Let’s start with a definition of confer with…..
Everybody knows the term. It might conjure up visions of judges conferring about a result in the olympics, experts discussing an issue to get some form of clarification.
The Cambridge dictionary has the following definition:
- To exchange ideas on a particular subject, often in order to reach a decision on what action to take
- To talk together and exchange ideas, often with the intention of reaching a decision about something
So a the end of the day, its about working together to make a decision.
How to confer with someone in retail
What is confer with in a retail context? well in retail, if a customer wants to find out about a product, they are likely to confer with an instore expert. If the instore expert is trustworthy enough, the customer is likely to want to rely on the information that they are given. They will have specific needs and the best retail attendants will respond to those needs – both verbal and non-verbal to make sure they get the right product.
How do you consult with a retail expert online?
Up until now, the limit of dialogue you have with an expert is through chat interfaces. In reality, those interfaces are attended by people in call centres – trained using tools that help them scale. In many instances, you are likely only dealing with a chat bot – a trained piece of AI that responds to keywords in your chat text. Maybe, just maybe we can do better than that.
There are new ways a customer can consult with experts online. We are building a product to help high value retailers work with customers to assist buying decisions by facilitating a rich, human interaction between retail staff and customers when at a distance
We give the opportunity for consumers to confer with experts in store to aid their buying decisions.