From The Editor | May 29, 2014

Guitar Center Is Rocking The Customer Experience. Are You?

Matt Pillar

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

If our recent research is any indication, you need to tune in to the Webinar we’re hosting this Wednesday.

We recently wrapped a survey of retailers’ HCM (human capital management) efforts, and our findings indicate there’s a missing link between the retail associate’s work experience and its impact on the customer experience.

While you’re pulling out all the stops to engage consumers on every device they own and interface with, many of you are neglecting to do the same with your store-level associates. You know, the ones who were the face of the retail customer experience for the several centuries before the invention of the smart phone.

Our research indicates that:

  • 61.4 percent of retailers have not yet deployed employee self service.
  • Nearly two thirds of retailers struggle to communicate with employees because they don’t have access to mobile devices or computers.
  • A quarter of retailers aren’t effectively communicating with associated while they’re on the job.
  • Half of retailers say their associates would be better equipped for customer service if they had access to real-time information about the business.

Here’s the rub: in the age of mobile consumer empowerment, your store associates are even more important to the customer experience than they were before smartphones. They’re what separates the in-store experience you create from the sea of copycat digitization everyone else is creating. They’re the front line defense against showrooming. They’re the human face of your brand.

But without access to the data that drives associate performance decisions—and more importantly, without an effective means of engaging associates, how can a retailer expect to create a differentiated customer experience in its stores?

On Wednesday, June 4 at 2:00 ET, you’re invited to join me for a live interview of John Orr, SVP retail at Ceridian, and Chris Salles, director of store labor at Guitar Center. I’m going to ask them candid questions about the state of human capital management in retail. I’ll ask them to reflect on the results of the aforementioned survey. And I’ll ask Salles for some ground-level insight into what’s working at Guitar Center.

The discussion will shed light on:

  • The real-world impact of a single-source HCM solution.
  • The measurable benefits of employee self-service.
  • How employee satisfaction directly impacts store performance and the customer experience, and how are those results measured.
  • The technologies that create race-leading differentiation for store associates, managers, and retail leaders.

You’ll have an opportunity to ask Orr and Salles questions as well. Join the discussion. You’ll be glad you did.