Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Is Corporate Hoarding the CRM Goodies?

    By
    Evan Schuman
    -
    September 28, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Its a common complaint within retail circles. Store management is given the most hard-line responsibility—your store beats its numbers or youre in serious trouble—along with much of the work of executing every corporate IT decision, but yet those store managers have virtually no say in what those systems will be or how they will be used.

      Its the explanation for the spotty—sometimes great, sometimes awful—success rates of many self-checkout programs. The weak performers almost always just dropped equipment on store managers with little explanation and just another mandate. Surprise: The programs were executed in the most perfunctory fashion and left to wither.

      Now comes word of store managers rebelling against CRM systems, complaining that the answers that come back from headquarters are too late, too few and typically are not answering the questions the store managers want answered.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifTo read more about store managers frustration with corporate IT and CRM, please click here.

      Is this an indictment of the top-down IT approach? Not at all. Retailers must have accurate global views of where sales are going, and those decisions cant be made by majority rule.

      But this does raise the question of whether store managers should be given the freedom to set up their own parallel CRM systems, as some isolated retailers have been trying. The problem is not so much with gathering two sets of data. Ostensibly, the store managers and their staffs would handle all of the additional labor involved and would have the best feel for when customers were being asked too much, too often.

      As this column has said about RFID privacy issues, the problem is not so much the technology used to gather the data and how its gathered, but what will be done with it.

      Here again, conflicting agendas and psychological issues obscure rationality. The store manager makes a convincing argument that the customer is the stores local customer, that the stores reps made the sale, that the face the customer sees is the local store personnel, and that commissions and job security make the store manager the one who will ultimately be held responsibility for an unhappy customer. The corporate IT person makes a much shorter and pithier argument: We pay the salary of the store manager.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifIs retail IT being killed by complacency? Click here to find out.

      And, for that matter, the store workers, the building, the stock, the advertising and just about everything else. Store managers should be consulted on customer contact, and they should be free to gather their own data, but the idea of having thousands of store managers given the ability to independently contact their customers above and beyond what corporate does is asking for trouble.

      That said, the idea of corporate deciding to give regional store managers full autonomy over any contacts made to their customers is attractive. On Kerry campaign commercials, the candidate is heard at the end saying, “This is John Kerry, and I approved this message.” That might not be a bad idea for e-mail and snailmail campaigns. “Im Jane Doe, store manager of the Main Street Widget Emporium, and I approved this message.” It gives them a person to ask for. (Youll note I didnt include phone bank campaigns. I think store managers are too smart to associate themselves with those forms of legal torture.)

      Next page: The kiosk approach.

      The Kiosk Approach


      What some store managers have been exploring are modern-day interactive kiosks, such as the ones Nike is using to let customers design their own sneakers in exchange for personal data … and a lot of cash.

      As the latest in a series of do-it-yourself retailing kits, this one has some serious promise. Here again, the ultimate value of the kiosks will be dictated by how intelligent and self-restrained the systems will be.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifTo read about how Toys “R” Us learned the lessons about the importance of CRM, click here.

      If the units become TVs on wheels, displaying continuous product commercials, they will deserve their fate. But if they are able to compare customer-selected products with non-promotional illustrative animations, they have promise. If they are able to answer detailed questions about the products that go well beyond whats printed on the label, its getting better. If the boxes are given a Web connection so that the displays can communicate live with product experts and allow for real-time communications (think of the customer service kiosks at Disneyworld), this is getting very interesting.

      But theres a limit. The day a kiosk greets me at the stores front entrance and tells me that it is fluent in 6 million forms of communication, Im gone.

      Retail Center Editor Evan Schuman has tracked high-tech issues since 1987, has been opinionated long before that and doesnt plan to stop any time soon. He can be reached at [email protected].

      To read earlier retail technology opinion columns from Evan Schuman, please click here.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Retail Center for the latest news, views and analysis of this vital industry.

      Evan Schuman
      Evan Schuman is the editor of CIOInsight.com's Retail industry center. He has covered retail technology issues since 1988 for Ziff-Davis, CMP Media, IDG, Penton, Lebhar-Friedman, VNU, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0 and United Press International, among others. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×