Customer-Centricity Becoming More Important in Times of Adversity

HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 9 July 2020 -Creating a seamless, consistent customer experience across physical & digital space is more important than ever as online shopping prevails. Recognising local organisations which demonstrate excellence in consumer care, the 9^thGS1 Hong Kong's "Consumer Caring Scheme" awarded 93 local enterprises for delivering their service promise. A total of 46 companies won the "Consumer Caring 5 years+" and "5 years" Award, showing their commitment to consumer care for 5 years or more in a row.

Consumers' online spending has become all time high today. As companies are placing greater emphasis in expanding their omni-channel offerings, they are also striving to meet or even exceed their service promise for convenience, value and experience. According to the survey report "Tapping Into Smart Retail" jointly published by GS1 HK and KPMG, 45 percent of C-level executives rank strengthening the customer journey as the top priority, showing that businesses are betting on better user experience as a way to retain customers, especially those from online, who are price sensitive and have an ever-increasing choice of e-commerce providers.

"As more consumers are shopping across multiple channels, commerce can mean everything from a store, a smart kiosk, a website to an app, which has made it more difficult for companies to maintain consistency and fulfilling customers' demands. Only by continuous improvement in operation efficiency and fulfilling commitment by delivering excellent services, can a company differentiate itself from today's cut-throat business environment." said Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 Hong Kong.

Consumer Caring Companies are those which can keep their pledge to offering the finest customer journey. Judged based on seven core consumer caring values, including consumer care, sincerity, commitment, product quality and safety assurance, service quality, understanding consumer behaviours and caring for employees, the winners are evaluated through on-site visits and consumer survey, in accordance to the internationally-acclaimed scorecard based on the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). This year's winners have all showed the effective use of international standards, information technology, and the optimisation of operation management to improve business processes to enhance consumer satisfaction. (Please refer to the Appendix for details)

"Congratulations to the winners who have successfully uphold the motto of 'consumers first', they are all role models of the industries in driving product and service enhancement, bringing benefits to both brands and consumers," said Anna. "No matter what channels your business use to engage customers, exceptional customer experience always champions in the end."

For details, please refer to our website: https://www.gs1hk.org/industry-recognition/consumer-caring-scheme/overview.

Appendix

List of recognised companies of Consumer Caring Scheme 2019

(in alphabetical order by brand or company name)