Following an omnichannel digital strategy focused on its website and stores, INTERSPORT has strengthened its collaboration with iAdvize. The objective is to add value from the first exchanges with customers. An update with Philippe Muhr, Digital & E-commerce Director at INTERSPORT.
INTERSPORT underwent a digital transformation a few years ago, how is it taking shape?
Following the takeover of GO Sport in 2023, we bring together 938 stores in France. Our e-commerce strategy is based on a model where intersport.fr represents a business provider for the stores since the latter ship the products. Our model is therefore of the “ship from store” type since it is our digital teams and our technical partners who dispatch and orchestrate the orders, store by store. Furthermore, as a cooperative, Our digitalization project has taken on a special dimension. Indeed, the managers are both the store managers and our own managers. In addition, our transport partners, La Poste and Colissimo, allow us to collect the products every day, from all the stores, with shipping of the products within 24 to 48 hours. Moreover, this particularity put in place before 2020 allowed us to stand out during the COVID years, thanks to the permanent distribution of our articles. Finally, our digitalization strategy is “dictated” by the omnichannel aspect. In fact, 70% of our customers who come to the stores have previously visited the site… a high statistic! We are at the service of the stores and digital must be the first showcase and the first point of contact. A good customer experience on the site is therefore very important.
How does your overall customer relationship strategy work?
We are fortunate to have a customer service department headed by Karine Laboureau who does an extraordinary job. Our contact center is outsourced to Armatis in Poitiers. But I like to point out that Our in-store salespeople represent our best customer service!
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What are the objectives of your collaboration with iAdvize?
Our collaboration with iAdvize is not new, it goes back more than 7 years. Knowing that we already offered our visitors and customers messaging support to answer questions about sports equipment throughout their purchasing journey, we wanted to go even further. Namely, to offer conversational support for purchasing 24/7, to support as many visitors and customers as possible while optimizing the associated costs and taking advantage of an automation lever. Indeed, the rise of generative AI represented an opportunity to enrich the purchasing journey. That’s why we turned to iAdvize and its generative AI solutions: iAdvize Copilot(TM)? for Shoppers and iAdvize Copilot(TM)? for Agents. The goal is to automate the millions of conversations where added value is often absent. Today, nearly 3/4 of these conversations are automated. And when customers need more in-depth and precise information, experts come to the rescue on the chats. In fact, I really believe in generative AI to develop and highlight human qualities.
What are the results obtained?
We gained 8 points of customer satisfaction due in particular to the more qualitative assistance provided by the Copilot for Agents to online advisors. In addition, the “Copilots” in autonomy and support, contribute to the optimization of purchasing paths and to transformation: a path with a Copilot for Shoppers converts 7 times more than a visitor browsing the site by himself. Beyond this transformation, we can also play on prices, on product availability, etc.
What are the future plans in terms of customer relations?
Today, digital is increasingly present inside the store itself, but not necessarily in a visible way. A digital that must provide solutions to sellers and advisors, even inside the store. We are therefore equipping them with smartphones from major brands by deploying adapted software solutions reinforced with generative AI. The objective is to provide field salespeople with tools so that they can not only improve cross-selling, while having the ability to work faster by responding as closely as possible to customer needs.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
