[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/01\/26\/how-to-improve-retail-customer-experience\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/01\/26\/how-to-improve-retail-customer-experience\/","headline":"How to improve retail customer experience: Listen to The Youth","name":"How to improve retail customer experience: Listen to The Youth","description":"To improve the retail customer experience, top retailers are turning to their young employees for fresh perspective.","datePublished":"2021-01-26","dateModified":"2022-03-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/scott-luton\/#Person","name":"Scott Luton","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/scott-luton\/","identifier":501,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1af4e4336c90800c3df3518d0783d2b6ad37020ccf25b52f52c83fb797f2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1af4e4336c90800c3df3518d0783d2b6ad37020ccf25b52f52c83fb797f2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/FCEE114_CustomerExperienceYoung_HB.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/FCEE114_CustomerExperienceYoung_HB.jpg","height":376,"width":1201},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/01\/26\/how-to-improve-retail-customer-experience\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},"Retail Trends, Data, News",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":1014,"keywords":["How to Improve Customer Experience","Retail","Retail Trends"],"articleBody":"Wondering how to improve retail customer experience? Some of your best advisors can be found in your young talent.Today, one in four Americans works in retail \u2013 that\u2019s 52 million people. These retail workers are overwhelmingly young. According to a U.S. Census study, more than half were ages 16 to 34.The retail industry is the nation\u2019s largest private-sector employer, contributing $3.9 trillion to the US gross domestic product. It\u2019s also one of the sectors that\u2019s most focused on improving the customer experience.That task is always challenging, but it has certainly been further complicated by the changes created by the pandemic \u2013 everything from product shortages and supply chain disruption to the meeting new and ever-evolving consumer shopping preferences.      What is BOPIS: Definition, benefits, and examples                Flexible fulfillment is a requirement for retailers today. Ship-to-store, ship-from-store, and BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) options rule the retail experience.      But top retailers are finding new ways to improve retail customer experience by turning to their young workers.Improving retail customer experience: It\u2019s all about your peopleIf you think about the individuals who have been nothing less than heroes throughout the pandemic, the list certainly includes retail workers. So many of these incredible people have made sacrifices for our comfort and safety, making sure we have what we need to help us cope with the challenges of COVID-19.NRF 2021, a virtual event sponsored by the National Retail Federation, provides insight into how the industry is moving forward. The annual conference is the industry\u2019s largest.Afterwards, I chatted with three industry influencers to get their thoughts on the conference and retail trends: Denise Lee Yohn, a brand leadership consultant; Minda Harts, CEO and author of \u201cThe Memo\u201d; and Tara Nolan, founder and CEO of The Conscious Connoisseur.Industry Experts on the Harnessing the Power of Young TalentA panel of industry thought leaders convened to discuss the future of retail. You can watch a replay HERE.Listening to retail leaders share their experiences from the past year was intriguing, informative, and inspiring. Especially interesting was a renewed focus on talent management as a way to improve the retail customer experience.\u201cWe\u2019re at an exciting moment in retail, because there is so much possibility in new technologies around data and analytics,\u201d Yohn said. \u201cBut success still comes down to people and how retailers bring in workers to fill both corporate and front-line roles. Talent is what drives retail, because it\u2019s about people serving others.\u201dFresh eyes bring new ideas for improving retail CXOne large retailer, PetSmart, emphasized the focus on talent in an NRF session about helping its younger, more diverse, and technologically savvy population of consumers connect with the brand.To meet this need, the company is recruiting and hiring young workers across the organization \u2013 and empowering them to drive change.PetSmart hires interns from the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona. At NFR, several spoke about listening to the concerns of \u201cpet parents\u201d and working with company leadership to develop new opportunities to improve the customer experience.With a perspective not colored by traditional retail practices, the students were able to offer new possibilities in a true entrepreneurial manner that improved PetSmart\u2019s operations. We\u2019re talking multimillion-dollar initiatives – – how\u2019s that for truly moving the needle?\u201cYouth brings new ideas,\u201d Nolan said. \u201cThere\u2019s less of a fear of being told \u2018no,\u2019 which opens up opportunity to take more risks. The entrepreneurial mentality generates new ideas that we all need.\u201d      CX retail trends: How to defy the decline of brick-and-mortar                Discover four CX retail trends that are crucial to adapting your sales for seamless e-commerce and customer experiences.      \u201cListening to those amazing students, I was struck by their access to leadership,\u201d Harts said. \u201cI like the intentionality behind exposing them to leadership early on in their internships. It\u2019s also important that senior leaders actually listened to their ideas, because their younger associates are closer to the customers.\u201dPetSmart\u2019s receptiveness to new ideas proposed by the students is a good sign that change is being encouraged from the top. And, even more important, that business leaders are listening and acting on these new ideas.For Yohn, Stacia Anderson, the executive vice president of merchandising and customer experience at PetSmart, put it best: \u201cIf you\u2019re not learning in retail, you\u2019re not winning.\u201d\u201cBeing curious and wanting to learn and grow is so critical in retail, especially in a season when there\u2019s been so much change,\u201d she said.Building brands by humanizing the experienceAn internship program like PetSmart\u2019s is clearly a best practice for today\u2019s retailers. Companies can\u2019t just rely on transactional relationships with their talent pipelines by showing up on campus and conducting interviews. They must choose to invest in talent development and big-picture partnerships.There\u2019s an important payoff. By creating world-class employee experiences for their interns, retailers can develop incredible ambassadors for their company. And the praise of younger employees can help a company become an employer of choice for the next generation of workers.\u201cI really love the focus on making work work for everyone,\u201d Harts said. \u201cWe need to humanize the workplace, remembering how important it is to be empathetic and hear people out. Those people who are closest to the customers have ideas that can support innovation. Everybody is a leader, even those without the title.\u201dWith the accelerating pace of change, retailers may feel pressured to focus on forward momentum. But improving customer and employee experiences during the pandemic and its aftermath can\u2019t be just an analytical exercise.\u201cEverything is in flux, so there\u2019s a need to be nimble and try new things to connect with consumers,\u201d Nolan said. \u201cJust don\u2019t forget to be human. These are crazy times. But brands need a sense of empathy to connect on a human level with both customers and employees. We\u2019re all in this together.\u201d  Consumers buy from sellers that make buying simple.Is your brand ready?Get started HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2021","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"26","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/01\/\/26\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"How to improve retail customer experience: Listen to The Youth","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/01\/26\/how-to-improve-retail-customer-experience\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]