Already passing halfway through this year, July acts as a nice reminder for business companies to prepare early for the holiday season; this particular period of various celebrations remains quite critical because the retail profits and revenues are at its highest peak before the fiscal year ends. With these diverse holidays soon approaching, the head executives and managers from GameStop are devising better strategies and marketing plans for these up-coming promotional sales. Although these vast but also quick changes are totally expected, these final decisions also impact lower managements; unlike the higher officials, these lower divisions directly handle customer service, which basically means corresponding and interacting with potential buyers on a regular basis.
Although one individual behind the front counter may seem like a single digit to large corporations, that person actually performs three roles, such as these entities: the company’s representative, a field expert in the store’s products or merchandises, and a commercial salesperson. Though these talented people can offer their best expertise and knowledge to consumers, the head honchos speculate if their hard-working employees are actually providing accurate information (i.e. new store policies and seasonal bonus sales) and the latest updates. On July 14, 2014, the Vice President of Store Operations of GameStop, Jason Cochran, expresses his concerns to the public:
“As VP of Store Operations, I face the challenge of maintaining consistency across all our locations, from the products on the shelves to the look of the stores. That includes customer service—I need to make sure that all our store associates not only know everything that they should about our products and promotions but also that they feel like part of the larger GameStop team.”
By challenge, he literally means sending lengthy emails with extensive details and asking the managers to memorize the entire message before spreading the word to others who do not occupy a stationary work-space and access the company’s email. To overcome this problem and maintain a standard consistency throughout all locations, this growing Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company use the Microsoft SharePoint Online in Microsoft Office 365; this web service activates a retail portal that corporate officials can utilize to share daily updates with more than 6,000 stores. By accessing the point-of-sale terminals, these web users can also receive at-a-glance news through graphics and videos. Daily information shared may include product fact sheets, videos of a game in action, and updates about how to position games with customers and display them on the shelves. So what does this whole transition mean and bring in the long haul?
“We now have tools at our fingertips that make it easy to come up with and deploy innovative ways to make our customers’ store experiences faster, more informative, and more fun.”
Additionally, important binders containing valuable records will finally be dismissed, especially ones that are back from three years ago. And secondly, the current staff will also be well-organized in providing top-notch feedback. Besides benefiting from these assets, the company plans to adopt Microsoft Lync Online for conferencing, Microsoft Exchange Online for messaging, Microsoft OneDrive for Business for sharing documents, and Yammer for social networking in the future.
Do you appreciate how Microsoft is improving various businesses such as this gaming corporation? Or, will these particular actions somehow impact our future shopping experiences at these game-selling businesses for the better or the worse?
Gamer Headlines encourage its avid readers to take advantage of the comment section to type any statements, recommendations, or questions. We value each individual’s opinions and suggest sharing his or her thoughts on the matter.
Please email this author at jjfarrington@gamerheadlines.com to setup any possible interviews, leak details, or more.
