Sitel have issued its ‘‘Five Step guide to converting Christmas shoppers with Customer Service’ in preparation for a strong Christmas in retail.

The latest 2013 figures show online retail sales grew 20% year on year, with UK consumers spending an estimated 375m hours shopping online last December, 17m of those on Boxing Day.

With December 2013 set to be even busier, retailers prepare to focus on developing online platforms, in order to take advantage of the customer move away from the high street.

Joe Doyle, Marketing Director at Sitel UK, comments: “The challenge for high street retailers is to differentiate in the online space. The new role of the contact centre is connecting the dots to deliver an exceptional customer experience that stands out from all the others, by being there when consumers need you and available in the channel of their choosing. Web, social media and mobile are all now vital components in a successful omni-channel strategy.”

Sitel provides online customer support for a number of high street retailers including John Lewis. Sitel and John Lewis were recently awarded the prestigious European Outsourcing Association award for “Outsourcing Works” – Delivering Business Value in a Single European Outsourcing Project.

These kinds of success have led to Sitel issuing its “Five Step guide to converting Christmas shoppers with Customer Service”, which covers advice on adopting an omni-channel strategy, forecasting, recruitment, training and capacity planning.

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