Things are finally looking up for the UK high street. Non-essential stores reopened on the 12th April and the early figures are encouraging:
- High street footfall increased by 31% in the first five days
- Debit and credit purchases increased by 26%
- 95% of adults left the house and 20% of them did so to shop for non-essential items
Shoppers are keen to get back to the high street, but this doesn’t guarantee that they will choose your store. The pandemic forced consumers to shop in new ways, resulting in a shake up of brand loyalties. In our recent survey, 49% of shoppers said that the pandemic had shifted their loyalties. 14% said that they now had no loyalty to any particular store.
This isn’t necessarily bad news. It means that more customers than ever are up for grabs, but only if you make the effort to attract their business. With online shopping exploding during lockdown, returning customers will be more sensitive to the frustrations of in-store shopping. Addressing these concerns will be the key to winning them over.
Communication is everything
We asked customers what could be done to improve their shopping experience. Many of their answers had the same thing in common- the need for better communication:
- 26% of shoppers frequently wait more than three minutes to have a query answered
- 82% sometimes feel they know more about products than colleagues
- Colleagues being unable to answer questions is the top frustration for 12% of consumers
- 83% of UK shoppers want to interact with colleagues while in store
Luckily, this is where VoCoVo shines. Our headsets link colleagues and customers at all times, so help is never far away.
- Colleagues can check product information and stock levels at the push of a button.
- Newer colleagues can contact in-store experts without leaving their position. This means that customers never have to wait long to have their questions answered.
- Colleagues can answer customer queries and external phone calls without stopping their work.
A system that grows with you
Whether you have five employees or 500, effective communication is vital. Our headsets are fully scalable, so you can grow your business without sacrificing the personal touch:
- Our system supports up to 1,000 headsets on a single conference. Other providers may only support up to 30, making us the clear choice for larger stores.
- VoCoVo is easy to scale. All you have to do is add more base units. These units work together to share the available radio spectrum, eliminating interference on the channel.
- As you move around the store, headsets will transfer seamlessly between base units. There is no need to wait while headsets disconnect from one base unit and transfer to the next. Everything happens instantly.
- Base units use a “star network” configuration. This means that they do not rely on neighbouring units to work. If one unit breaks down, the rest of the network will continue to function. Competitor devices rely on the “daisy chain” installation method. If one unit goes down, so do the others.
- Headsets work across multiple floors- just ask the colleagues in Birmingham’s seven floor Primark!
As British retail begins to recover, businesses need room to expand. With up to 1,000 headsets at your disposal, you can take on as many colleagues as you wish.