A People-Centric Approach to Enhancing the Beauty Industry’s Customer Experience
The UK’s omnichannel and online beauty industry is booming, with the market value projected to reach £3.3 billion by 2024 (Statista, 2021). However, with growth comes a number of challenges, from customer service to logistics. Retail companies in the sector must adapt quickly to stay ahead of the curve and deliver a seamless customer experience.
How you might ask? Well throughout this article I’ll be delving into the pressing challenges facing the industry and demonstrate how partnering with a trusted outsource partner can improve your CX and overall business performance.
The Challenges
Securing the right people: With an ever-expanding industry, finding skilled and dedicated employees is a major challenge. Research by ManpowerGroup revealed that 40% of employers struggle to fill positions due to talent shortages.
Attrition: The beauty industry has a high employee turnover rate, which can be costly and impact customer satisfaction. The retail sector’s average annual turnover is around 29% (Hay Group, 2021). Companies must invest in retaining talent to maintain consistent service levels.
Customer service: As competition intensifies, so do customer expectations. 32% of customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience (PwC 2021). Companies need to prioritise exceptional service to retain their customers and encourage loyalty.
Returns: The rise of online shopping has led to an increase in returns, which can be costly and logistically challenging. A study by Barclaycard (2021-22) found that UK retailers are grappling with £7 billion worth of returns each year. Returns need to be easy, and dealt with speedily and correctly to ensure re-purchase/loyalty.
Lengthy wait times: In today’s fast-paced beauty world, customers expect rapid delivery and support. A recent Econsultancy survey found that 83% of consumers expect a response to a query within 24 hours, and 41% expect a response within 2 hours.
Logistics: Efficient logistics is crucial for a seamless customer experience. However, managing logistics can be challenging, with many beauty companies struggling to keep up with fluctuating demand, inventory management and shipping, hence many brands are now offering a same day service.
The Solution: Putting People at the Heart of Your Business
Partnering with a trusted CX partner can help omnichannel and online beauty companies address these challenges and more. Success should be built around your people and culture, aligning your purpose and values with clients’ values, creating a perfect foundation for improving customer experience and overall business performance. Here are five top tips on where to begin:
- Reduce attrition and secure talent: Access to comprehensive talent acquisition and management solutions to ensure that your company is equipped with a skilled, dedicated team. By investing in employee development and putting people first, your partner can help you retain top talent and reduce costly turnover.
- Enhance customer service: AI-powered customer service tools, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, are designed to empower your people to provide rapid, accurate, and personalised support, ensuring a positive customer experience.
- Streamline returns: Using advanced automation and data analytics, coupled with a people-centric approach, can help optimise any returns process, reducing costs and improving overall customer satisfaction.
- Shorten wait times: By leveraging your chosen partners’ cutting-edge technology and the skills of experts, it can help reduce response times, ensuring that customers receive swift, effective support from people who genuinely care about their experience.
- Optimise logistics: Using a data-driven logistics approach, supported by people experienced in shipping, inventory management, and demand forecasting will lead to a smoother, more efficient supply chain.
Design, Optimise and Transform your Customer Experience
If you’d like to learn more, or hear about how Quantanite provides Customer Experience (CX) and Digital Outsourcing solutions for many of the world’s fastest-growing companies, then connect with me directly via [email protected].
