IT leaders have a very important job : to make the Retail Frontline Enablement.
There have been a lot of changes in retail service in the last few years. There is more to store employees than just ringing up sales at the register. Today, they are working with the fulfilment or support teams, handling online order pickups, processing returns, and checking inventory at multiple locations, all while helping customers who are physically present on the floor.
Even with these digital changes, customers still call when they need help right away, especially when things are busy. They still think it’s the best way to get in touch with someone quickly.
Not only are customers changing. The operational burden on frontline teams has grown, showing how much more difficult it is to adapt old systems to modern retail workflows.
When Retail Expectations Don’t Work
For many brands, the front line is where digital promises either work or don’t work. “Click-and-collect,” “seamless returns,” and “rapid fulfilment” are all great ideas that come up in strategy meetings. But for them to work, store teams need to have the right information and know who to call when something goes wrong.
This was the main point of NRF 2026. People often called the physical store the “new last mile” of retail, which is where what people expect from online shopping and what they get in real life meet. It’s not that people don’t want to do it. It’s about whether workers on the front lines can see how things are done, get help right away, and keep going when there are more requests or exceptions.
At the same time, a lot of teams still use tools that were made for a simpler time. People often talk to customers over shared landlines, hunt groups, or simple call routing. These setups make sure that someone eventually answers the phone, but they don’t help with the hard job of taking care of both in-store customers and urgent service requests from far away.
When routing isn’t enough
From an IT point of view, this is where the problems start to show.
Standard call routing only tells you where to send the call. But it doesn’t say who can help, how urgent the request is, or if another department would be better able to help. When these things aren’t clear, calls are sent to the wrong person, and customers have to tell their stories again.
Metrigy’s research on consumers shows how this friction works. 64% of customers say they are transferred at least half the time to fix a problem, and 68% say they have to repeat information most of the time. The staff isn’t to blame for this rising “customer effort” score. It means that the backend architecture isn’t ready to handle how service flows between retail businesses right now.
It’s easy to see how this will affect IT teams in the future. Managers ask for special exceptions. Staff finds ways to get around rules that aren’t allowed. Apps for consumers creep into the workflow to fill in the gaps. Because of this, visibility goes away at the worst possible time, when demand is highest and data-driven decisions are most important.
Why IT Should Care About Enabling the Frontline
People often think of giving power to the front line as a Customer Experience (CX) project. But for retail IT leaders, it’s also something they have to do for business.
It’s hard to see the big picture when customer interactions happen in different tools. Where are the problems happening? Where are the most people? What are you doing to deal with the busiest times? IT teams can only fix problems after they happen if they don’t have this information.
There is also a big risk. It’s hard to manage when store workers use their own phones or messaging apps that aren’t managed to do their jobs. IT has to deal with security or compliance issues that can quickly arise from a useful workaround.
Finally, there’s the issue of size. Demand in retail is always changing. It’s normal for sales to go up and down, for there to be busy times of year, and for there to be unexpected spikes. You need a clear, real-time view of demand, not an analysis of what went wrong after the rush is over, to help the front line during these times.
Customers Notice the Change Right Away
People who shop don’t care about how things work behind the scenes. They just have to be patient. They can feel the friction of transfers. They remember how annoying it was to have to explain the same thing twice.
People still want to use phones in stores, but they don’t trust digital channels. People call because they think it’s the fastest way to get help. When that expectation isn’t met, trust quickly goes away and is hard to get back.
However, things are different when frontline teams can see things more clearly and know how to get in touch with the right experts. Quick fixes for problems. People who work in stores pay attention to the customers who are there. The whole service area feels organised and professional, even when it’s busy.
Going Beyond Simple Call Queues
Basic call queues have been helpful in stores for a long time. This usually means shared lines or hunt groups that ring in more than one department. These settings only make sure that calls are answered.
Now, service in stores is spread out. There are physical stores, expert teams, and back-office hubs. To make this happen, we need a stronger base that gives frontline teams clarity and confidence and IT the visibility and control it needs to grow.
This isn’t about throwing away everything that works. It’s about knowing when basic routing stops working and when modern retail service needs a more planned and smart approach behind the scenes.
