Retail staffing challenges? Why VIBA is the answer.

• T-ROC Staff
• Mar 22, 2022
• 2 mins read

Over the past two years, brick-and-mortar retailers have faced myriad challenges—everything from inventory shortages to shipping delays, but staffing remains at the top of the list. Even before the pandemic, making, sure enough, associates were on the floor to cover all departments was a constant balancing act. What’s heightened the labor challenge is that omnichannel retail has transformed both the online and brick-and-mortar customer experience. The customer journey—and their expectations—has changed. Most consumers have already extensively researched products online, but once they’ve narrowed their choices down, they have questions. Whether online or in-person, customers want a live person they can talk to face-to-face.

From a category perspective, for brick-and-mortar retailers, there are always departments that are typically understaffed. Add the current staffing crunch to that situation, and it becomes clear that retailers need a better solution on how to staff the understaffed departments efficiently. That’s where TROC’s VIBA comes in. VIBA stands for Virtual Interactive Brand Ambassador, and it can be configured as a freestanding totem that instantly connects customers with a virtual bot and a live sales agent via a digital display. The VIBA in-store customer engagement solution combines artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) bots along with real-time access to a live person who can answer questions, offer advice, display high-definition content such as videos or images to customers, and even point them to the products they need for sale in the store or on the retailer’s website.

VIBA can give retailers an edge over their competitors who can only offer one-to-one coverage—VIBA’s live agent, also known as the virtual brand ambassador, can effortlessly handle multiple products at up to 10 different stores at one time. If there’s an overflow of customers, it will direct the shopper to another available brand ambassador so there’s always an expert readily available to provide immediate assistance on-demand.

Whether it’s e-bikes, HDTVs, automotive supplies, or hardware—if there’s a category that was understaffed, VIBA retailers can be staffed with trained experts across categories and products. It enables retailers to become category leaders and “explainers” on key brands and cover multiple locations. To find out more about how VIBA can help brick-and-mortar retailers solve staffing challenges, get in touch with Debby Hoover, Vice President, Business Development at T-ROC, [email protected]