Nicole Buimer

To be omnichannel means using multiple channels to create a single user experience, but it’s really just a different way of saying that customers should have options for how they do business with you. When it comes down to it, customers want brands to meet them where they’re at and tailor their communications in a way that best works for the customer.

In short? Omnichannel service is key to a great customer experience—and it’s what customers have come to expect today based on their personal interactions.

One company that has figured this out is Nordstrom—no big surprise considering the retailer is known for its above-and-beyond customer service. A big key to their success comes from empowered employees. In fact, the Nordstrom employee handbook has only one rule when it comes to providing outstanding customer service: “Use good judgment in all situations.”

The retailer is legendary for the lengths it will go to make customers happy. There’s a famous story from a few decades back about a man who wanted to return some tires, but the tire shop had closed, and he walked into the Nordstrom that was in its place. Instead of explaining the department store concept and the lack of a tire department, they simply said “OK” and took back the tires anyway.

These days, Nordstrom is leading the way in omnichannel, offering seamless experiences across devices and channels. From bill pay to ecommerce to free style advice in-store, on the website or in the app, the retailer maintains its focus on making things easy for their customers. And customers reward them with repeat sales and resounding loyalty.

As a CX leader, I believe there are three main pillars of any omnichannel strategy that apply no matter what you sell and who you sell to, be it B2C or B2B: personalization, fulfillment and collaborating together for success.

Shell Polymers: Taking Inspiration from Nordstrom

A key part of Nordstrom’s success is their commitment to building hyper-personalized experiences—and that’s the part that really inspires us at Shell Polymers. We want to build real, trusted relationships with converters from first contact to every reorder.

As we prepare to enter the polyethylene space, Shell Polymers’ goal is to truly deliver a better experience in the polyethylene industry—taking advantage of innovation and technology to deliver an omnichannel experience unmatched by others in the industry.

Personalization

At Shell Polymers, personalized experience means our people team up to help your business succeed. Our industry experts across sales, tech services and customer relationship coordinators (CRCs) are constantly in communication and can collaborate to move your business forward.

Every interaction is personalized to the converter, not unlike Nordstrom’s Trunk Club with dedicated reps who learn more about your likes and needs over time. Our account team members monitor the customer’s account and can proactively elevate any issues and a corresponding solution.

Nordstrom provides support in a myriad of ways to let the customer choose what works best for them. In the same vein, we enable multiple ways and easy access for customers to connect with their account team members. For example, as a customer, you might prefer to be contacted by email, phone call or even receive alerts via our customer hub, and we want to know what suits you best to allow for a more tailored approach that meets both your needs and preferences.

Our account team members aren’t the only ones armed with information. Every Shell Polymers customer has access to our customer hub, which is designed to make Shell Polymers easy to do business with. We aim to simplify sometimes complicated processes, such as onboarding and reordering. Our future plans include utilizing even more modern technologies, like AI, to offer predictive analytics to help converters run their business.

We may not have a shoe department like Nordstrom (who does, really?), but we are making sure that we can offer the same personalized service to our customers. In fact, there are more resources and expertise for customers to leverage across our broader Shell network.

Delivering on Promises: Fulfillment

Fulfillment may be even more important in the omnichannel experience, and that’s why Shell Polymers chose to locate our polyethylene plant in Monaca, PA, within 700 miles of the majority of North American polyethylene buyers to deliver reliable supply. Once you place an order, your dedicated account team begins following its journey to keep you in-the-know and gives you transparency and access to locate shipments directly in our customer hub.

In addition to reliable supply, we are committed to delivering high-quality and consistent product to our customers. One way we conduct quality control is through our on-site analytical lab. Here, we ensure our finished product is on specification by analyzing the properties of the ingredients that go into a product, the product streams mid-production, and the final resin.

This results in supply that you can count on to meet your stringent guidelines and expectations.

Collaborating Together for Success

We’re not a polymer supplier who will gladly take your order, fulfill it and move on. After monitoring shipment and delivery, the Shell Polymers account team stays in touch—according to the customer’s preferences, of course—to both help converters use and succeed with our products and continue improving our customer experience.

We have spent a lot of time talking to converters about what they need in a supplier, and we found that they mostly want to feel heard and valued, regardless of their business size or location.

Nordstrom is legendary for putting the customer first, no matter what. At Shell Polymers, we’re listening and striving for an unrivaled customer experience, because we believe that our success stems from the success of every customer we do business with.

If you’re a converter interested in finding out more about our new ways of working, we would love to hear from you. Send Shell Polymers an email at polymers@shell.com to get in touch.

Note: Shell Polymers does not endorse, sponsor, or evaluate the services provided by any third-party companies mentioned in this advertisement. Shell Polymers does not have a business relationship with such third-party companies and any mention of third-party companies is done on an opinion-only basis.