Cross-Border Commerce Europe launches its 2021-22 blue paper deep-diving into the increasing importance of Customer Centricity in the European retail market

Cross-Border Commerce Europe launches its 2021-22 blue paper deep-diving into the increasing importance of Customer Centricity in the European retail market. Leading C-Level executives’ from global retailers contributed to this detailed report.

Brussels – February 24, 2022. Cross-Border Commerce Europe, the platform driving cross-border e-commerce in Europe, publishes its latest blue paper summarising the learnings of six knowledge and brainstorming sessions between C-Level executives from leading global retailers making up the Cross-Border Commerce Europe Customer Centricity High-Level Group, including Carrefour, Adidas and Desigual.

Rapid technology advancements have irreversibly transformed the nature of online retail, dramatically changing customer expectations and behaviours over the past decade. The consumer is more empowered, exposed to more products and services and has higher standards and expectations than ever before. Retailers must meet customers’ needs during every interaction across multiple touchpoints over time.

This report available for purchase on the CBCommerce.EU website, deep dives into what it means to put the customer at the centre of every interaction, process and organisational plan to become genuinely Customer Centric. The return on investment is huge: customer loyalty and competitive advantage are embedded in the behaviour of each employee and action.

Building an empathetic culture is increasingly vital for organisations going Customer Centric. Not only does it allow companies to connect to their customers’ insights, perspectives and feedback, but empathy also builds trust, and trust builds loyalty. More importantly, loyalty leaders grow revenue 2.5 faster than their peers.

Many organisations struggle to become truly customer-centric as it requires not only a shift in business model but in mindset and culture. Customer Centricity is a commitment or a strategy to assure the customer’s success. It is distinct from Customer Experience, which focuses on perceptions forged across interactions with a brand. Retailers must put themselves in their customers’ shoes when designing and delivering interactions to minimise consumer effort and maximise customer value.

The 20-page Customer Centricity blue paper results from six round table brainstorming sessions gathering nine international C-Level executives representing multiple retail sectors and EU countries, including Adidas, Carrefour, Deezer, Desigual, Internetstores, Nikon, Shop Apotheke, Volkswagen, and Worten. The round table was held under the auspice of chairman and Genesys’ Strategic Business Director, Richard McCrossan. He acted as CBCommerce’s knowledge partner.

The views expressed by each retail executive are their takeaways and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of their companies.

The following topics are addressed:

• Context and Overview
• Customer Centricity vs. Customer Experience
  • Why is it important?
  • How to drive Customer-Centric Culture
• Empathy in Customer Centricity, with concrete business examples
• The real impact of Customer Centricity
• Best practice case study: Carrefour Belgium
• Measurement of Customer Centricity

You will find hereunder some initial learnings and takeaways from the report. Access the full Blue Paper report on Customer Centricity for detailed analysis and best practices.

• The evolution of customer expectations and behaviours towards digital anytime-anywhere service is only going to accelerate as the world becomes more technology-enabled. Retailers must put themselves in the shoes of their customers when designing interactions.
• Empathy is a core ingredient to drive excellence in Customer Experience, key for retailers to connect to customers’ insights, perspectives and feedback. It enables employees to make the right decisions based on customers needs and requirements.
• Technology has well advanced to support both human and digital interactions to be more empathetic.
• Measurement of Customer Centricity goes beyond looking at traditional KPIs as NPS or CSAT. It requires a continuous reflection on the way a company structures, operates and drive customer-centric employee behaviour as a management principle.
• Carrefour Belgium switched from being a store-oriented to a customer-oriented company by employing three key tenets: Trust, Service and Customer Proximity. A further three elements supported their transition: Communication Plan, Ambassadors and Certifications. Extensive internal communication was set up to drive this new mindset.
• Many retailers struggle in the pursuit of becoming truly Customer Centric as it requires not only a shift in business model but in mindset and culture.

“This blue paper sets a specific focus on empathy as well as presenting real-world case studies from a Customer Centric transformation at Carrefour. It is essential reading to discover the various ways to measure and reflect Customer Centricity in an organisation. Thanks to all participating International Retail C-Level executive members, and our Knowledge Partner Genesys, for their key insights into this efficient platform for achieving long-term customer value.”, concludes Carine Moitier, Founder of CBCommerce.eu.

Press coverage

DACH

Postbranche
Cross-Border Commerce Europe präsentiert ein Customer Centricity Blue Paper 2021/2022
https://www.postbranche.de/2022/02/24/cross-border-commerce-europe-praesentiert-ein-customer-centricity-blue-paper-2021-2022/

The Netherlands

Emerce
Cross-Border Commerce Europe lanceert zijn 2021-22 blue paper
https://www.emerce.nl/wire/crossborder-commerce-europe-lanceert-202122-blue-paper

• CBCOMMERCENEXT High-Level Group on Customer Centricity