H&M Vs. Marks & Spencer: A Comparison on their In-store Shopping Experiences

This case study is contributed by the master degree students of e-Commerce and Internet Computing, Master of Science of the University of Hong Kong.

It has two major shortcomings.

The results were subjective projections of the authors without vigorous research effort, and the quantity of sub-processes mapped during the in-store experience is far from adequate.

Despite its shortcomings, it does have values to read. The authors ride on the two simple Emotion Curves of H&M and Marks & Spencer, display their understanding on three crucial matters:

1. Though both brands have similarities and differences in various aspects, readers see a straight visual comparison on the performance of in-store experience with all relevant details included: a genuine customer-centric approach from an outside-in perspective;

This paper is not written for CEOs. I intend to write to the heads and leaders of customer-facing departments, such as service, sales, CRM, CEM, contact center, retail operations, etc, to explore a pragmatic approach for them to thrive in a flat economy.

When I was delivering a CEM Master Class a couple of months ago in Amsterdam, I heard from one attendee that the whole customer experience department of a leading multinational mobile network provider in the Netherlands was axed. It is only one of the cost-cutting stories happens nowadays all over the world. Being perceived as an ‘expendable’ business unit, or a cost center, might be the logical explanation.

For the luckier executives who still keep their jobs, living in an environment with fewer resources, reducing budget, and manpower cut is almost inevitable. But they still have to maintain the service standards, beat competitions, and deliver results. Squeezing more efficient use of the limited resource is the ongoing challenge of their daily working lives.

So, how to justify your existence, maintain market share with fewer resources and still satisfy your customers?

“By applying the 80/20 rule to differentiate customers, needs, touch-points and sub-processes, you will be able to make a paradigm shift from efficiency to effectiveness in customer experience management.”

Nowadays, the challenge of customer experience management is that delivering a good experience is not good enough. You need to deliver an effective experience. Only when you’re delivering effective experience, can you survive, grow, and create customer loyalty. Effective Experience Framework 1.0 aimed to address the limitations of the conventional experience management approaches and render a pragmatic framework for the creation, delivery and assessment of effective customer experience. 2010 Effective Experience Framework 2.0, added findings of the 2009 global customer experience researches on luxuries, furniture manufacturer, mobile network operators, and retail stores, to further validate its underlying principles.

Why Good Companies Deliver Ineffective Experience

Why are conventional approaches not effective in managing customer experience? Here are the reasons to highlight the loopholes and limitations of traditional methods and tools used in measuring and managing customer experience:

“What should you do to drive in-store sales during a recession?”

A. Make customers feel more satisfied
B. Cut prices significantly
C. Reduce customer pain during a purchase experience
D. All of the above
E. None of the above

Keep your answer. You may think differently after I show you the findings of our In-Store Customer Experience Surveys.

More Satisfied ≠ More Purchases

“If customers are more satisfied, they will buy more.”

In a recession, most companies are trying to make their customers feel more satisfied because they believe when customers have less disposable income to spend, they will buy (and buy more) from those companies who make them feel more satisfied.

The rationale behind this approach is: “The drivers of satisfaction and purchases are the same; and satisfaction and purchases are positively correlated.”

However, the above statement is just an assumption and assumptions can be misinterpreted. Our findings from the in-store experience surveys of Louis Vuitton*1, Arwin Charisma Museum*2 (a beauty and healthcare mall in Taiwan targeting tourists), Starbucks*3, Supermarkets*4 and Automotive Showrooms all tell us a different story.

Is your company delivering an integrated total customer experience across multiple touch-points and channels? Most companies aren’t. They are using conventional approaches that drive departmental or functional silos in delivering inconsistent and disintegrated experiences; demand more and more resources in order to stay in line with competition; and deviate away from achieving designated business targets.

How do companies deliver a consistent and integrated total customer experience, which aligns with corporate objectives, and with the best use of limited resource? One new and unconventional way is to start designing a TCE (total customer experience) model by mapping touch-points and associated channels across entire customer lifecycle, assessing the current effectiveness of touch-points’ experience, and optimizing resources allocation among touch-points and channels by target objectives.

In this article, I am going to demonstrate the beauties of designing, assessing, and optimizing a TCE model, with the data and insights generated from the Global Credit Card Customer Experience Research* co-organized by CustomerThink and G-CEM.

Common Challenges of Financial Service Providers

"Paris: so much to offer in a small space."
"Sydney is a sea-side city with great people."
"New York: vibrant but be alert to situations."
"Shanghai shows two different contrasting worlds, both very energetic, and is shaping the future."
"Tokyo: people are very friendly, very respectful, very helpful."
"London: civilized, bustling and mature. Less friendly than other European cities."
"Amsterdam is a friendly safe city. Great transport, easy to get around. Easy to fill a few free hours with a museum or a canal boat ride."

The above are some of the "voice of visitors" on those cities. How about yours?

Global City Visiting Experience Research

G-CEM is partnering with CustomerThink in a research study on city visiting experiences. If you visited any one of the following ten cities in the past 12 months for leisure or business travel, please share feedback on your experience:

Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, New York City, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, or Tokyo.

Fast food is in no doubt a very competitive industry, and the focus is always on price, food and location. How a branded customer experience could help the players to differentiate themselves and to win over their competitors? Would there be any other touch-points other than the in-store experience which also play a significant role in affecting consumers’ choices?

To explore the subject matter, G-CEM has organized a research study on McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. The surveys began on January 15, 2009 and ended on March 3, 2009. A total of 4,515 valid responses were collected in Mainland China. The guiding principles and the tools for design, execution and analysis of this research are based on the U.S. patent-pending CEM (Customer Experience Management) methodologies invented by G-CEM.

Should Burger King Change her Brand Value

Respondents were asked to rate the satisfaction level of each sub-process during the entire fast food restaurant in-store experience in a natural time sequence. The average Experience Ratings (ER) of each sub-process are linked and mapped to form the three Emotion Curves* for McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC in Figure 1.

Is your company delivering an effective total customer experience across multiple touch-points and channels? Most companies aren't. They are using conventional approaches that drive departmental or functional silos in delivering inconsistent and disintegrated experiences; demand more and more resources in order to stay in line with competition; and deviate away from achieving designated business targets.

How do companies deliver a consistent and integrated total customer experience, which aligns with corporate objectives, and with the best use of limited resource? One new and unconventional way is to start building a TCE (total customer experience) model by mapping touch-points and associated channels across entire customer lifecycle, assessing the current effectiveness of touch-points' experience, and optimizing resources allocation among touch-points and channels by target objectives.

In this article, I am going to demonstrate the beauties of building, assessing, and optimizing a TCE model, with the data and insights generated from the global mobile communications customer experience research¹ co-organized by CustomerThink and G-CEM.

This article is not about listening or not, it's about listening to the right things ("unique listening") and in some cases, not listening. Because to blindly do what the customers asks may run counter to the right strategy for your company.

If you ask people what they think about the IKEA shopping experience—no matter where are they located—you hear a lot about three common pain points: "forced round tour," "availability of staff for on-site support," and "queuing time at check-out."

Below are real comments from people who took a global survey we organized with CustomerThink and TOTE-M on the IKEA in-store experience.

Three Common "Pains" of the IKEA Shopping Experience

Common Pain No. 1—"Forced Round Tour"

In a recession, a "spend less" philosophy is nearly equal to smart living. Especially for "unnecessary items" like luxury goods, your rational brain will tell you to keep such temptations out.

This poses a severe challenge for all luxury brands. What should they do to survive the economy downturn?

A price cut is the most commonly used tactic, because in many cases, it is relatively easy, fast and direct. Others will advocate for better service to drive customer satisfaction, or a combination of both. Insights generated from our global Louis Vuitton Shopping Experience Survey renders a different and uncommon perspective.

Voice of the Customer from Louis Vuitton Shoppers

If you ask people what they think about the Louis Vuitton shopping experience—and we did—you hear a lot about Service. Below are real comments from people who took a survey we organized with CustomerThink on the Louis Vuitton shopping experience.

"No one bothered to greet me other than the security guard at door!"
"I guess I did not fit the image - I was not wearing all labels."
"Messy store, impolite sales assistants and poor attention to customers."
"Long queue, slightly condescending assistant - not the VIP experience it should be." Read more »