Change is the only constant in the retail service industry. That’s certainly been true in the past several years, when a record number of customers flocked to online channels to do their shopping. Almost overnight, retailers big and small had to adapt to a whole new way of serving their customers digitally. For retailers to compete in today’s crowded market, they need to create excellent customer relationships in all the places people shop—online and in brick-and-mortar stores.

The e-commerce market has exploded over the past few years and is continuing to grow at an accelerated rate. By 2023, online retail sales are anticipated to reach.17 trillion. With more people doing their shopping online than ever before, e-commerce CX has become a priority for many businesses. With a highly competitive landscape of as many as 12 million e-commerce companies, delivering easy and convenient customer experiences is more than a differentiator—it is a necessity for brand success.

To provide the best customer support at any phase in your customer’s lifecycle, your teams need access to contact and company data—and every team must have access to the same information. This requires a centralised location for all relevant communications and open support tickets, and the ability to streamline information between sales, marketing and support teams.

Chatbots offer exactly what customers expect from a brand in 2022: instant, convenient and effortless interactions. But the truth is that no matter how intelligent your bot is, there will always be situations when a human takeover is necessary—or at least highly advantageous to reach the best outcome. A seamless hand-off between bots and live agents creates messaging interactions customers love.

There's something so old-fashioned about poring over email threads trying to find answers. Traditionally, business-to-business communication has been relegated to emails, video chats and phone calls. It left a lot to be desired—namely, convenience. We message our friends, family and colleagues on a variety of platforms and apps, so why can't businesses leverage the same kind of rich, intuitive communication when they interact with other businesses?

Consumers have embraced the idea of banking and investing online, and that’s good news for FinTech companies. But with more people doing their business and their banking online than ever before, it is challenging for FinTechs to differentiate their offerings from traditional financial service providers who have online offerings as well. The highly competitive landscape creates challenges for FinTechs who want to attract customers away from traditional financial service providers.

With inflation on the rise and an uncertain economic environment ahead, customers are rethinking their purchases. By focusing on what really matters to customers, retailers can offer an affordable yet memorable Christmas shopping experience this season.

As the world turned digital, the FinTech industry was ready to ride the wave. But now the market is showing signs of slowing. FinTechs that are not growing their user base are at risk of being acquired. And because there are now so many players in the digital space, there’s fierce competition to keep and acquire new customers. And therein lies the key to success: customers. More and more, the distinction between a stellar FinTech and a struggling one is the quality of its customer experience.

One thing about employee experience is very clear: Workers don’t want to go back to the days of long commutes and uncomfortable pants. Collectively, workers are calling BS on “the way it’s always been done” in favour of flexible work and healthier work-life boundaries. Instead of drawing a line in the sand, now is the time to bring your employees to the collaboration table and start problem-solving. In the future of work, employees are your most important stakeholders.