DENVER — Credit unions are being offered some insights into consumer trends and what might lie ahead from some big brand-name companies.
Senior executives at American Airlines and OfficeMax shared where they have invested dollars and how they are attempting to project where those investments should go moving forward.
Speaking to BAI's Retail Delivery meeting this week, James Barker, senior manager of application development with American Airlines, said the company has had to change its model and how it generates revenue as it, like many other airlines, has gone through bankruptcy and is now attempting to merge with USAirways.
Barker, whose responsibilities include overseeing American Airlines' increasingly trafficked self-service machines and kiosks, said those machines are now about far more than just checking in passengers.
"We are now trying to build on even more of a self-service process," Barker said. "A lot of what we have done so far from a brand standpoint is changing who we are and how we represent ourselves as an airline. But now you have to be able to generate revenue beyond the airfare. We now sell the seats, including additional legroom, as well as first class upgrades, additional miles and other products as part of the check-in process."
That process is becoming even more about self-service, as American Airlines has implemented "self-tagging" in a number of airports. A passenger can print his own luggage tags and take his bag to what's called an "activation station and send it on its way," he said. "Customers adopted this very quickly," said Barker. "The key is to keep the process simple, otherwise the adoption is not there."
As important as those self-service kiosks are, a new trend is emerging in which they are being used less due to the increasing use of mobile technology, he said.
But despite the increase in mobile, passengers still need to use the machines for processes such as self-tagging. What the trend will likely mean, he said, is increasing reliance on so-called Common Use Self-Service machines, or CUSS, which are machines owned by an airport that multiple airlines use. "We have to support those, but you lose some of the brand identity," said Barker.
Customers Often Know Better
At OfficeMax, meanwhile, the ramifications of mobile are being felt, too. Christina Garcia, senior manager, retail systems with OfficeMax, said that as people carry more mobile devices customers are "walking into our stores and into your branches with PCs in their pockets, and we've noticed that these people have more information available to them than even our associates."
Social Media Drives Loyalty
Meanwhile, said Garcia, more branch loyalty is being driven by social media. "People are liking brands online and also getting discounts," she said.
For OfficeMax what all that has meant is alterations in the "path to purchase," according to Garcia."Previously, you controlled this process and controlled your brand. Those customers are getting information from everywhere, including how they are being treated in each of your channels. People are making choices based on that."
The developing challenge is that consumers armed with information have become very flexible and agile, while retail organizations themselves are not, said Garcia.
"Since 2007 most retailers have been investing in e-commerce, which is great for customers," said Garcia. "But people calling into call centers and those who go into stores and branches can have a very different experience with your brand depending on how they are touching our brand."
As an example of the kind of customer-centricity OfficeMax is seeking, Garcia cited a consumer who purchases an HP printer online, but then comes into a store for ink. "They should be able to walk into your store and you should know the ink they need. They don't care if you have legacy systems; they think they are talking to one OfficeMax," said Garcia.
Garcia urged financial institutions to optimize to meet the customers needs, to know how customers/members are working in channels, and to adjust investments accordingly.
"At OfficeMax we're trying to come up with a holistic channel," said Garcia. "We're not just an e-channel or a store channel, we're OfficeMax. We want to really understand who that customer is. We're trying to integrate all those touchpoints. Receipt lookup, for instance, needs to be the same in all channels. We're introducing mobility into our stores. We want our associates to have the same information as our customers do. We want them out from the bank of registers and into the aisles with customers. We can match prices in the aisle and cross-sell. We are working to align our corporate priorities. When you are building functional leadership you must build it horizontally, not vertically."
