One of Australia’s biggest retailers once experienced a problem common to the industry – how to keep customers informed of changes to its opening hours over the busy (and important) Christmas trading period.

Traditionally, the retailer had listed its opening hours within its regular home-delivered catalogue. However, with a large number of stores across Australia, the amount of space required and the number of variations to the catalogue was becoming very difficult to manage.

ITeMGroup developed a simple system which allowed the retailer’s customers to find the location and opening hours of their nearest store by calling a dedicated 13 number, and entering their postcode through the telephone keypad. Once the customer keys in a postcode, they are presented with the three stores nearest to them. After selecting a store, the customer can then hear the store trading hours for that day and the following day. It is also possible to key in a future date, if required.

When the system was first launched, it logged over 50,000 calls in the six weeks prior to Christmas. Currently, the number of calls still averages 4-5000 per month.

The retailer now simply prints the telephone number on their catalogue, rather than a long list of store locations and opening hours. Through implementing this system, the retailer has improved service to its customers while simplifying the design and message of its regular printed catalogues.