Industry

Retail

In many industries, business is seasonal, leading to predictable surges in customer queries. To manage this, companies often make operational adjustments ahead of peak seasons. However, unexpected internal and external factors, such as digital infrastructure issues, employee churn, or supply chain challenges, can still cause significant disruptions. Collaborating with outsourcing partners offers businesses the flexibility to scale operations quickly while mitigating the risk of overstaffing.

The Challenge:

Our client since November 2018, a leading American footwear company, faced significant challenges with their website and distribution center as they approached their peak season. This nearly $4 billion company found itself dealing with a large backlog of customer inquiries, resulting in call wait times exceeding one hour and the potential for substantial financial losses during their most profitable quarter. The issues were clear:

A massive backlog of customer inquiries.
Unacceptable average handle times (AHT) due to the backlog.
High call and chat abandonment rates as customers grew frustrated.
Increased order cancellations caused by incorrect product displays and inventory management inefficiencies.

The Solution:

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the ResultsCX team got to work, determined to turn things around for the client. Within less than 10 days, we rolled out a comprehensive plan to manage the influx and alleviate their heavy backlogs. Here’s what we did:

Scaled up operations, keeping in mind that staffing levels would need to adjust once the peak season ended.
Set up a back-office team to manage inventory, correct distribution errors in real time, and handle order cancellations, ensuring smooth operations.
Assigned multi-lingual agents to handle phone inquiries efficiently to reduce AHT.
Deployed a dedicated team to manage inbound inquiries through SMS, email, and social media channels, ensuring all customer queries were addressed promptly.

The Results:

Our ability to scale operations in sync with the client’s needs eliminated any risk of overstaffing. While agents tackled the backlog of customer queries, our back-office team focused on reducing new inquiries by ensuring accurate product displays and optimal inventory management. Thanks to these swift and strategic actions, our client not only managed the surge in calls but also entered their peak season with a confident outlook.

55% revenue increase from 2021 to 2023, with 14% growth from 2022 to 2023.
22% reduction in abandonment rates, exceeding expectations by 100%, and 19% reduction in abandoned calls, surpassing expectations by over 300%.
84% of calls answered within 30 seconds, a 44% improvement, and 85% of chats within 30 seconds, a 46% increase.
73% improvement in customer query forecasting.

Over the course of our long-standing engagement, we supported our client’s acquisition of another leading footwear company, diversifying their offerings in new market verticals, and assisting them in entering Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) markets for the first time.

Our collaborative approach to client engagement demonstrated our ability to respond quickly and effectively, reinforcing our partnership and paving the way for continued growth. Since our collaboration began, we’ve grown from an initial team of 55 FTEs in 2018 to over 400 across Bulgaria and the Philippines during the last peak season, retaining approximately 300 FTEs during the off-season. Our team now supports the client globally, including in APAC, the Philippines, India, the UK, the US, France, and Germany. We’re currently helping them implement 24/7 operations.