With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, retail industry professionals are ramping up their plans to best serve their customers. For many merchants, this means hiring additional staff, offering substantial discounts and providing free shipping throughout the next two months. 

Although free shipping and discounts are two of the perks most desired by consumers, they are only the second and third most important considerations for the average shopper, according to a recent survey from PriceGrabber.com. Based on the poll, 70 percent of respondents value good customer service above all else, and it can help ensure their loyalty for future purchases. 

While achieving good customer service can be harder to accomplish than applying free shipping and discounts, there are a few steps that merchants can take to reach that goal. Having enough staff on the floor can improve store operations immensely, but eliminating long lines with capable point of sale software can also reduce a significant amount of shoppers' stress. Complementing this primarily brick-and-mortar tactic with free shipping can assist retailers in appealing to the widest variety of consumers this holiday shopping season. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 3:40 am .