The way consumers buy and retailers sell is evolving rapidly. Both online and offline, retailers are embracing a data-first strategy toward understanding their customers. Data and analytics are an increasingly important element of retail landscape.

Retailers have reaped the benefits of analyzing structured data for years. But they're only now starting to tap into the power of unstructured data, like consumer behavior. There is plenty of information in behavioral interactions, such as what customers say on social media, on chat and telephone conversations, and in feedback.

Retailers are exploring innovative ways to gain insight from the increasing amount of customer behavior information available. Every interaction can provide data about the retailer's impact on the customer experience. Customer service interactions, such as chat conversations, provide insight into customer likes, expectations, and behaviors.

In study by Gartner, 89% of companies expect to compete against others based on customer experience alone.

Contact Center improves Customer Journeys 

Imagine having a unique single view of every customer experience -from purchases and preferences to complaints. Collaboration enables you to resolve the issues that existing customers are facing with products or services with chat or video, and delivers the opportunity to review and improve  interactions to enhance the customer experience . The two-way communication helps businesses engage for a better customer experience.

According toDimension Data:

• Connected omnichannel journeys was the number one industry trend in 2017.
• 72% of firms surveyed fail to collect data to review and optimize journey patterns.

"Technology is critical for helping our Independent Business Owners and customers reach us how and when they want. We need to be easy to do business with, and simplified, consistent support is a big part of that," Rion Hollenbeck, Corporate Unified Communications Manager for Amway.

A culture of collaboration is key to compete in today's retail environment. Each customer touch point must be trulycustomer-centric and the contact center is no different. You want to arm your agents with the ability to focus on genuine customer relationships and support a seamless experience that benefits satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately recurring revenue. 

Providing a positive customer experience is important, not only for immediate issues, but customer retention. Each interaction contributes toward the customer's perception of your organization. And, as a result, revenue generation for all stages of customers in a buying journey.Collaboration technology, can enable you to understand and illustrate the customer journey.  To satisfy shoppers, retailers rely on collaboration solutions that help teams meet goals at each stage, from streamlining supply chains to improving point-of-sale.

With Collaboration Technology:

• Data can be used for predictive analytics that streamline inventories, increase sales, and build brand loyalty by giving insight and the opportunity to offer better choices.
• Solutions like videoconferencing can reduce costs by saving on travel expenses, and can differentiate retailers by providing live customer service.
• Retail teams and partners can meet on any device, in small groups or large gatherings.

In a study by Harvard Business Review Analytics Services, 68% of executives say "fostering collaboration with customers has increased in importance."

Direct customer relationships are a privilege that generate massive amounts of data. This wealth of information holds the potential to drive real differentiation if you have the right tools in place. Whether performance is defined as sales, profit, or any other metric, collaboration technology helps you ensure a positive customer experience while focusing on the bottom line. 

Learn more about collaboration solutions for retail. 

AMWAY modernizes customer care

Responsible for more than$8 billion in annual revenue, Amway has customer care centers around the world and supports millions of independent business owners. Leaders at Amway wanted to collaborate with its global partners and business owners as effortlessly as if they were in the same room.Ease of usewas keygiven that the technical skills of Amway's employees and business owners range from novice to expert. The organization also wanted to:

• Reduce maintenance costs by phasing out legacy technology
• Maintain a single vendor solution
• Reduce operational and integration issues in call centers  
• Improve the customer experience by reducing resolution times

Amway unlocked the potential of its workforce with the right communication strategy and technology in place.Amway implemented Cisco Unified Communications with a new contact center phone system and automated call-routing platform, replacing a 20-year old system.

"The entire application for me is much better than the previous softphone. I feel like everything is at my fingertips. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much easier the transition was for myself and our staff than I had expected," says Lisa Brummel, call center agent at Amway.

The solution has improved customer experience by making things easier for the call-center agents. "We can see who's available, we can transfer to other work groups with a translator, and there's no need to connect. Everything is accessible in one place," says Patricia Petersen, a call center agent.

The implementation also delivered on the project goals. Not only was Amway was able to reduce annual costs by about$500,000 in North America alone, but deliver on contact center improvements, including:

• Provide consistent user experiences
• Reduce routing scripts by 75%
• Improve customer visibility for service reps

See how Amway underwent a worldwide collaboration migration.