Foot Locker analyzes customer feedback with AI
Foot Locker is using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve customer experiences.
The athletic footwear and apparel retailer is unifying its various streams of customer feedback data for enhanced analysis with artificial intelligence. In an email to Chain Store Age, Foot Locker said it is applying AI-based natural language processing (NLP) and text analytics technology to better understand and react to the customer feedback data it collects via channels that include email, call center, surveys and social media.
To collect, analyze and visualize that data, Foot Locker has traditionally used multiple SaaS-based data analytics vendors, depending on where the data is stored. And while the retailer has always maintained an active customer experience program, it has faced numerous challenges with its analytics. These included an inability to automatically categorize documents using a common taxonomy, inability to have a uniform view of feedback data coming from disparate sources, collection of unusable/inaccessible data, and lack of visibility into how its systems were generating analytical results.
To help address these challenges, Foot Locker has deployed the InMoment Spotlight web-based business intelligence application for analyzing text-based feedback. Using this solution, the retailer can now combine all support and feedback streams into one place and has a single source of information that enables uniform analytics.
In addition, Foot Locker has been able to replace its previously manual process for categorizing customer inquiries, which was time-consuming and error-prone, with a universal taxonomy across all of its data sources. This enables the retailer to capture key data categories, such as complaints, topics, themes, sentiment, and intentions, and track them over time.
Foot Locker also now has visibility into how it analyzes content and can modify its text analytics to meet changing data needs. For example, the chain modified its tagging process on the spot to remove the phrase "wait in queue" from a query, which solved a common problem of including unnecessary boilerplate data.
Furthermore, Foot Locker can now pinpoint specific customers who have had negative experiences and proactively reach out to them, with all personal identifiable information (PII) removed to protect consumer privacy.
“The value this AI-powered, NLP solution is already delivering is undeniable,” a Foot Locker spokesperson said in the email. “It has broken down data silos previously created by funneling all feedback through a single source, allowing uniform analysis over time; freed up customer support hours; offered an explainable, quickly configurable system; and made it easier to identify and rectify negative experiences to reduce churn and improve the bottom line.”
Foot Locker is implementing this new AI-based customer experience solution on the heels of a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2023 that saw falling sales and earnings that missed Street estimates. As part of a new “Lace Up” plan, the company is closing underperforming stores, shifting to off-mall locations and opening new formats.
As of April 29, 2023, New York City-based Foot Locker operated 2,692 stores in 29 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, 163 franchised stores were operating in the Middle East and Asia.