Sidestepping Mercurial Economic Headwinds to Innovate in the North American Retail Contact Center Sector

Contact Center Growth Opportunities in North American Retail

Along with healthcare, retail was one of the industries most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced rapid change and innovation because retail goods and services are often necessities in peoples' lives, not nice-to-haves as seen in the travel and hospitality sectors, for example. In some of these verticals, customers slowed down or stopped investing entirely. In contrast, the retail sector saw big swings in customer engagement, depending on channel type. Customers abandoned in-store for online shopping. In-store personnel had to accommodate new rules and regulations to keep shoppers safe.

As pandemic fears lessened, the retail sector faced poor economic conditions (slide 9), including Federal rate hikes, glimmers of a possible recession, and multiple geopolitical upheavals. Solid economic reports, a rise in the stock market, and higher employment rates offset the challenges, creating swings in consumer sentiment and purchasing behavior. These combined factors changed how the industry uses traditional consumer preferences, spending data, and forecasting models to make decisions.

Frost & Sullivan's 2024 Global Contact Center Survey of 758 contact center stakeholders, conducted in January 2024, finds that 91% of respondents consider sustainability "very important to crucial." Security has also risen in priority. A resounding 95% of survey respondents answer that it is "important, very important, or crucial" to increase investments in security.

The primary goals of this research are to establish the size of corporate budgets for purchasing channels, applications, and solutions in the contact center environment and to understand purchase trends. It also investigates the factors that influence product selection.

Frost & Sullivan surveyed decision-makers and purchase decision influencers of contact centers across business functions including chief experience officers (CXOs), managing directors, owners, senior management, and middle management, among others.

Countries include Australia/New Zealand, Brazil, Germany, India, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.