By The Promota Magazine | 11/20/2013

Today the challenge for this sector is to find ways to improve service offerings and to reduce churn, while still remaining customer relevant. However, while consumers have different needs and wants, there is still a common denominator – they all expect a great customer experience when interacting with service providers.

In today’s ‘mobile generation’ this reality is ever more prevalent as customers don’t want to spend extended periods of time running errands and are therefore demanding ‘easier’ interactions with their service providers. In fact, if possible, customers would rather interact with their service provider of choice online, than stand in queues for hours.

As a result, the opportunity exists for local retailers and service providers to examine the impact that Wi-Fi can make on their service delivery.

Providing a variety of channels

Delivering exceptional customer experience in the retail and services sector should also be defined by providing customers with a variety of channels, which are seamless and deliver fast response times, when interacting with the provider.

While South African retailers have been slower in embracing the idea of offering Wi-Fi, there has been positive change. The reason for this is because a solution, for example such as location-based Wi-Fi services, or LBS, can alert retailers/providers when their clients are in their physical vicinity, such as in a branch location or at a specific retail shopping space. This information then in turn allows the retailer to immediately ‘connect’ with that customer, via their mobile device, and deliver information that may be of value to the customer. For example, store specials, new product announcements or even relevant staff information can all be relayed in real time. The impact on the customer is immediate.

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