Whirlpool’s customer-centric strategy with VTEX technology

New York, April 17, 2023 – Whirlpool, the world’s leading home appliance company, operates five proprietary sales channels: Whirlpool, Kitchenaid, Ariston, Eslabón de Lujo, and Compra Cierta. Whirlpool’s success case with VTEX was built on understanding consumer needs and using customer service technology. 

“During this improvement process, it was essential to understand the consumers’ choices throughout their buying journey. Therefore, our strategy focused on gathering real-time information about the ecommerce world and users’ needs while nurturing end-to-end relationships with consumers by creating value in every interaction with the brand,” explained Juan Etcheverry, VTEX General Manager for Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

“The challenge was to design a customer-centric solution. Nothing is linear in online shopping; consumers come and go, iterate and move forward at every stage,” he added. 

Amid this complex scenario, the first step was to integrate the required technology for the brand to recognize individual customer journeys and appropriately map their interactions. 

During the second phase, they integrated tools to automate the journey, reduce the difficulties, and generate solutions adapted to each scenario. All actions aimed to improve the customer’s experience and establish a more satisfactory and lasting mutual relationship. 

A staggered solution

Whirlpool’s success case with VTEX began with its strategy to optimize the customer journey and provide excellent customer service. The solution was organized into several work stages to offer the same experience in all customer contact channels.

 “Awareness” was the first stage, and it focused on approaching consumers through social media and opening two-way communication channels. The brand encouraged interaction with a dynamic and entertaining approach and supported it with a solid CX strategy through its online consultants.

An immersive multichannel strategy was designed in the “Consideration” stage to break the on-off and blur the boundaries between the screen and the object placement with high-resolution product images, videos, 3D assets, and augmented reality. In addition, the brand also activated virtual reality (VR) at their POS so consumers could experience the same look and feel shopping process on the website just by using tablets.

In the “Shopping” stage, implementing VTEX’s Personal Shopper—a personalized and 1-to-1 evolution of Live Shopping—was the high point. This tool allows consumers to contact  an online consultant through a video call, see the product live, and clear any doubts they may have right on the spot. This refined customer service experience resulted in higher levels of customer satisfaction and translated into a higher NPS score. 

“Since it is a native VTEX tool, the online consultant can showcase the product and add it to the cart with one click. Consequently, the time to checkout is extremely short,” emphasizes Brenda Di Fabrizio, sr. manager D2C at Whirlpool Lar South.

Besides this innovative tool, Whirlpool implemented an online chat and a WhatsApp number to optimize its customer service channels and improve queries’ dynamics and agility.

In the “Post-purchase” stage, Whirlpool focused on building consumer loyalty by developing relevant content on its products’ use. Based on each stage of the product’s life cycle, the brand now shares information on how to use a product correctly, as well as warranty and maintenance details. That is how, Whirlpool has been managing to regularly stay in contact with its customers, strengthening brand loyalty and increasing satisfaction with the value offered.

Thanks to this strategy and the integration of new digital tools, Whirlpool significantly improved the customer experience throughout their journey by offering excellent customer service and achieving a higher level of brand loyalty. The initiative’s success can be seen in the results: a significant participation rate in sales (about 25%), a fast response time (under 5 minutes in all 55 customer service channels assisted by online consultants), and more significant process automation, with more than 50 fully automated applications.

DISCLAIMER: Source of information: Business Capsule EDay Argentina 2022 developed by the eCommerce Institute and the Cámara Argentina de Comercio Electrónico, CACE.

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About VTEX

VTEX (NYSE: VTEX) is the global enterprise digital commerce platform where brands and retailers run their world of commerce. VTEX puts its customers’ businesses on a fast path to growth with a complete commerce, marketplace, and OMS solution. VTEX helps global companies build, manage, and deliver native and advanced B2B, B2C, and marketplace commerce experiences with unprecedented time to market and without complexity.

As a leader in digital commerce platforms, VTEX is trusted by more than 2,600 customers, including Carrefour, Colgate, Motorola, Sony, Stanley Black & Decker, and Whirlpool, having over 3,400 active online stores across 38 countries (as of FY ended on December 31, 2022). For more information, visit vtex.com.