Target’s 10-4 plan calls for associates to be much more involved in greeting customers, as part of policy. Will this effort backfire?

Customer service satisfaction has fallen to the lowest point in nearly a decade, a study reports. What can be done to address this issue?

Verizon Consumer CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath spoke to Retail TouchPoints regarding the keys to a successful turnaround. Will his strategy work?

Wendy’s is greatly expanding its FreshAI drive-thru order taking services.

Retailers could be needlessly frustrating customers without knowing. What are the most common offences?

Airline travel is expected to hit peak levels this Thanksgiving, but is the overall experience getting worse?

AI technology overall is raising the stakes around trust for brands. What role do you see AI playing in the customer service function?

A new survey finds that consumers see AI worsening customer service, primarily due to concerns over data use as well as an absence of empathy tied to the lack of human interaction. What should retailers do to ease concerns or overcome any shortcomings?

Recent surveys have revealed low opinions of customer service chatbots. How much confidence do you have that generative AI will elevate chatbots into retail’s primary customer service tool?

Stew Leonard’s, the third-generation family-owned grocer, has launched its first podcast.

A university study finds that when buying embarrassing products such as condoms or menstrual pads, consumers choose self-checkout or the ”most robotic” cashier to hopefully avoid interactions.

In some circumstances, retail employees find the need to go “above and beyond” for customers, sometimes deviating from organizational rules, a move that has been shown to enhance customer loyalty and lift engagement for the infracting employee.

Forty-three percent of Americans have publicly voiced their displeasure about their most serious product and service problem, up from 35 percent in 2015, according to the 2023 National Customer Rage Survey.

Customer service reps (CSRs) continue to land on lists of the top ten jobs at risk due to advances in conversational artificial intelligence (AI).

Grocery self-checkout has long had its detractors, and the technology could soon face legal hurdles that may affect how stores use it.  What do you think of the proposed limit on self-checkout registers and discounts for customers who use self-checkout being considered in Rhode Island?

Amazon is believed to be behind the “generative” AI race between Microsoft and Google, which hosted media events in early February highlighting their generative AI technology. What advice would you have for retailers exploring generative AI systems like ChatGPT?

According to a new Gallup poll, U.S. consumers do not trust retailers as much as they used to — and they do not have much trust for anyone else, either. Do you agree with Gallup’s assessment of the state of trust for retail businesses and the steps retailers should take to earn customer trust?

Tipping fatigue has been trending as a topic in the media and has sparked angry debates on social media for nearly a year. The arguments now appear to center on two different phenomena: “tipflation” and tip creeping. Do you see tipflation or tip creeping as the bigger driver of tipping fatigue?

Ron Margulis thinks that if a technology company could capture the essence of a merchant in every sense of the word, they would have something truly unique to offer food retailers. A genie in a retail bottle. What technology innovations can best help supermarket operators engage their customers?

Sam’s Club plans to open a new warehouse club next year in Florida. It will be the first new club the chain has opened since 2017. Is Sam’s Club on the right track with its plans to open new clubs and fulfillment and distribution centers?

The business models of many retail businesses have been unsustainable for years and all it took was the pandemic to make that undeniably clear. Is there strategic value in retailers and restaurants reassessing their business models on an ongoing basis?

Despite a few limitations, ChatGPT may massively impact how people search for, evaluate and purchase products in the future. Here are a few thoughts on how OpenAI’s new chatbot could be used in retail. What do you think of the potential for ChatGPT to elevate product search and chatbot conversations?

Dollar General is testing mobile health clinics outside three stores in Middle Tennessee as the chain pursues its goal of becoming a major player in the retail healthcare sector. Do you expect medical clinics will be significant to Dollar General’s strategy to become a health and wellbeing destination point for its customers?

In a keynote presentation at the 2023 NRF Big Show, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Neiman Marcus Group’s CEO, was asked about the benefits and risks of the retailer’s high concentration levels. Is the concentration of its customer base and vendor base a concern for Neiman’s?

Bloomingdale’s is going small in Seattle, saying it will open a new Bloomie’s, its small off-mall store concept, this year in University Village in the Ravenna neighborhood, north of the city’s downtown. Do you see the Bloomie’s concept as a smart way for Bloomingdale’s to scale its operations to new markets around the U.S.?

Walmart is rolling out a “Text to Shop” feature that allows customers to add items to their online shopping basket using text messages. To work, the free feature must be linked to the shopper’s Walmart account so their usually ordered items can be reordered. Will “Text to Shop” hold enough appeal to support wide use from shoppers?

Amazon recently installed Just Walk Out (JWO) at a grocery retailer it does not own for the first time. 2023 will see even more buzz around the technology. Do you see Amazon’s Just Walk Out and similar checkout-free shopping technologies making a significant breakthrough in 2023?

Since November 23, Tom Ryan has been receiving weekly email warnings about package theft at his apartment building in New York City. The notes read, “The holidays are approaching and package thieves will be out in even fuller force than usual.” Should retailers hold consumers more accountable for stolen packages from doorsteps or apartment lobbies?

Best Buy customers watching its livestream shopping events will now have the option of placing orders for in-store pickup. It marks the first time that pickup is being offered on a live shopping platform that is embeddable anywhere online. Will having the option of ordering an item from a livestream shopping event for in-store pickup make these shows more attractive to a larger number of consumers?

Customers are looking for solutions that get them in and out of the store quickly and effectively this holiday season, according to a new study. How can retailers speed up shopping trips for customers this holiday season without sacrificing service?

Tipping at Starbucks is as voluntary as it is anywhere in the U.S., but a new digital payment solution is now making it tough and awkward to avoid doing so. Some customers, and even some baristas, are displeased with the development. Will Starbucks’ new point-of-sale solution be good or bad for the chain in the long run?

Best Buy has implemented and expanded its use of digital clienteling to serve more than a quarter million customers since announcing its virtual store pilot in 2021. Customer satisfaction has increased 20 percent as a result of the company taking its famous in-store service online.  What do you see as the biggest benefits of Best Buy’s virtual store?

Walgreens is coming to the rescue of parents caring for sick kids in the middle of the night. The retailer’s same-day delivery program is going 24/7 as of today. How will 24/7 delivery shape consumers’ views of Walgreens?

A university study concludes targeting serial returners is the smarter path to reducing return costs because targeting regular shoppers with stricter return policies will likely backfire. Does it make more sense to crack down on serial returners than tighten restrictions on general consumers?

Amid a continued tight labor market, holiday help appears to be less in demand this year due to the souring economy. Is it prudent or hasty to significantly pull back on seasonal hires amid inflationary pressures and the uncertain economy?

For online shoppers expecting online deliveries from Saks Off 5th, less will be up in the air  thanks to a new feature the retailer is implementing. Saks Off 5th is implementing a Guaranteed Delivery Date for thousands of items. Do you think a solution like Guaranteed Delivery Date at Saks Off 5th is a necessity for retailers doing e-commerce?

And now for something completely different. Target today said that it plans to open new larger-format stores with new reimagined open layouts designed to better meet the needs of the chain’s guests (AKA customers).  Is Target on the right track with its new, larger store format and new design?

Retailers are shortening their returns windows and even charging return fees to mitigate rising costs. Are free return policies becoming too costly?

Few, if any, of the transactions BrainTrust Panelist Bob Amster has witnessed on a wide array of systems have been frictionless. Each has an interruption of some form. Where does grocery self-checkout currently fall short?

Consumers can now walk into any of the 500+ DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse stores with their old shoes and get them repaired. The retailer has partnered with Cobblers Direct, an online service that repairs shoes, boots, belts and handbags.  Will the repair services throughout DSW stores encourage more consumers to repair their shoes, boots, belts and handbags instead of discarding them?

Kroger has opened a grocery pickup location for students at the University of Kentucky. The initiative melds retail’s experiments with grocery pickup points and serving colleges, both of which have faced challenges. Is establishing pickup points the best path to bringing e-grocery to college campuses?

The “Annual State of Shipping Study” from UPS Capital, UPS’s financing arm, finds porch piracy, fraud and climate-related issues to be the top emerging threats facing online delivery.  Which of the three threats facing online delivery will be the toughest to overcome?

Walgreens is eliminating task-based metrics for pharmacy staff as part of performance reviews in order to place an “even greater focus on patient care and outcomes.” Do you think task-based metrics do more to incentivize or stress out retail workers?

Abercrombie & Fitch customers can now place orders online and pick their purchases up at  Walgreens. (Walgreens?) Is a suite of fulfillment options like those offered by Abercrombie & Fitch important for retailers operating either standalone or mall-based stores?

A new university study exploring BOPIS finds consumers are more likely to be satisfied with substitutions for out-of-stocks when the item is a staple, like ketchup or paper towels, rather than a “pleasure-loving” item like coffee or perfume. How can retailers improve substitution selections in the BOPIS process?

According to a recent survey, 67.7 percent of Americans feel pressured to tip when picking up takeout food or coffee if the POS system prompts them to, and 44.8 percent only tip because a POS tablet prompts them to do it. Do you think touchscreen payment tablets with tip suggestions for takeout orders are irritating and/or manipulative?

Walgreens continues to open automated pharmacies as it moves towards its goal of having 22 of the facilities in operation across the country by 2025. How will robo-pharmacies change the physical store layouts and other aspects of the drugstore business?

Sephora has launched a subscription program that allows shoppers to get unlimited same-day delivery in as little as two hours for $49 a year. Do you see enough consumer appeal for Sephora’s Same-Day Unlimited offering?

BrainTrust panelist Ron Margulis says, “Pardon my cynicism, but if I had a dollar every time I heard some variant of the phrase ‘the customer must be at the center of every retail decision’ at Groceryshop last week, I’d be able to buy a nice meal at one of the many overpriced restaurants in Las Vegas.” Does the customer really need to be the primary focus of every retail decision?

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Bonobos enabled associates to handle customer chats beginning as a pilot in 2019 on an employee’s suggestion and they now do so at all of its 62 stores. Do you see more pros than cons in having in-store associates handle some customer service chat queries?