Innovative devices help transform the retailer's customer-service model,
expand associate knowledge, enhance the guest experience and make it easier
to shop in stores.
REDMOND, Wash. and RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Microsoft Corp. and Circuit City Stores Inc. today announced that select
Circuit City stores are empowering their sales associates with Tablet PCs
running a custom Windows-based application to help them offer a more
knowledgeable, consistent experience that builds consumer confidence and
loyalty.
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Called the Enhanced Digital Guide Experience (EDGE), Circuit City's new
mobile devices can speed the sales process by providing associates with
immediate access to product recommendations, demos, usage questions,
competitive pricing and more for thousands of items across hundreds of
categories. EDGE is helping transform the retailer's customer-service model
in new-format stores known as the city(TM) by enabling any available
associate to sell or discuss any product with any guest using a boundless
selling approach to consumer electronics.
"With EDGE, sales associates can engage the guest, ask questions and
input feedback for product recommendations that match the guest's
preferences and budget," said Brian Leach, vice president of new concepts
for Circuit City. "Because EDGE puts a wealth of information at our
associates' fingertips, we can hire from a broader talent pool and prepare
them for the sales floor more quickly."
"With consumer electronics products being upgraded as often as every 90
days, retailers are pressured to stay on top of all the latest trends while
at the same time ensuring competitive pricing, clean stores and
well-stocked shelves," said David Gruehn, U.S. retail industry director at
Microsoft. "By using a Tablet PC running a Windows-based application such
as EDGE to elevate sales associates' knowledge and effectiveness, Circuit
City is differentiating itself from other retailers and tackling a key
issue that all retailers face: how to increase customer loyalty and sales
with a frequently evolving workforce."
"What started as a selling tool turned into something that has removed
boundaries from our service model and changed the way that we run our
business," Leach said.
Circuit City Innovates Stores With Interactive, Assisted Selling
Capabilities
Circuit City teamed with Microsoft and its partners to design EDGE to
extract product information, inventory data, in-store promotions,
third-party reviews, and other information over the Internet and from
multiple back-end business systems. Once the information is extracted, EDGE
is then optimized with decision-support intelligence and a friendly user
interface.
"Working with Microsoft was critical to getting us moving with this
concept," said Dave Romero, senior manager of new concepts for Circuit
City. "We knew we had to create a more consistent approach to how we
engaged guests in our stores, and Microsoft had the insight to show us
where the industry was heading and provided knowledge and resources to move
us in that direction."
After two years of testing, learning and iterating in multiple markets,
Circuit City has begun to use Tablet PCs running the EDGE application in
all of its new-format stores and is seeing encouraging results:
-- Boosts store associate confidence, credibility and versatility. With
Circuit City's vast product line, sales associates sometimes shrank from
guest encounters because they were not always confident of the answer. EDGE
gives them what they need to sell or discuss any product in the store as
well as any product on circuitcity.com because the mobile tool integrates
online content for a seamless multichannel experience.
-- Allows for more satisfying guest experiences with every visit.
Guests receive a more consistent experience when they interact with EDGE,
which helps to improve the overall perception that the city is a unique and
differentiated place to shop for consumer electronics.
-- Complements the new-hiring strategy in the city store format. the
city has been able to expand its hiring pool and can now seek friendly
associates with strong team-building and communication skills rather than
searching exclusively for highly technical associates.
-- Influences future growth of the company. the city store format
incorporates a number of new elements influenced by EDGE, including a more
innovative store layout and easy-to-use technology to help guests make
smarter buying decisions.
Microsoft technologies behind EDGE include Windows XP Professional
Tablet Edition, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server Express,
Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework.
About Circuit City Stores Inc.
Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) is a leading specialty retailer of
consumer electronics and related services. The domestic segment operates
through 700 Superstores and nine outlet locations in 158 U.S. markets. The
international segment operates through approximately 800 retail stores and
dealer outlets in Canada. Circuit City also operates Web sites at
http://www.circuitcity.com, http://www.thesource.ca and
http://www.firedog.com.
About Microsoft in Retail
Microsoft's U.S. Retail Industry Group provides software that helps
empower retail's biggest assets -- its people -- to make better decisions
at every stage of the value chain. Microsoft software helps enable retail
employees to strengthen customer relationships, build high-value business
connections and improve operations by addressing key areas such as store
systems, real-time analytics and supply chain management. Through a
combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions, retail customers
enable their employees to deliver an outstanding customer experience across
various channels by turning data into insight, transforming ideas into
action and turning change into opportunity. More information about
Microsoft's work in the Retail industry can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/retail.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
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