Customers are able to easily express their concerns and get an immediate resolution. Your chances of winning the retail customer service award are high if you can resolve both of these situations quickly and efficiently.
Statista forecasts that the global retail market will reach $30 trillion in 2024. It is vital to provide exceptional customer service in this highly competitive market for retail services. Retailers have the ultimate weapon to streamline operations, provide professional staff, and provide seamless customer service. Knowledge management is their best option.
What is knowledge management?
Knowledge management (KM) organizes the existing information within a company in order to make it more easily accessible, usable, and flexible whenever necessary. KM can also help companies establish best practices to store and exchange information in the future.
Knowledge management is essential for retailers to enable them to establish the best practices in accessing and sharing retail information and to empower their workforce. What exactly is retail knowledge?
Retail knowledge includes everything, from the information on products or services to the SOPs in a retail setting about how to deal with clients. Retail knowledge has a key characteristic: It includes more than just the tangible or documented information. This information is contained in intellectual or data silos and can only be accessed by a small number of people.
This makes it difficult for workers to find the information they need. Retailers can use knowledge management solutions to break the curse of data inaccessibility, and boost data flow within their retail environments.
Why choose knowledge management for retail?
#1 Supports self-service in-store
Self-service optimization:
It can be frustrating when a customer is unable to access information about a product or service after many attempts at the selfservice information tabs.
If a customer orders a product after having read an out-of-date information piece, it can make customer service a nightmare. Retailers use knowledge management to maximize self-service through carefully curated information.
Customers can find the right information in a clear, concise and fun way, which enhances their overall shopping experience.
Well-trained workforce:
A self-service system that is optimized for customer satisfaction requires a skilled workforce. Employees with in-depth knowledge about the information base and well-trained can help customers find the information they need.
In-store staff can also help with data questions if needed. KM for employees allows retail outlets the ability to add notes and other information simultaneously with information pieces in order to correctly communicate the answers to their customers.
#2 Enables training for retail employees
Onboarding employees
The onboarding process for retailers is made faster and more efficient by knowledge management. Training modules can be set up by companies to assist new employees in quickly acquiring basic and critical knowledge, and then allowing them to get on with their job. KM for onboarding employees meets their expectations as 49% want to learn where and when they need it.
Employees can access new information anywhere they like, as the knowledge management system has different spaces or directories that assist in the bifurcation and storage of data.
Re-training workforce:
Employee training is a continuous process. Knowledge management ensures that employees in all retail outlets have access to the latest training module for an existing product or can learn about a new product.
Knowledge management helps retailers control the flow information when the business has multiple outlets.
#3 Stores everything retail employees need
Data access is quick and easy:
The retail environment contains a variety of complex information. Guides to various products and services, information about the most recent products, customer handling procedures, methods of auditing inventory, and many other items are all part of a retail setting. Knowledge management for retailers is the process of organizing all this important information and making it available to employees.
Knowledge management software can also break down data silos by helping employees record customer experience and explicitly acquire information to benefit their workforce. Employees have the option to flag any data that they feel is relevant for management to review. This helps to keep the knowledge base clear of any irrelevant information.
Multilingual data:
Retailers do not have to worry anymore about expanding in areas that are difficult to communicate. Multilingual data support is available through KM, allowing employees to access data in their preferred languages. Employees will be able to assist customers in regional languages by providing multilingual support for customer questions.
Customer data:
Being unique is key to standing out among the crowd. Knowledge management systems combine data from CRM systems for deep insights into the customer. Based on their customer buying history, employees can then upsell the relevant products to customers. A personalized shopping experience is a great way to build customer loyalty. 80% of customers are more likely to purchase from a company that offers a customized experience.
#4 The most effective systems for updating knowledge
Ignores irrelevant information
A retail environment with an unorganized information base can add new information to its existing information. It can lead to obsolete information being still part of the information database in the form of files, Excel spreadsheets and media. This information is easily accessible to everyone.
There is no way to eliminate all information from the scattered databases. This means that there is a high chance of outdated or unwanted information being added.
Knowledge management for retailers is the flipside. It makes the knowledge base the “single source truth” without worrying about irrelevant information overshadowing the relevant.
Simple, efficient and cost-effective systems for updating knowledge
A central knowledge base is a tool that allows for the quick and easy updating of knowledge within a retail business. Administrators can locate and update information quickly. There is no redundant information that might misinform customers and employees.
#5 Interactive use and enhancement of AI in stores
Interactive chats
AI has revolutionized the way customers interact in a retail environment. Chats with AI provide customized solutions that enhance customer experience by providing deep insights into customer buying history, purchasing habits, and shopping preferences. The AI will provide a narrowed search result to a customer searching for a new accessory for the washroom.
AI insights
A benefit of knowledge management for retailers is the ability to use AI-driven insights to help them understand their customers’ buying habits. The knowledge base allows retailers to reiterate their strategies and sell various products.
AI-powered knowledge Management (by knowmax.ai), provides quick resolutions to queries to the staff to locate the most frequently asked questions. Administrators can monitor the relevancy of data and make most accurate assessments of most commonly accessed knowledge pieces.