Wal-Mart Slaps On Tech Support

October 25, 2009 3 Comments

Wal-Mart has started to sell technical service plans for setting up and using TVs and PCs. Rather than building up in-house capabilities, Wal-Mart will sell third-party services from N.E.W. Customer Service Companies.

My take: Wal-Mart’s move fills a gap in it’s offering; helping customers install the products they buy. But the ideal service scenario starts before a purchase and continues on after installation and setup. So Wal-Mart will eventually need to do more than sell another company’s tech support bundles. To sell higher-end consumer electronics, it will need to bolster its in-store service and deeply integrate support throughout a customer’s lifecycle.

With Best Buy and Apple boosting their technical support capabilities, consumers will increasingly look for more guidance and support from their consumer electronics retailers. And my research has shown that customers who chose retailers based on their service are much more loyal than those that are just looking for low prices.

The bottom line: High-end electronics need integrated support.

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About Bruce Temkin, CCXP
I am a customer experience transformist, helping large organizations improve business results by changing how they deal with customers. As part of this focus, I examine strategy, culture, interaction design, customer service, branding and leadership practices. I am also a fanatical student of business, so this blog provides an outlet for sharing insights from my ongoing educational journey. Simply put, I am passionate about spotting emerging best practices and helping companies master them. And, as many people know, I love to speak about these topics in almost any forum. My “title” is Managing Partner of the Temkin Group, a customer experience research and consulting firm that helps organizations become more customer-centric. Our goal is simple: accelerate the path to delighting customers. I am also the co-founder and Emeritus Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the success of CX professionals.

3 Responses to Wal-Mart Slaps On Tech Support

  1. Pingback: Employees Are Key To Electronics Retailing « Customer Experience Matters

  2. Pat says:
    October 27, 2009 at 9:15 am

    I hope there tech support doesn’t compare with some of their other services. I tried to get them to check on getting or ordering some fabric for me. The answer I got was “I suppose”. Needless to say I was NOT impressed.

    Reply

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