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A curmudgeonly colleague of mine claims that he prefers
automatic teller machines to human bank tellers because, "the machine knows me
better, and it always says, ‘thank you.'"

He may be on to something. Online retailers Overstock.com,
Zappos.com, and Amazon.com came in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
in the , right behind 1st
place winner L.L. Bean, the catalog-retailing giant. Television shopping
channel QVC came in fifth, which means that none of the top five retailers in
this customer service survey is known for face-to-face service.Ìý

Brick-and-mortar retailers Nordstrom and Kohl's tied for
tenth place. These companies seem to maintain a culture of customer service in
shops dispersed throughout hundreds of malls, but in many other stores, it
seems as if the salespeople often know less about their products and services
than their customers do, and nothing at all about the customers themselves.

Two differences leap to mind when I consider the survey
rankings.

First, the online and catalog retailers know how to use
customer information. For years, consumers ridiculed Radio Shack, which
continuously badgered them for information but never seemed to use it for any
specific purpose. Amazon, on the other hand, quickly seems to know its
customers better than their own spouses do.

When you walk into a department store, your buying history
does not change the layout of the store to accommodate you, but when you log
onto Amazon, it does. Customers may
choose to refine the system's knowledge by rating purchases, but even when they
don't, the personalization of the shopping experience is surprisingly accurate.

Ironically, the automated shopping experience often seems
more personal than the in-person store visit. While mall clerks robotically
attempt to upsell whatever product their manager overstocked, online retailers
suggest additional products and services based on your known preferences.
Upselling has long been a retail profit enhancement tactic - online retailers
turn it into a customer benefit.

Another significant difference is that unlike
brick-and-mortar retailers, catalog and online companies have the option to
hire and train a small core of centrally located customer service
representatives. As a result, the company's leadership exerts direct influence
on coworker development and organizational culture.

Physical retail chains face a tougher challenge. A far-flung
empire of buildings, managers, and part-time coworkers presents numerous points
of failure. As the survey notes, some physical retailers do a good job, but the
world of shopping has changed, and it will be interesting to see whether
in-person retailers will find a way to benefit from the customer service
innovations of their online competitors.

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