Spotlight

Retina – the new Swisscom Shop concept

Digitisation has changed customer behaviour for good. To stay in the number 1 slot and continue to shape the future, touch points that offer contemporary, cross-channel and reliable customer experiences are crucial to the continued satisfaction of our customers. As our strongest physical channel, the Swisscom Shops welcome around 10 million visitors a year. How can they be developed further and build a bridge with the digital world? This question prompted the Retina project, an innovative Shop concept aiming to set a new benchmark in the telco market. With their modern look and state-of-the-art technologies, the Retina Shops will inspire customers and employees alike. We explain the implementation of the Shop concept and what customers and Swisscom Shop employees can expect.

By Afroditi Papadimas, Project Assistant

In 2019, after about six months of development, the first of the revamped Shops officially opened their doors. The pilot Shops were designed as a learning ground for customer behaviour, to develop the ideal concept. The basic design was identical in the first two shops, apart from significant differences in product presentation, with one Shop focusing on digital elements and the other placing tactile elements centre stage. Based on observations and interviews with customers and employees, the interdisciplinary project team devised the second generation of Retina Shops, three of which were then opened at the end of 2020. This concept has now undergone a further phase of rigorous testing. The breakdown of Shops, based on criteria such as size, regional distribution in Switzerland, language regions or customer volume, also helped us to better understand the different needs. With the concept and pilot phase at an end, just one major goal remains: to finalise a standard design for the Swiss-wide rollout. The majority of Shops will be refurbished within just two years, minimising the organisational burden of operating two Shop concepts in parallel for too long and ensuring customers reap the market benefits as swiftly as possible. The result will be four revamped store reopenings per month throughout Switzerland.

What innovations will the Retina Shops feature and what they will offer Swisscom customers? One important aspect is new customer routing based on three zones, designing the customer journey to meet specific, individual needs. Customer inspiration is the main focus in the front area of the Shops. Customers can discover the gadgets and digital ecosystems of the future and experience them in action. This transforms the shopping experience from a chore, showcasing the worlds of connectivity and experience, where experiencing, touching and trying out becomes the norm. Our goal is to keep our customers up to date on the latest technological developments by linking analogue and digital approaches and optimising processes to reduce time to market. The central store layout is dedicated to service and online education. In this area, customer service enquiries are dealt with swiftly and assistance is provided with Swisscom’s digital touch points, such as the My Swisscom app. This should enable customers to resolve simple issues themselves in the future. The back area of the Shop provides a quieter, more intimate environment for presenting personalised offers to customers. Products like Smart Life or the TV experience can be demonstrated live and tried out on site. Previous experience and feedback have shown great results here with significant improvements in customer satisfaction levels.

Although customers are always at the centre of the concept, priority was also given to improvements for employees – still key to the new Shop concept. State-of-the-art retail solutions support interaction with customers, with optimised processes simplifying everyday life and new approaches to team management and organisation driving the transformation. It all helps to improve employee satisfaction. With our training courses and individual training opportunities, Swisscom remains an attractive employer, guaranteeing that our customers continue to receive the best advice from the best employees in the future.

Afroditi Papadimas

Afroditi Papadimas

Project Assistant

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