Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 29

Age of
Remember when agents just had to answer the phone? When call centers start to handle their clients’ interactions with customers via social media sites, things change a bit.

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BY JACK GORDON

When Marie Jackson sent a son off to college in another state this year, she learned that home-furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond offers a service tailored specifically for incoming freshmen. On the company’s website, the student can look up practically any college in the United States and get the school’s list of what to bring – and what not to bring – to furnish a dorm room: Bath towels, yes; two sets of sheets for a single bed, yes; hot plates, no; and so on. The student can shop for items at a Bed Bath & Beyond location near home, and pick them up at a store near the college. Jackson availed herself of the service and was impressed enough to comment about it on social networking service Twitter: “I tweeted, ‘As a marketer, I’m surprised you don’t publicize this more so that people know about it.’” She didn’t expect any response from the company, but she got one – an email from a marketing person who explained that this was a trial program and that Bed Bath & Beyond was trying different ways to market it in different parts of the country. “That kind of proactiveness when I tweeted something positive about the company tells me that I’d have gotten a response if I’d said something negative, too,” she says. To Jackson, who is senior marketing vice president for Santa Clara, Calif.-based call center LiveOps, the episode offered a customer’s-eye view of a profound change taking place in her own industry. She believes that the person who responded to her tweet was a Bed Bath & Beyond employee, but it might as easily have been an agent from LiveOps or some other call center. Jackson and other industry executives say that “call center” is increasingly a misnomer. “Contact center” is becoming far more descriptive of their business. Retailers and other companies are farming out not only phone calls for sales and service but all 29

November 2011 | electronicRETAILER



Electronic Retailer - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electronic Retailer - November 2011

Calendar of Events
Your Association, Your Bottom Line
Industry Reports
FTC Forum
eMarketer Research
IMS Retail Rankings
Jordan Whitney’s Top Categories
Lockard & Wechsler’s Clearance & Price Index
The Leadership Team
Call Centers in the Age of Facebook
5 Keys to Creating a DR Hit
Building a Voluntary Sales Force
Guest Viewpoint
DRTV
Legal
Teleservices
Payment Processing
Advertiser Spotlight
Bulletin Board
Advertiser Index
Classifieds
Rick Petry
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - cover1
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - dps1
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - dps2
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - dps3
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - dps4
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 2
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 3
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 4
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 5
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 6
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Calendar of Events
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Your Association, Your Bottom Line
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Industry Reports
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 10
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 11
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - FTC Forum
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 13
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - eMarketer Research
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 15
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - IMS Retail Rankings
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 17
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Jordan Whitney’s Top Categories
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 19
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Lockard & Wechsler’s Clearance & Price Index
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 21
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 22
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 23
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - The Leadership Team
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 25
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 26
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 27
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Call Centers in the Age of Facebook
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 29
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 30
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 31
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 5 Keys to Creating a DR Hit
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 33
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 34
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 35
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 36
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 37
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Building a Voluntary Sales Force
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Guest Viewpoint
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 40
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - DRTV
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Legal
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Teleservices
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Payment Processing
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 45
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Advertiser Spotlight
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Advertiser Index
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Classifieds
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - 49
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - Rick Petry
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - cover3
Electronic Retailer - November 2011 - cover4
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