Field Service Management – Retail

Delivery of a product is no longer the only responsibility of retailers. To stay competitive and ensure they make a positive and lasting impact on their customers, they have to ensure absolutely perfect after-sales service. With continuous improvements in service, retailers are able to maintain a loyal customer base ready to recommend the company. Creating long-term relationships with customers starts from high-quality product installations at their home, through monitoring service processes, and reacting when fast repair management is needed.

With Comarch Field Service Managament, the retail industry may see effects in improved service level, and will be able to track changes in service KPIs over time.

Product Installation

Some products such as household appliances may be ordered together with a service such as installation. Manually managing and planning service visits while receiving incoming orders, while having many SKUs and customer addresses, can be ineffective and extremely costly. Customer-oriented retailers must also arrange visits to suit those customers, for example by ensuring installation at a convenient time. Field service management in retail can be supported with the Comarch FSM app, enabling easy scheduling of service visits and providing the option of a customer portal via which visit dates and times can be changed. The app can also be integrated with POS and ERP to ensure one view of the most crucial details.

Repair Management

To ensure remarkable repair service, retailers should have access to a list of all planned services, the relationship between repair and warranty status, and replacement devices . To minimize customer frustration, the after-sales team should keep them updated about potential dates and times of service visits. When the repair is carried out, this should happen smoothly. To be sure that tasks have been completed, back office staff should have a view of the current status of each planned task. Comarch FSM responds to these needs by offering a calendar view presenting all planned tasks, to whom they are assigned, how long they may take, and the current status of the task.

Communication and Feedback

To avoid situations which lead to customer dissatisfaction, retailers should communicate effectively by sending notifications or text messages of the current status of the issue, including details of when a technician should arrive. They should also make it easy for customers to reschedule visits as required. Automated messages can provide a solution to challenges faced when implementing field service management in retail. These messages are based on events recorded in the system and on the customer portal – a mobile app available for customers, so they can change visit dates and times should they wish.