Customer Experience Management in Retailing

Survival of fittest & fastest is the mantra of today’s business game. To compete successfully in this business era, the retailer must focus on the customer’s buying experience. To manage a customer’s experience, retailers should understand what “customer experience” actually means. Customer Experience Management is a strategy that focuses the operations and processes of a business around the needs ofthe individual customer. It represents a strategy that results in a win–win valuemexchange between the retailer and its customers. The goal of customer experience management is to move customers from satisfied to loyal and then from loyal to advocate. This paper focuses on the role of macro factors in the retail environment and how they can shape customer experiences and behaviors. Several ways (e.g.,Brand, Price, Promotion, Supply Chain Management, Location, Advertising, Packaging & labeling, Service Mix, and Atmosphere) to deliver a superior customer experience are identified which should result in higher customer satisfaction, more frequent shopping visits, larger wallet shares, and higher profits.