The journey of a customer's gift!

It’s that time of year again when customers are flocking to the streets and browsing online to carefully select a gift for their loved ones. With an influx of customers choosing to shop from the comfort of their own homes, more and more pressure is put on eCommerce Retailers to safely get a gift to its recipient. That gift can go on somewhat of an exciting adventure before it reaches its home; however, there are multiple people and processes involved to make sure that any failure in that journey does not “ruin Christmas”.

It’s that time of year again when customers are flocking to the streets and browsing online to carefully select a gift for their loved ones. With an influx of customers choosing to shop from the comfort of their own homes, more and more pressure is put on eCommerce Retailers to safely get a gift to its recipient. That gift can go on somewhat of an exciting adventure before it reaches its home; however, there are multiple people and processes involved to make sure that any failure in that journey does not “ruin Christmas”.

Of course, you’ll always have that one customer who leaves everything until the last minute, and you can guarantee that this ‘last-minute shopper’ won’t be happy with the standard delivery time stated on the comprehensive FAQ section of your website. It’s December 18th and Christmas is fast approaching and there is no sign of their niece’s Paw Patrol Watchtower. Panic sets in and in this instance the customer needs some reassurance from a member of the frontline team that they will receive the gift in time. An agent can access the exact whereabouts of the parcel in real-time and update the customer with a more accurate estimated delivery time. This avoids Uncle Tom popping to shops to purchase yet another Paw Patrol gift.

Many eRetailers are now shipping worldwide, providing shoppers with an abundance of choice when doing their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their own home. Of course, this option is fantastic for Sarah who has twenty two first cousins and needs to find a suitable gift for all. However, choosing to buy from the other side of the world can sometimes present a problem with customs clearances. Several of Sarah’s gifts have failed to arrive on time, she’s now panicking as she may not have enough money to afford a gift for everyone. Here, a Customer Service Representative must act fast, to ensure that the necessary custom clearance paperwork is processed in a timely manner, making sure that the gifts will reach their home just in time for Christmas.

Michael has put weeks of thought into selecting the “perfect” gift for his wife. On delivery Michael is distraught to have received a pair of woolly socks rather than the designer bag that he carefully selected. To his dismay the wrong item has been delivered and panic sets in. Here the agent must make contact with the right warehouse as most likely the wrong label was attached to the wrong order. The agent must act as the middleman between the customer and the warehouse, and the courier and the warehouse. Being “the middleman” between shoppers and their gifts is one of the most important functions of the in-house support team during the Christmas period.

The frontline support team can play a vital role in helping a gift find its home. At Arema Connect our team place an emphasis on removing the bottle neck for customers to ensure their Christmas is  more ho, ho, ho, and less no, no, no. Solving customers’ logistical issues around the festive season means acting fast and communicating with empathy as customers are likely to be feeling the stress of finding gifts for their loved ones. Our team focus on updating the customer in real time, and place a huge importance on case ownership to ensure that the customer is dealing with one person throughout their interactions with our clients’ brands. We like to consider our frontline team like Santa’s little helpers!