CEO provides floorstaff with 2,500 iPads.
In a speech recently conducted at the Four Seasons Sydney, Myer CEO Richard Umbers emphasised the importance of technology and data in understanding the customer and delivering better service. One of the more interesting parts of his presentation was the revelation that he has distributed over 2,500 iPads to his floorstaff to help on this journey.
“The fact that we are now giving out iPads is not something that needs to be feared, it is now being welcomed,” Umbers said.
“Once your staff are empowered in that way, and we have rolled out 2,500 iPads to our team members, they get adopted in the business right across the spectrum including among people that have been with the business for 30 years or more.
“That is allowing a user experience to the customers that come into the store, which is allowing us as a department store retailer to play to our strengths which is customer service – our unique proposition to the marketplace.
“Through putting an iPad in the hands of a store assistant you can now come in as a customer, and if we don’t have your size or your colour, don’t worry we’ll have it sent to you tomorrow – that is real and that is happening on our shop floor right now and that’s an example of what we call customer service.
“This plays to the idea that it is not technology for its own sake, it is technology that is invisible and it is enabling our staff and sales assistants to play to our competitive advantage and be able to offer something over and above what we have ever been able to do before.”