Physical sales culture in digital customer experience

Abstract

This thesis was performed for the Austrian omni market retailer, Blue Tomato GmbH. Blue Tomato is one of Europe’s leading retailers in the areas of snowboarding, freestyle, surfing, skateboarding and street fashion. A customer satisfaction survey was performed during the research, which was used to find out the company's general level of customer satisfaction and to outline possible differences between different service channels. The research questions chosen for the thesis were: What are the differences between digital and physical customer journey? How does the customer benefit from the physical sales culture in digital channels? How can physical sales culture be utilized in digital channels? What are the reasons for shopping in a store and not online? Quantitative research was chosen as the research method for the customer satisfaction measurement. The customer satisfaction survey was conducted with a survey that was shared into the stories of the company’s Instagram account. Blue Tomato’s followers provided a suitable target group for conducting the survey. The survey was divided into a background section and a customer satisfaction section. The background information section examined the customers' age and location, purchasing habits and whether the customer had been in contact with Blue Tomato’s customer service. The customer satisfaction section examined how well Blue Tomato’s customer service had met customer needs and the reasons why a customer would choose to use either physical or digital purchasing channels. At the end of the survey, information on brand image and brand loyalty was gathered. The last section of the survey provided an opportunity for open feedback. The results revealed clear gaps between different service channels. To be able to minimize the differences between different channels, the study examined the strengths of store transactions, which could also be utilized in the context of digital channels and thus develop the level of customer satisfaction. Despite the criticism, the results show that customers have been satisfied with the company, especially when doing business in stores. Based on the results, Blue Tomato will be able to develop its Omni-channel retail and reduce the differences between different service channels. This could potentially be achieved through country-specific optimization of transportation and return methods, enhanced e-commerce signage, and improved employee coaching. Adding an in-store training period to the customer service employee’s training would be a relatively easy and cost-effective measure. This increase would significantly improve the practical product knowledge of customer service staff, which in turn would reduce level differences between different service channels.