Live Virtual Product Support

Retail Associates Receive Live Virtual Product Support

The duties and responsibilities of store associates vary from retailer to retailer and brand to brand. And as retailers struggle with an ongoing labor shortage, the diversity of tasks burdening individual teammates has, for many retailers, mounted.

The reality is that, with their plethora of duties—conducting transactions, managing inventory, re-stocking shelves, receiving shipments and deliveries, directing customers to the right aisles, and on and on—retail associates cannot possibly be expected also to understand and maintain fresh knowledge of all the nuances of the vast array of the products they sell. For instance, the average big box electronics store sells thousands of products; a home improvement center sells tens of thousands. Retail associates are overwhelmed, to say the least. They have neither the bandwidth nor the ability to provide customers with the kind of detailed information they seek to make a confident purchase decision. In fact, with access to so much information online, customers often arrive at a store with much more knowledge about a product than the staff.

Thus, even your most dedicated and loyal retail associates share an overriding fear that they won’t be able to properly meet customers’ expectations for the depth and breadth of assistance they require.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Overwhelmed retail associates will appreciate the support of AskMe. AskMe provides customers and associates instant access to remote product experts via live chat, text, video, or phone. The retail associate can connect in real time to the expert on behalf of the customer, or the customer can make direct contact by scanning a QR code from a shelf tag via their smartphone. The AskMe product expert, thoroughly trained and educated in all the product features and benefits, and differences among related products, is prepared to assist in-store reps (and even answer direct questions from consumers), make recommendations, and explain the advantages of each product. Experts may also provide product installation tips and troubleshooting assistance.

Retailers and brands will easily discover that AskMe can help them realize increased sales, higher customer-satisfaction rates, and considerable cost efficiencies. AskMe experts can provide wide geographic and time zone coverage, creating a broader reach without having to hire additional on-site staff.

AskMe gives retailers a powerful way to raise the bar on their customers’ experience.