Shoppers expect hyper-personalised, convenient, speedy, and seamless service interactions with retailers.
The retail topography continues to evolve rapidly, with fast changing consumer behaviour. Brands are adapting various technologies to keep up with customer expectations for fast, personalised and prime experiences. According to The 2024 Retail Customer Experience (CX) Index by Incisiv and Talkdesk, the retail sector’s overall maturity in delivering customer experience is relatively low, with only 34% of all shops able to personalise one-third of the customer journey.
The 2024 Retail Customer Experience (CX) Index emphasises the importance of retailers improving their support and engagement skills to meet rising consumer demands for hyper-personalised, rapid, and convenient customer care across a wide range of retail categories.
While many shops try to stay up with the latest technological advancements, there are still gaps between capacity adoption and customer expectations. On the bright side, the index shows that as brands focus more on enhancing their customer experience initiatives, their maturity levels have gradually improved.
Key Findings
As per the report, the retail landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation, driven by changing consumer behaviour, global uncertainty, and technological evolution.
- One in two consumers struggle to distinguish products, highlighting the need for exclusive offerings.
- 72% of consumers say global product availability affects their choice of retailers, particularly in fashion and electronics.
- 63% of consumers are more loyal to retailers that demonstrate strong social and environmental responsibility.
- 54% of shoppers are more likely to complete a purchase after a personalised support session, powered by AI and data analytics.
Shoppers expect hyper-personalised, convenient, speedy, and seamless service interactions with retailers, states the report;
Hyper-personalised interaction tailored to shoppers’ needs and issues: 85% of shoppers are satisfied with hyper-personalised marketing, which significantly boosts customer engagement and drives revenue growth.
Convenience of support across channels: 73% of shoppers expect interactions across channels to be integrated and viewed as a single conversation by support agents.
Speed and efficiency in response time and resolution: 60% of shoppers would switch brands offering slow issue resolution response time.
Proactive service: 62% of shoppers value timely notifications about order status, delays, or potential issues.
Hike in Personalisation, Adoption of Virtual Assistants
The adoption of AI-powered virtual assistants has increased dramatically, from 38% in 2022 to 59% in 2024. In addition, personalised recommendations from support agents have skyrocketed, increasing by more than 80% from 27% in 2022 to 49% in 2024.
The report showed that the home furnishings industry leads in CX maturity, with a 40% adoption rate, making it 1.4 times more mature than other sectors. In contrast, the watch category has a significantly lower adoption rate of only 28%.
The index also assessed retailers’ skills in areas such as engagement strategies, individualised customer experiences, and dispute-resolution procedures.
Which retail sectors are leading?
Apparel retailers are leaders in customer engagement methods, utilising text messaging, voice communication, and omnichannel live chat to greatly increase consumer encounters.
Industries such as luxury and home furnishing outperform others in terms of advanced customer care capabilities, including services such as chat-based checkout and chat-based order revisions and returns.
Moreover, luxury retailers excel in providing personalised experiences and assistance with shopping, such as targeted product recommendations, one-on-one appointment scheduling, and relevant advertising while on hold.
“Our findings reveal that while retailers have made significant strides in customer experience, there remains a critical gap between consumer expectations and what is currently being delivered,” said Dave Weinand, Chief Customer Officer at Incisiv.
“Retailers must accelerate their adoption of advanced technologies, particularly AI and automation, to deliver the hyper-personalised, efficient service today’s consumers demand. This index is a crucial benchmark for retailers to understand where they stand and what steps they need to take to enhance their customer engagement strategies,” he added.
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