Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Incisiv, one of the leading insights firms for consumer industry digital transformation leaders, recently released its Omnichannel Customer Service Index and named Ace Hardware as the top omnichannel customer service provider.
The index assesses top retailers’ customer service experience and capabilities in three key areas. The discovery category looks at how a retailer makes information and assistance available at each step in the purchasing process. Purchase addresses the ease of placing and receiving orders and customer engagement and service looks at the speed and effectiveness of customer service interactions.
Ace Hardware took first place overall for omnichannel service and also placed first in the purchase and customer engagement and service categories. The company was the only home improvement retailer that took top honors; Home Depot placed 10th in the discovery category.
“The past two years have impacted humanity in deep and transformative ways, including what we, as shoppers, value. Retailers will have to build and refine capabilities to serve these new expectations,” says Amarjot Mokha, chief operating officer of Incisiv. “Our goal with the Omnichannel Customer Service Index is to help retailers identify high-impact improvement opportunities based on a nuanced view of what drives superior customer service. Adopting foundational and advanced capabilities can help retailers improve their digital performance KPIs and competitive strategy by promptly adapting to consumers’ omnichannel service needs.”
The index also found that 90 percent of shoppers begin their buying journey online but only 30 percent are happy with the service offered during the discovery phase. Nearly 70 percent of respondents decided against buying products because of poor descriptions and 45 percent feel frustrated when presented with bad product information.
