Why Retail Fascinated Me

I love retail!  I have been a part of it for over 20 years and in that time I have seen some incredible changes which have resulted in some fantastic opportunities.  I have seen the rise of “the web”, eCommerce engines, personalization, consolidations, and bankruptcies, and so much more. It has been dynamic, exciting, and candidly, that’s why I love working in this industry so much. It is that love of retail that has led me to Vee24.

I absolutely know the customer is right; in choosing their channels to engage with you.  We all know there are so many ways to digitally engage with your customers today. You can reach your customers with ChatBOTs, text-chat, text messaging, live-engagement, ads, email, and of course in person. 

These are all part of the customer journey and their interaction with your brand.  I believe that bringing your in-store experience online is the key to ensuring you can market, sell and service your customers.  

You must make it simple and provide the type of engagement they want to have with your company. According to Juniper Research, retail sales from ChatBOT interactions are expected to double every year to $112 billion by 2023 from $7.3 billion this year. Moreover, 67% of consumers worldwide used a ChatBOT for customer support in the past year, and customers are very happy with the 24/7 support they get from ChatBOTs.  

These handle many of the simple requests, FAQs, and other basic items that customers ask and sometimes get frustrated searching your site. However, a truly complete ChatBOT is backed up by real people that it can seamlessly escalate to immediately.

Escalating to a live person via text-chat/messaging gives customers the option of interacting with a live-agent to solve an issue, ask for a recommendation or to co-browse the website with them. Just like you would expect from an in-store associate. 

These technologies make a tremendous impact on CSAT scores with average scores in excess of 96%.  Some brands will see a tremendous return on escalating beyond text/messaging to live video chat. Live-video chat provides an opportunity to engage your customer and demo products with multiple cameras and the ability to further build a relationship between your expert associate and the customer. Many of our customers increase the AOV by 35% using live engagement.  

I joined Vee24 because this is the next phase in the retail industry.  Many retail companies have made investments in CRM, eCommerce, personalization, and fantastic content, but customers still want an engagement that resembles an in-store experience in the digital world and my new company has the expertise to make that happen for retail companies.