ICYMI: Consumer Expectations Soar: What Does It Mean For Retailers?

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

In case you missed it, IRT recently hosted a webinar, Consumer Expectations Soar: What Does It Mean For Retailers?, featuring Jim Bengier, chief customer officer at Bridge Solutions Group and John Stelzer, senior omni-channel strategist at IBM about how retailers are meeting consumers’ expectations. The webinar was insightful and packed with some pretty alarming stats. “There’s a significant gap in how retailers think they’re doing with regard to meeting customers’ expectations and how they're actually doing,” warns Stelzer. “In almost every case, retailers think they do far better than mystery shoppers graded them. There's also a huge gap in what consumers expect from an in-store experience and retailers are able to deliver.”

For example, Stelzer advises retailer listeners to consider how the “Netflix Experience” — the ability to start a program in one location and pick it up in another — is being carried over to the shopping experience. Knowing that consumers want a seamless shopping experience that acknowledges stops and starts across channels isn’t new to retailers. But, according to the data, how retailers are adapting to this consumer expectation has room for growth.

This is a good webinar for any retailer wondering how to meet consumers’ growing expectations. Bengier and Stelzer cover:

• The types of social interactions customers value most
• Which 8 cross-channel capabilities are most important when choosing where to shop
• The impact of shipping costs on choosing where to shop
• Express delivery preferences by age group and gender

Even the Q&A session at the end provides actionable data on topics ranging from how mobile’s evolving in stores to the unquestionable need to offer fast, reliable — and, in a perfect scenario, free — shipping.

This webinar’s a can’t-miss. Push play, and listen while you work.