Consumers, Retailers and the Multichannel Shopping Experience

Do I get the blue one or the red one? Do I get the iPhone (News - Alert) or the Droid? Should I get the 4-cylinder or the V6? How does the warranty stand up? Questions we’ve all most likely asked ourselves at one point or another as we’ve considered purchases.

While today’s increasingly connected world certainly makes life easier for consumers as we plan and ultimately execute on our purchases, what is the connection between our use of online resources and the purchase itself? With so much information at our fingertips, how likely are we to complete our purchases online these days?

Amdocs (News - Alert), with a nearly 30-year knowledge-base in customer experience systems innovation, addresses these questions and much more in an insightful white paper titled, How to Turn Shopping into Actual Buying in a Multichannel World, written by Yossi Zohar, Amdocs’ Portfolio Marketing Director.

Zohar identifies many of the critical issues facing consumers and retailers in an age where we are so inter-connected. With so many vehicles for consumers to find information – and reviews – of products and services, it is crucial for retailers not only to remain current on these trends, but also to look forward as things will only get more difficult when, as Zohar points out, “we move deeper into a connected world where trillions of devices will be connected to the network.”

One issue resulting in less than stellar customer experiences, as Zohar explains, is the lack of connection between service provider channels (i.e., web, store, call/contact center).

“The root cause for this poor customer service experience is the silo’ed IT systems behind the different service provider channels,” Zohar explains. “These systems don’t allow service providers to deliver a simple and consistent shopping experience to customers.”

So, what can be done as customer relationships become more and more complex?

Zohar describes three steps service providers can take to improve the quality of the customer shopping experience, embracing a multichannel strategy. Service providers must:

• Make sure all their different sales channels consistently use the same underlying product data and business rules.
• “Guide customers” to the right mix of products and services to meet their needs.
• Integrate the shopping experience across all channels.

Utilizing solutions such as those found in Amdocs’ Customer Experience Systems (CES) is a step in the right direction to accomplishing these goals.

“We try to understand where issues are for service providers and find solutions,” Zohar said during a recent conversation with TMCnet in San Jose. “Customers shop across multiple channels and they want instant gratification. We feel service providers need to embrace multiple touch points to bring consistency.”

Ultimately, according to Zohar, maximizing the multichannel shopping experience will only benefit service providers as customers will remain engaged and content – resulting in more sales and sales opportunities.

To learn more, check out a great video interview with Zohar conducted by TMC (News - Alert) CEO Rich Tehrani in San Jose.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.