease of access, superior service, total guarantees of satisfaction and rock-bottom prices. Consumers also choose the channels with which they interact with companies – for example, doing research online, then buying at a retail location. Or, buying online, then wanting to return merchandise at a retail location.
Retail Solutions Characteristics
It has become a buyer’s market. Customers demand products and services that respond to their changing values and needs. Dialog Manager enables retailers' transformation to a customer-centric organization, retailers can establish each customer’s current and potential value to the business. Many retailers, still struggling with the basics of selling online, including flawlessly executing pick-pack-and-ship fulfillment services or responding to customer service questions in a timely manner, are simultaneously working to create an experience for customers that anticipate their movement across channels, from Web to call center to store. Dialog Manager enables a full understanding of multi-channel customers’ behavior resulting in protection of online market shares and increased competitiveness. Retailers must be sure to synchronize their efforts across these channels to ensure that each customer interaction is valuable. While profitability has always been important for traditional brick-and-mortars, market pressures are forcing “pure play” retailers to also focus on profitability. Dialog Manager is the first step for many companies to understand which of their customers are currently profitable, and which customers can be grown to profitability. |
