When Singaporeans buy food, cars, or clothes, they will look up the product online before visiting the shop but they can change their purchasing decisions if they spot a bad review from the store. Retailers can avoid negative reviews if they optimise customer’s journey online through better customer service and shorter delivery times.
Yi Hui advised retailers that if they are working with third-party customer service providers, they should have a standard operating procedure or SOP to ensure that relevant questions are provided in a professional and timely manner, especially when consumers are faced with difficulties., a partner at KPMG Singapore, said personalisation is still the key strategy to create a “powerful consumer experience.
An example of this is NTUC FairPrice, a supermarket chain in Singapore, which uses data to develop profiles of customers across different life stages and lifestyles, helping them improve the customer experience. This could be relevant for Singapore businesses as the latest HubSpot study showed that a vast majority of business leaders in Singapore are having trouble connecting with their prospects and existing customers.Most of the reviews also stem from the customer’s post-purchase journey and it comes down to the delivery portion, which is what brands struggle with.
This allows retailers to overcome barriers such as a lack of employees and inaccessible deliveries to rural areas. “Singapore’s excellent online penetration and its well-developed physical retail sector mean that consumers are shopping across channels in a very seamless way,” said Saunders.