Consumer Experience

Amy Casari is the Group Talent Acquisition Manager for Enterprise Holdings in Northeast Florida. She came and spoke to the Retail Seminar about the Consumer Experience and how Enterprise uses their approach to make the best experience for their customers. Amy has been working with Enterprise since 2011 in their Management Trainee Program. She has been working up the ranks from Assistant Manager, Branch Manager, Regional Human Resource Manager, and finally to Talent Acquisition Manager.

Amy spoke about why it’s important to make the consumer happy and satisfied. She spoke about the customer experience goals that Enterprise values. Enterprise made the goal to provide a completely satisfied customer. Enterprise does this by using a service quality index (SQi). The SQi index shows different metrics that Enterprise employees need to focus on to ensure that their customers are getting the best service possible. Amy also spoke about how social media plays a major role in the consumer experience. Reviews have become an important indicator for a consumer to decide whether or not to use a business. If a business has a positive review, 72% of customers will trust that business more. If a negative review were to come out, 86% of customers would hesitate to make any purchases. Overall, the consumer experience is the backbone of ensuring you have a good business. Thank you to Amy for coming and speaking to our Retail Seminar, this presentation allowed students to learn more about consumers and how they decide which businesses to use.

Navigating Change in the Digital Era of Retail

Morgan Felt came and spoke last week at the Retail Seminar. Morgan graduated from UF and has been working for Lowes for two years. During her time at UF, she was an intern at Lowes and accepted a full-time offer upon graduation. She works as a UX researcher and helps make the online and in-store experience seamless for customers.

She discusses how Lowes navigated the change in the digital era of retail. Lowes was able to adapt their strategies after COVID-19 and worked on different ways to make the consumer experience better. They started curbside pickup and increased their self-checkout sections within stores.

Lowes also increased their omnichannel experiences for customers. Customers can now personalize and customize different projects online using an intuitive experience and different customer preference quizzes. They took customization one step further with the Lowes Holoroom. Customers could use a VR headset to see what their project would look like in 3D. Customers were able to see different paints, appliances, and finishes. Lowes worked with Google to create Google Cardboard. These allowed customers to stop taking their finished VR projects home, so they continue to look at their designs.

Morgan helped show what it means to create a seamless transition in the digital and in-person shopping experience and how Lowes is an innovator in the industry.