Nordstrom sets the standard for customer experience. Again and again.

Sr. Director, Content Strategy
Retail Gets Real is sponsored by:

Nordstrom has long been recognized for its customer service. Building that legacy and brand association over decades is an impressive feat — but what stands out even more is how the company continues to not just set the standard for experience but raise it again and again in an industry that is constantly being disrupted.

Earlier this year at NRF 2019: Retail’s Big Show, Shea Jensen, senior vice president of customer experience for Nordstrom and honored as a “Disruptor” on The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future 2019, sat down with the Retail Gets Real team to share how Nordstrom approaches innovation around the customer experience.

While Nordstrom may be known traditionally for its stores, today that national store infrastructure — and its associates — represent an incredibly valuable advantage that can be leveraged to serve customers however and whenever they like. “I think what we hear from our customers is there is not a channel-based customer. There are just customers. And so that is really our approach. We don’t have a channel-based approach. We just have a customer approach,” Jensen says. “We’re focused on serving customers, not as a store, not as a website, but as a retailer in the local market that they’re living.”

Listen and subscribe

Don’t miss an episode: Subscribe to Retail Gets Real via Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify or Stitcher.

Wowing customers with exceptional service today takes constant innovation. The new Nordstrom Men’s store in New York City focuses on the needs of the busy New Yorker, with new offerings around returns, tailoring and cross-channel shopping designed to enhance speed and convenience. Nordstrom continuously evaluates feedback from each product or feature launch, which Jensen says is the key to staying on top. “Testing and learning is really critical today. And we’ve learned that as important as delivering a great experience is delivering an experience that your customers want fast. The balance of speed versus perfection becomes important as you’re testing and learning.”

Jensen says another key to the Nordstrom formula is a constant focus on the customer. “The number one thing is customer centricity. All too often, folks in business today get focused on an outcome. I think, at Nordstrom, we really take all things back to the customer.” That focus helps leaders avoid simply chasing the latest technology or retail trend.

Listen to the full episode to learn more about Jensen’s take on the role of the store in retail today, balancing speed and convenience and focusing in a disruptive world.

Latest from the podcast

Laying the foundation for modern resale with ThredUp
 
Retail Gets Real episode 354: ThredUp co-founder and CEO James Reinhart on the outlook for the secondhand industry.
Read more
How customer-facing AI will energize retail’s future
 
Retail Gets Real episode 353: Futurist Kate Ancketill shares insights on empathic AI and its potential impact on retail.
Read more
DE&I as a state of success — not a checkbox
 
Retail Gets Real episode 352: Burlington Stores’s Mecca Mitchell on the power of leading with passion and authenticity.
Read more
The think tank for retail industry talent leaders
 
Retail Gets Real Episode 351: Adam Lukoskie discusses talent acquisition trends and the growth of NRF’s TAG.
Read more
Comfort, collaboration and imaginative innovation at Crocs
 
Retail Gets Real episode 350: CMO Heidi Cooley on the strategies behind Crocs’ emergence as a pop culture powerhouse.
Read more
How Arc’teryx is reaching new heights while staying loyal to its core customers
 
Retail Gets Real episode 349: CEO Stuart Haselden talks about transformation, authenticity and leadership.
Read more