Kolkata: Indian retailers are yet to evolve themselves to provide customer service experiences, says a latest study by Kantar.
Despite majority of the CEOs believe customer centricity is essential for driving business growth, just 37% of consumers believe retailers offer truly customer-centric experiences, the study said.
Sushmita Balasubramaniam, domain lead for CX and commerce at Kantar South Asia, said a bad consumer experience will have much more repercussion now during the pandemic than normal times.
“If customer experience is good, there is a likelihood that they will buy more from the same store. This is crucial when overall consumer expenditure has come down,” said Balasubramaniam.
The study reveals that for many retailers, there is a huge gap between the brand promise and customer experience. It said retailers have a huge opportunity to review their strategies, take the current challenges head on and look for ways and means to service customer needs better in the coming months.
“They will have to do this in the presence of a strong traditional retail which became even more indispensable during lockdown times. Creating a shopping ecosystem with the customer at the center – integrated retail that goes beyond just having a digital and physical presence, redefining the role of the physical store, offering safe yet personalized shopping environments are factors that will be critical to win,” the study noted.
The study noted that retailers who are focussed on customer experience have higher customer loyalty and with whom the last interaction has been excellent become the most preferred retailer for the future.
