Orchestrate Backstage Integration and Bring Customer Service into the Spotlight

​At NRF 2019 this January, Oracle will preview the latest features of its industry-leading Oracle Retail Order Management solution in Booth #2321.

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With holiday shopping upon us, shoppers are increasingly finding that they can get similar merchandise from multiple retailers, within the same delivery window and at just about the same price. So how does a retailer differentiate themselves while still being in harmony with their customers?
A recent poll asked 1,000 shoppers about how their past shopping experiences would influence their 2018 spending. It found that consumers—battle-scarred by last year’s memories of long lines, aggressive crowds, out-of-stock items, and poor service—are more than ready to seek out stores and websites prepared to give them what they want, how they want it. Over 60% of holiday consumers said they are willing to change where they shop based on their negative experiences last year.

In this “anywhere anytime” landscape, retailers’ best opportunity to shine often comes after the sale. With all the noise, I personally lean to those retailers who I can conveniently return an item to or easily resolve an issue, and those who value my business. This is where the role of customer service can set the bar. Central to customer experience is a sense that customer service representatives (CSRs) can identify the customer, what they purchased and when. They need to resolve issues quickly to keep the rhythm of retail and retain the customer. Do you have a store location nearby? Can store, live chat, and CSRs not only respond to questions but also provide the level of personalized service that is memorable?

Center Stage
Consumers not only want a physical store location at which to return items, they expect store associates, and CSRs to know their purchase history and to be able to respond to situations in a way that demonstrates that they value the customer and want their repeat business. I may only buy that item once every year for a holiday gift and having an associate be able to find that item is a huge timesaver. It also means I don’t have to ruin the surprise of the gift by asking the person what it was.
Harvard Business Review shared a global study of over 1,400 CSRs that reinforces today’s customers are impatient, they easily frustrate, and the thought of having to deal with a service rep can easily send someone off tune. We’ve all shared stories of ill-fated customer experiences and have seen how quickly these tales go viral on social media. Retailers must take center stage by arming their staff with the tools needed to bring a harmonic balance.
To do this, the CSR must have options. In the case of a damaged item, for example, the representative can offer a discount or award loyalty points as well as handling a return or exchange. How situations like this are resolved must become part of the transaction record, both to guarantee the solution and to protect the retailer from fraud.

Backstage
That kind of flexibility requires a lot of backstage coordination. How that integration is created and maintained determines the speed at which a retailer can accommodate customer needs, introduce new services, or simply better serve its best customers. Often the job of creating and maintaining links between order management and other systems consumes resources within the retailers’ IT teams, a cost that can quickly overshadow the original investment in a new application or upgrade.
Order management solutions must gather information and insight from the full array of merchandising, ecommerce, store operations, customer loyalty, pricing and promotions systems that comprise day-to-day retail operations. The overall business goal is to make order management and issues resolution as easy as possible, not create another pain point.

Bringing the Band Together
Pre-integrated solutions and cloud service platforms are instrumental in helping to shift the burden of integration, updates, and upgrades, away from the retailer and lend predictability to the total cost of ownership. Creating this smooth harmony is the approach that Oracle has taken by making Oracle Retail Order Management Cloud Service a major component of its integrated service options for Empowered Commerce.
Oracle’s order management solution is and has always been, thanks to its roots in catalog retailing, a robust solution that provides customer service representatives with a 360-degree view of customer purchases, loyalty points, returns, price, and promotion capabilities. Today, the solution is integrated with Oracle Commerce Cloud and the Oracle Retail suite of store solutions.

Making Music
​The result is a comprehensive approach to customer service with a beat that encompasses all channels and transactions, and empowers associates to keep the rhythm by better satisfying customer inquiries, returns and exchanges. Features and functionality reduce the need for retailers to customize, and that “vanilla” approach to implementation allows for pre-integration to deliver its own added benefits in the near- and long-term.
Ultimately, the benefits of fully-integrated, feature-rich order management extend from the supporting IT staff to the customer-facing service representative and customer experience. All of which is designed to enable a better customer experience and enhance customer loyalty. Customer problems are going to happen, and the volume of inquiries will spike following the hectic holiday season. It’s how retailers respond that moves it from a loss to a win.
Culled from https://blogs.oracle.com/

At NRF 2019, Oracle will demonstrate how order management solutions serve as the fulcrum for an excellent customer experience after the sale. I personally invite you to stop by booth #2321 to see what all the noise is about.

Are you ready for center stage? 

Demo Oracle Retail Order Management at NRF 2019 - Request a Demo Today! by contacting Jadetan Enterprises Ltd.
via jadetanenterprisesltd@gmail.com
We are certified Oracle Enterprise Solution Experts on 9i/10g/11ge Platforms respectively...

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