Tag Archives: experience

Human Resources, News

Younger generation say they have skills to succeed, but almost 90% worry that employers don’t recognise their potential, survey reveals

  • 87% of 16-24 year olds believe they have essential digital skills
  • Yet optimism and ability not matched by opportunity – 87% also believe employers focus on experience over potential, is holding them back

London, UK; 15 July, 2022: As the world marks World Youth Skills Day on Friday 15th July, a survey of 500 16-24 year olds revealed that 87% are optimistic about their ability to find a new role, with 4 in 5 declaring they feel prepared with the essential and digital/IT skills needed for existing and future job roles.

However, new research from Arctic Shores, the psychometric assessment pioneer, also reveals the same percentage (87%) believe employers focus too much on past experience and not enough on potential when hiring.

Despite their optimism, 3 in 4 young people felt that a lack of relevant experience or confidence in having relevant skills has held them back from getting a new job.

Furthermore, nearly half (48%) of all those surveyed have dropped out of a recruitment process even when they were still keen on the job, with lack of fairness (27%) the most common reason for doing so.

Half of those surveyed don’t believe or don’t know if they have enough experience on their CV to get their dream job, with 43% believing the CV to be an outdated hiring method. When asked what employers should determine their ‘potential’ based on in the recruitment process, ‘personality’ (39%) was most popular. This was as opposed to academic results, application forms and ability to pass tests.

When looking for a job, over half (54%) of all respondents want training and development the most from their employer, as opposed to remote working (16%).

Ed Halliday, Direction of Operations at futureproof, the technology training company, commented: “At futureproof, we see that many candidates are optimistic about getting some kind of job post-graduation. However, despite the volume of available positions, this is not the case with tech roles. Many candidates are conscious that they need additional extra training to become job-ready – even if they have gone through a tech-related degree.”

Wider concerns

As the country grapples with rising prices and supply shortages, it’s unsurprising that 72% of young people have concerns about the cost of living crisis, with 37% likely to change jobs as a result. However, with the employment process focusing on experience alone, it will be challenging for younger people to get into higher paying roles. More worryingly, over a fifth (21%) feel hopeless for the future.

Robert Newry, CEO of Arctic Shores, added: “As we look to the future world of work, sadly there is a huge mismatch between young people’s optimism in finding a new role and the hiring processes that are currently in place.

“The results reaffirm the urgent need to rethink the hiring process and redefine what employers should look for in candidates; otherwise the social mobility gap between those lucky enough to have specific skills and those that don’t will widen. Why are companies willing to pay ever increasing recruitment fees and inflated salaries for experience rather than growing talent? As roles and skills evolve with digitisation, recruitment needs to follow suit. Scrapping the CV and hiring for potential will address the mismatch and restore the optimism in our younger digital generation.”

ECommerce, News

Commerce Experience Platform, Nosto, launches integration with Hydrogen, Shopify’s headless commerce stack, available today

As a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner, Nosto has been selected as a preferred recommended solution for Shopify’s headless commerce stack, Hydrogen, enabling merchants to build custom storefronts without compromising their ability to deliver personalized commerce experiences

New York & London – June 23, 2022 – Leading Commerce Experience Platform (CXP), Nosto, is selected as a preferred recommended solution for the launch of Shopify’s headless commerce solution, Hydrogen. Nosto’s data-fueled personalization and merchandising solutions for ecommerce will integrate with Hydrogen immediately and be available for merchants globally.

Launched publicly yesterday, June 22, Hydrogen promises to revolutionize how brands build and deploy custom storefronts on the Shopify platform, marking the next step for retailers looking to gain more freedom in how they deliver dynamic shopping experiences at scale.

Already a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner and key technology vendor in the Shopify ecosystem, Nosto is a preferred recommended solution for Hydrogen integration. The integration is crucial so merchants are equipped to deliver compelling, personalized online shopping experiences from the get-go on a Hydrogen stack.

This means merchants building completely custom, or headless, storefronts on Shopify can do so with confidence that they don’t have to sacrifice on-site personalization, a crucial aspect of delivering authentic and relevant commerce experiences.

Alongside the launch, Nosto has publicly released supporting code and documentation for developers to leverage the various CXP modules.

“As the demand for headless keeps gaining momentum, driven by needs from merchants to deliver flexible yet incredibly fast experiences, we’re excited about Shopify Hydrogen and the structure it provides for building storefronts using composable frameworks,” says Tuukkaa Häkkinen, Global Head of Product at Nosto.

Nosto’s CXP makes it easy to quickly deploy fully personalized and integrated commerce experiences across the entire onsite experience, including product recommendations, category merchandising, content personalization, on-site pop-ups, personalized emails and more. Delivering relevant and authentic shopping experiences through Nosto’s CXP helps merchants improve key performance metrics such as conversion rate, AOV, engagement, and LTV.

Integrating the CXP capabilities with Shopify’s new Hydrogen framework will benefit both larger merchants looking to have more control over their tech stack and creative merchants who want to connect to consumers through memorable, authentic, and relevant brand experiences.

“We’re excited to launch Hydrogen and Oxygen with Nosto integrating with the framework,” said Ben Sehl, Senior Product Lead, Shopify.

“Nosto, a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner, is a highly performant, consistently reliable, and popular commerce experience platform among many of our merchants. Using Nosto with a Hydrogen-powered custom storefront on Shopify will empower merchants to build engaging, personalized customer experiences with bleeding-edge performance.”

For brands building custom storefronts on Shopify, Hydrogen lets them get to market faster with pre-built components, a fully built-out starter store, and hooks that map directly to Shopify’s APIs. When the storefront is ready to get in front of customers, hosting globally on Oxygen is as simple as one-click from within the Shopify admin. The Hydrogen and Oxygen stack ensures storefronts are fast, high-performing, and available wherever customers shop.

“At Nosto, we continue our approach to offer the most advanced technology for Shopify retailers. We were the first certified Commerce Experience Platform for Shopify and this strengthens our technology leadership within the ecosystem further,” says Jim Lofgren, CEO of Nosto.

“We’re pleased to launch with Hydrogen to provide the best experience and support for our customers looking to migrate to a headless solution powered by Shopify and the Hydrogen stack. We’re here to help merchants build authentic and relevant online commerce experiences at scale.”

For more information on the Nosto and Shopify Hydrogen integration, including the supporting code and documentation, visit www.nosto.com/shopify-hydrogen

News

Arctic Shores partners with SmartRecruiters to pioneer better recruiter and candidate experiences

  • SmartRecruiters’ integration with Arctic Shores’ API promises an experience that’s simple, intuitive and engaging, for recruiters and candidates alike.
  • The new partnership, launching this February, also supports both organisations’ vision for fair, unbiased candidate screening.

London, UK; 16th February 2022: Arctic Shores, the psychometric assessment pioneer, has partnered with SmartRecruiters, the Hiring Success company, to create a new hiring experience for both recruiters and candidates.

By enabling easy access to Arctic Shores’ Talent Discovery Platform, Smartrecruiters brings Hiring Success that bit closer for its 4,000 customers. The platform lets leading employers uncover true potential from thousands of applications – without a minute spent on manual CV screening.

And, with behavioural insight from Arctic Shores’ assessment delivered straight into SmartRecruiters, recruiters will never need to switch platforms. It’s a recipe for more productive, engaged recruiters, and faster, fairer hires.

The partnership is also built on the principle that candidates matter. SmartRecruiters customers can now invite candidates to complete Arctic Shores’ engaging online assessment, where intuitive tasks replace stress-inducing questions, and every candidate gets instant feedback. Surveys show that over 90% of candidates enjoy this experience – in contrast to more traditional measures of potential.

Robert Newry, Arctic Shores’ CEO, said: “Like SmartRecruiters, we want both recruiters and candidates to enjoy rewarding experiences, every day. That’s why we’re connecting our two platforms: to put potential in plain sight. With instant access to the right insight, recruiters can now say goodbye to manual CV screening, and embrace more meaningful work. And, with our unbiased, engaging assessment experience, we can make millions of candidates feel valued for their potential, and rewarded for their time.”

Jerome Ternynck, CEO and Founder, SmartRecruiters, commented: “The most successful businesses build their talent acquisition strategies on three key principles. This includes a compelling candidate experience, engaged hiring managers, and empowered recruiters. Our API integration with Arctic Shores is leading the next generation of hiring experiences, and we’re thrilled to be aligning our value propositions to continue to improve hiring outcomes.”

For more information about the partnership, get in touch here: https://landing.arcticshores.com/smartrecruiters.

E-Commerce, News, Thought Leadership

Last Chance Saloon: Why It’s Now or Never to Capture and Retain Online Retail Customers

Is the writing on the wall for eCommerce? Customers have relied on online retail for 18 months, with repeated lockdowns contributing to an extraordinary spike in growth – online now contributes 36% of retail revenue compared to just 16% pre-pandemic. Yet, while some of this new buying behaviour is likely to stick, online is no longer an emergency destination and retailers have failed to take note.

People are missing the quality of shopping experience. Buying online is mechanical process at best, excruciatingly frustrating at worst. With growing confidence to return to the high street, the decline in online retail is inevitable. The big question is just how steep that decline will be.

As the peak season excitement of Black Friday and Christmas approaches, retailers have one last chance to take a serious look at the online experience and deliver the level of personalisation customers expect. As Russell Loarridge, Director, ReachFive, explains, it’s now or never to capture and retain this new customer base.

Now or Never

Over the past 18 months, online retailers have worked hard to scale up to meet customer demand. Websites are more robust and can handle increasing customer numbers without delays. Logistics processes have been overhauled. From diverse delivery options to an improvement in picking accuracy, fulfilment is more efficient.

But the essential buying experience remains the same – inadequate, perfunctory, exasperating. Why are individuals still compelled to wade through piles of irrelevant items in an increasingly desperate bid to find the required product… only to discover it is out of stock? A jumble sale would be more fun – and more productive. Is it any wonder basket abandonment and product returns continue to spiral?  

Online is no longer an emergency destination – and consumers expect something better. A lot better. Yet retailers have simply accepted the new customer base and assumed it’s here to stay. There has been no attempt to truly discover who these customers are – over and above uninformative email address and telephone number. From gender and size to preferences and hobbies, a good retail experience has always been predicated on providing a product that meets a customer’s needs. Yet, the vast majority of online retailers still have no real understanding of the individual preferences of each customer. 

Failing Channel

The pandemic-induced sales growth is masking the reality: online retail isn’t working. It’s not working for customers who are missing the quality of a personal interaction in store. Moreover, it isn’t working for retailers facing an ever escalating cost of sale. From the logistics disruption due to both inbound shipping delays and a critical lack of HGV drivers, as well as an escalating cost of sale with labour, fuel and marketing costs on the rise, already small margins are under pressure. 

Something has to change – and fast. How can retailers create a loyal customer base that is also profitable – one that doesn’t eradicate profits by using now expected free returns to order multiple products and return at least half? How can retailers create the positive brand loyalty and environment that actively encourages customers to come and browse – both online and in store? What is the best way to move from the chaos of the online jumble sale to a virtual store that can use customer knowledge to take customers straight to the products they love?

It’s all about creating a personal connection. Asking the customer their gender and age bracket, for example, immediately allows the retailer to present a far more relevant subset of the overall product mix.  Request an ideal colour palette or preference for fell running over treadmills, and the retailer begins to create a valuable profile that can be used to nudge customers towards the most suitable items. Add in a ‘only show available stock’ button and time pressed customers will avoid the frustration of clicking on items only to discover at check out they are no longer available – or not available within the timeframe they want them by.

Make it Personal

Customer information can transform the quality of the shopping experience. This is not, however, about using super intuitive AI tools which may, at best, conclude a customer has a 98% chance of being female and a 12% chance of being a prima ballerina. Why not just ask the question? People aren’t ordering multiple items because they are desperate for a trip to the Post Office or courier collection  point; with inconsistent sizing and inadequate online descriptions they have no choice. 

Why not use this behaviour as a trigger to engage and interact? If a customer puts multiple sizes of the same product in a basket, a pop up can suggest they provide measurements to help the retailer recommend the best fit. This information can then be captured and used to enhance the customer experience every time, with a personal identity that becomes deeper with each visit.

It sounds simple but encouraging customers to provide their accurate measurements provides a huge step forward in the quality of the online experience and, critically, in reducing returns.  Some online-only retailers are offering innovative virtual measuring services, while those with online and physical presence can make it an event. Inviting customers to a pop-up shop opening where they can have a free cup of coffee, a chance to preview a new collection and a chance to be measured at the same time, is a great way of building engagement and improving personalisation – and ensures the customer knows what size to pick next time.

So Many Opportunities

Personalisation could and should be built into every stage of the online experience. Why, for example, are retailers not using returns information to improve their individual customer understanding? While some companies capture that data at a generic level to provide insight into issues with product quality and sizing, linking it to each individual customer is also hugely valuable. 

Adding it to a customer’s profile will help individuals with their next buying decision. They can check their buying history, including sizes, what they kept and what was returned, which will help them choose the correct size first time, improve the experience and minimise the need to buy – and return – multiple sizes. Or why not present a simple pop up reminding the customer which sizes he or she tends to keep, to provide a quick nudge in the right direction?

A customer searching for children’s football boots at the end of summer is probably getting ready for the new school term. Why not make the process quick and simple with a pop up saying – looks like you’re buying back to school gear, here are the items in that size we have in stock now and can get to you before term starts. Creating a personal connection isn’t complex – it just requires the right mindset.

Changing Behaviour

The speed with which online sales increased when the pandemic hit shows retailers just how quickly customer behaviour can change.  And, right now, what is the reason for customers to keep buying online while the quality of experience remains as perfunctory and impersonal as ever? 

Having invested heavily in online operational processes, retailers now face a rapid decline in demand at a time of eradicating margins. Nurturing a loyal customer base should be a priority. With peak season rapidly approaching, retailers are in the last chance saloon – action is required now.

 

News

Independent Consulting study reveals 333% 3-year ROI when retail brands use ReachFive’s CIAM

Customer identity and access management solutions drive modern customer experiences

ReachFive, a focused SaaS-based Customer Identity & Access Management (CIAM) platform vendor, is pleased to announce the availability of Forrester Consulting’s Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study; that examines the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realise when deploying ReachFive’s CIAM platform, to manage customer identities and journeys. Through client interviews with Adeo and Micromania-Zing, and financial analyses, the Forrester Consulting study (commissioned by ReachFive) found that a composite organisation experiences an ROI of 333% over three years and a payback period of less than three months when using ReachFive’s technology to accelerate their digital transformation.

How ReachFive’s CIAM platform benefits Adeo Group, Micromania-Zing and others

Adeo Group is number 3 worldwide in DIY; and Micromania-Zing is a major French video game and pop culture retailer. ReachFive enabled these retailers to supersede complex in-house and external legacy solutions for identity and authentication. Previous solutions used by these retailers were unable to scale in line with growing demand. This is part of the problem ReachFive solved. Firms can now scale CIAM features 50% faster to their brands and geographies, which the TEI study explains.

Adeo Group’s Customer platform leader explains, “We want our customers to be able to connect, navigate, and interact with our brands and partners seamlessly. Deploying ReachFive directly contributes to that objective. Furthermore, it is a great example of an IT tool deployed as a ‘platform model,’ rather than as a disconnected or siloed application.”

Micromania-Zing’s Director of e-commerce & digital adds, “We wanted to improve our ability to recognise customers, while continuing to secure authentication capabilities. We had a need to facilitate our ability to collect customer consents, to manage and store them.”

In addition, the Forrester study points out that after firms invest in ReachFive’s CIAM solution, clients were able to: 1) improve their customer experience at scale, with streamlined and accelerated authentication procedures, and 2) strengthen consent management. Moreover, by using ReachFive, the Forrester study indicates that organisations are also collecting enriched customer data through profile reconciliation capabilities, while securely managing access to identities.

The study’s key findings: quantified benefits, unquantified benefits and costs

The study’s key findings also include an assessment of quantified and unquantified benefits and costs associated with using ReachFive’s technology:

Quantified benefits: Risk-adjusted present value quantified benefits include incremental revenue with improved customer experience, resulting in $1.4 million in benefits. For instance, ReachFive helps provide frictionless authentication for organisations and facilitates the creation of user accounts. Using features like social login, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication (MFA) has led to a 15% increase of new user account creation for one organisation interviewed by Forrester. In addition to this, incremental revenue as a direct result of higher availability and scalability enabled by the ReachFive platform, results in $2.2 million in benefits. Replatforming with ReachFive also halved the time required by team members to perform associated tasks, which ultimately resulted in higher efficiency gains; helping guarantee strong data accuracy through migrations.
Unquantified benefits: Benefits not quantified for this study include stronger data protection and security; improved data-based decision-making; and an alignment and support of corporate digital strategy. This speaks to reduced risk of contravening GDPR guidelines, reduced risk of identity theft (and therefore insurance premiums that cover that eventuality) and reduced risk of damage to brand equity and consumer trust.
Costs: The composite organisation evaluated experienced implementation costs and annual license fees too.
“Through the pandemic customer relationships have become increasingly digitised. This makes it crucial for brands, especially retailers selling online, to ensure they have powerful customer identity and access management solutions in place, quickly, to enable them to drive a modern and personalised customer experience (CX). This experience needs to be able to connect identities, brands, partners, channels and customer data solutions for a seamless experience and higher conversion rates,” said Jeremy Dallois, Founder and CEO, ReachFive. “This is exactly what ReachFive promises. As the Forrester Consulting study has proven, brands can achieve a 333% ROI when working with us and achieve a payback period of less than three months when deploying our CIAM solutions.”

Russell Loarridge, Director, UK, ReachFive adds, “COVID-19 triggered a fundamental change in shopping behaviour and for the time being this online-first mentality looks set to remain. But the pandemic has also highlighted the stark difference between the online and physical shopping experience. The impersonal online experience is never going to inspire customer loyalty and that will not sustain retail in the long term. CIAM technology can move the online experience closer to the high street experience, by enabling retailers to ‘just ask’ their customers what they want and put that identity at the heart of a personalised omni-channel relationship.”