I was very fortunate to have grown up in a family that owned retail stores. As a child I learned valuable lessons in retail. While the retail world has grown much more complex over the years the basic principles remain the same:

Customer service

Both online and offline retailers must take care of their customers- your greatest sales person is a satisfied customer – every frustrated customer is an opportunity to turn a bad situation into a good one.

On the retail selling floor a good sales person will resolve the customers problem and make sure they leave with a smile. A consumer complaining to to customer service on a website must receive the same treatment and the customer service team must have the same goal – make sure the customer leaves with a smile.

Many online retailers have reversed the outsourcing trend and pulled Customer Service back form overseas to their home office. A few leading e-tailers have senior management including the CEO take some Customer Service calls.

Inventory Management  

In the offline world there is nothing more upsetting to a consumer than traveling to a store only to find that they are out of the advertised special. Poor inventory planning leaves both retailers and consumers frustrated.

In the online world it is equally as bad. Once a consumer completes a transaction they expect to receive the product within 7- 10 business days. If instead of getting the product they receive an email that the product is out of stock they will be both frustrated and upset.

Retailers must know their inventory and insure they have the proper systems in place to remove sold out items.

Good Sales Help

In a traditional retail store a sales person approaches the customer and asks if they need any help, if the customer has a product in hand a good sales person will ask if they can hold this for them behind the counter. Once a consumer agrees to let the sales person hold the item there is an 80% chance they will complete the purchase.

The statistics are very different online – 88% of the consumer who put an item into a shopping cart decide not to complete the transaction. The reason for the difference is al about interpersonal interaction – in the traditional environment the consumer is interacting with another person and feels they made a commitment, online this relationship has not existed until now. With the emergence of online chat products powered by Artificial Intelligence virtual sales people can be everywhere. What is old is new again!

By Allan Levy| August 3rd, 2007