Last updated : August 01, 2025 4:06 pm
“We’re here to help brands make every store visit consistent, meaningful, and unforgettable, so they can stand out and retain customers,” says Gurpal Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Startek, as he shares with Retail4Growth how physical retail is evolving through smart tech, real-time insights, and a people-first approach.
1. How does Startek define customer experience management in the offline/physical retail space?
At Startek, we see customer experience in physical retail as a blend of intuition, empathy, and technology. While digital touchpoints are growing, the human connection that happens in-store still plays a powerful role in shaping brand loyalty. CX management in this space is about making sure each person who walks into a store feels recognized, understood, and valued.
That means giving store associates the tools and data they need—real-time insights, past preferences, customer sentiment—so they can truly personalize each interaction. We bring together AI and human support in a way that allows retail teams to act with agility and empathy. Our goal is simple: to help brands turn every in-store interaction into a memorable experience.
2. Can you share a broad overview of your retail clientele?
We partner with a wide range of retail clients—from iconic global brands with thousands of stores to fast-growing startups entering new markets. They come from categories like fashion, electronics, personal care, home décor, and lifestyle.
What they all have in common is a desire to create consistent, engaging customer experiences, whether someone is browsing online or walking into a store. We help them bridge that gap. Many of these retailers operate across geographies, so we bring in our multilingual teams and local expertise to deliver support that feels personal, no matter where the customer is.
3. What are the top pain points of brick-and-mortar retail clients that Startek addresses with its solutions? Any case study that can be shared?
Brick-and-mortar retailers are navigating a complex landscape where high customer expectations must be met with limited in-store resources. Some of the most common challenges we see include:
● Lack of visibility across the customer journey: Store associates often operate without real-time access to customer history, preferences, or sentiment, making personalization difficult.
● Inconsistent service delivery across locations: Retailers struggle to maintain uniform CX standards across geographies.
● Delayed feedback loops: Without immediate insights, it’s hard for managers to intervene and improve service in real time.
● Siloed systems: POS, CRM, and inventory platforms often don’t integrate, leading to operational inefficiencies.
At Startek, we help retailers solve these issues through our AI-powered, omnichannel CX solutions. Our approach brings together real-time analytics, sentiment detection, and hybrid agent-assist tools to enable more proactive and empathetic customer engagement.
One impactful case comes from a leading global electronics retailer we partnered with. They had high foot traffic but lacked the insight to personalize in-store experiences or respond quickly to service issues. Startek deployed a unified customer engagement platform powered by real-time data integration and sentiment analytics. Within 90 days, the retailer achieved:
● A 15% improvement in Net Promoter Score (NPS)
● A 20% reduction in average response time
● A 12% increase in issue resolution on first contact
These improvements weren’t just operational—they translated into stronger customer loyalty, higher associate confidence, and more consistent service delivery across locations.
4. How do you define your USP and also the ROI for your retail clients with your solutions? At Startek, our unique value lies in our ability to fuse the speed and intelligence of AI with the emotional intelligence of people. This is at the heart of our digital-first, people-centric