Study: Retailers aim for consistent customer experience in holiday season

ATLANTA — A majority of retailers say delivering a consistent customer experience is their top priority this holiday season, according to a new survey.

Supply chain and retail technology provider RedPrairie released results of its "Holiday Hiring Snapshot" survey of 250 big-box, specialty, grocery, convenience store and food service retailers based in the United States, finding that nearly 60% cited the importance of consistency, with 29% saying they would hire more seasonal workers this year than last year.

"Today's hyper-connected consumers give retailers little margin for error when it comes to delivering a superior, consistent customer experience across all shopping channels, and this is amplified during the holidays," RedPrairie director of marketing Dave Bruno said. "To achieve this, retailers will rely on the union of people and products to make customers feel good about their shopping experiences no matter which channel is utilized for the transaction. There is a lot of pressure on retailers to get things right."

The survey also found that nearly 40% of retailers will have the greatest number of seasonal employees on the clock in December, but that big increases in staffing require training, scheduling, time and attendance, and task management to prepare staff to deal with customers.