Holiday Retailers Face $1 Trillion Test: Fix the Store Experience

Consumers are expected to spend $1 trillion with retailers in-store and online this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation — and whether retailers capture any loyalty from that spend will come down to store experience, not marketing.

The consumers holding that wallet are financially constrained and narrowly focused. "There are some years where consumers are more open to other objectives or rethinking their own objectives, but this year I think they're going to be very narrowly focused," Nikki Baird, vice president of strategy and product at Aptos, told CX Dive.

What do stressed holiday shoppers actually want?

They want their traditions preserved with minimal fuss. Back-to-school season offered the preview: cash-strapped consumers bought back-to-school outfits for their kids even as they put off refreshing their own wardrobes, Baird said. The same logic now applies to holiday celebrations and gifting.

"As a retailer, trying to help the customer achieve that objective is what's going to win hearts and minds," Baird said.

She recommends a localized approach to holiday prep. Someone in Denver has different holiday traditions than someone in Chicago, so decor and product assortments should reflect each store's region.

Speed matters just as much. Stressed customers have little patience for long lines or out-of-stocks, and unchecked frustrations can spill over onto other shoppers. "Retailers honestly need to do what they can to be prepared to deflect, redirect and keep those things from boiling over into other customers' experiences or becoming blowback for the store associate," Baird said.

Consistency is the other half of the equation, according to customer experience expert and author Shep Hyken. Customers don't check traffic data before visiting; they expect the same experience in late December as in the dead of summer. "The point is, it doesn't matter whether it's a busy time or a slow time," Hyken said. "You want the same result."

Marketing gets customers in the door, Hyken argues. Experience determines whether they return. Every operational investment should answer one question: "What am I doing right now to make sure that customer wants to come back the next time they need what we sell?"

Why associates are the season's deciding factor?

Employees are a store's most valuable asset, and Hyken frames them like a sports team: constant motivation and training win the biggest games. A 15-minute pre-open meeting is one low-cost tool. Managers can ask associates to share how they recently improved a customer's day — a compliment and a morale boost amid holiday chaos.

Managers also need to support staff mid-shift. Hyken's rule: "do unto employees as you would have them do unto customers." If a manager spots a frustrated associate, they should pull them aside and help them recover before overwhelm kills service quality.

Baird wants retailers to empower managers with small gestures, like buying the team lunch on days when customer volume means workers miss theirs. "This is not the time to be really cheap or controlling about ways that you can make store associates feel glad that they actually showed up for work today," she said.

How should retailers fix problems on the spot?

Financial errors demand immediate action. A product or promotion rung up wrong at the register is grounds for fixing it now. "If it's financial, and you have taken money from me, you need to fix that now," Baird said. "No rain check. No 'we'll send you an email.' None of that."

Self-checkout rules apply too: a customer with too many items needs to leave that queue, even if it annoys them — everyone else in line will see the rules apply to everyone.

Out-of-stocks take longer to solve, but retailers can still make them right. Hyken's baseline: free delivery of the missing item or a hold at another location. Ace Hardware goes further, calling nearby competitors on the customer's behalf to check their stock. "They would rather hold on to a customer and lose that sale," Hyken said.

The play doesn't end at checkout. Personalized follow-up messages are common among online sellers and underused by brick-and-mortar stores, Hyken said. "If you can get a new customer in during holiday time, and they turn out to have this great experience, remind them of the great experience they had with some type of a follow-up message."

The retailers that win this $1 trillion season will be the ones that turn a stressed December visit into a reason to return in January.