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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ulta's 45 million loyalty members will drive its personalization plans
This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Ulta Beauty plans to better personalize its digital experience as the company prepares to navigate economic uncertainty, executives said on a Q1 2025 earnings call Thursday. The beauty retailer is expanding its automation and real-time content delivery capabilities across key digital channels, according to President and CEO Kecia Steelman. Ulta's loyalty program, which grew its membership 3% year over year to 45 million in the first quarter of 2025, will drive this effort, according to Steelman. 'Again, it's really taking our deep knowledge and understanding of our loyalty member base and elevating that personalization, that connectivity and communicating with them in the ways that they best feel suited,' she said on the call. Ulta Beauty wants to focus on the aspects of the business it can control, including customer experience, as it works to retain and attract customers amid economic uncertainty and increasing competition in the beauty space. 'I would just say beauty and wellness is what we do,' Steelman said. 'And when a lot of other players are trying to come into this space, this is where we are the experts. We have a leading loyalty program. Our omnichannel offering is anchored in that human connection, that in-store and that powerful digital connection — that combo really does set us apart.' Ulta's upcoming omnichannel investments will build on recently launched app features. Split Cart lets customers divide orders between multiple fulfillment methods, while Shop My Store offers users real-time visibility into store assortment and visibility. More than 60% of e-commerce sales are made through the app, according to Steelman. However, the company is exploring ways to enhance the digital experience beyond the app alone. 'We're accelerating our capabilities to deepen guest connection and drive performance,' Steelman said. 'We've expanded automation and real-time content delivery across key digital channels, allowing us to respond faster, personalize at scale and enhance the overall guest experience.' While digital is a focus, stores still account for 80% of Ulta's sales, according to Steelman. The retailer won't leave the in-store experience behind, and it's putting an emphasis on better in-stock rates. Ulta also increased the number of payroll hours in its stores in its latest quarter, according to Steelman. While this was a significant expense for the company, the additional worker hours paid off as the brand recovers from a downturn last year. 'We're just doubling down and making sure that we're giving the very best guest experience that we can in our stores, making sure that we have great marketing campaigns to drive the traffic into the store, and making sure that we have the products for the guests when they're coming in and giving a great guest experience,' Steelman said. Ulta's investments helped it achieve a solid quarter. Comparable sales rose 2.9% year over year in the first quarter of 2025, according to a company earnings report. Net sales rose 4.5% to $2.8 billion. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Best Buy wants AI to offer customers fewer — but more relevant — search results
This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Best Buy will roll out an AI-powered search experience across its website and app in the coming year for customers and employees, executives said on a Q1 2026 earnings call Thursday. The updated search engine uses AI prompts to guide customers to more specific searches, according to CEO Corie Barry. The experience is designed to produce fewer but higher-quality results that offer more information and better reflect customer intent. The electronics retailer will update the in-store shopping experience as well. Plans range from special experiences for the Switch 2 console product launch to department-based training for associates. Offering Best Buy customers a great experience creates opportunities for incremental profit streams across the business, according to Barry. While the electronic retailer's performance has been improving as CX initiatives roll out, the company was unable to maintain its return to sales growth as it had in the fourth quarter of 2025. Comparable sales fell 0.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, according to a company earnings report. Revenue was down 0.9% year over year to nearly $8.8 billion, but domestic online sales were a bright spot — up 2.1% year over year. About 3 in 5 Best Buy customers visit Best Buy's digital platforms at some part of their shopping journey, and the channel accounts for one-third of domestic revenue transacted, according to Barry. This is in line with what Barry reported in fourth quarter 2025. Best Buy's third-party marketplace, which is slated to launch in the summer, could take advantage of this strong digital baseline. 'We believe our marketplace launch is even more important in this environment as it provides ultimate flexibility in product assortments, price points, vendors and SKUs,' Barry said during the call. 'We can offer customers the broadest and most relevant experience possible, particularly when combined with our upgraded search capability.' The company will enhance the post-purchase experience for its third-party marketplace by letting customers choose between returning products directly to the seller or through a Best Buy store, according to Barry. All products sold on the marketplace will honor Best Buy's return window. Even if digital is the focus, stores remain an integral part of Best Buy's business, and CX investments are paying off there as well. Best Buy will train its workers to improve their expertise. The company completed a program for major appliances associates in March, and it plans to do the same in July with home theater workers to ensure they are well-prepared to help customers. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Business leaders expect agentic AI to take over customer service
This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Agentic AI is expected to handle more than two-thirds of all customer service interactions with technology vendors by 2028, Cisco projected in a report released Tuesday. Cisco surveyed nearly 8,000 business and technical decision-makers across 30 countries. A vast majority of respondents — 93% — believe agentic AI will make customer service more personalized, proactive and predictive. Nearly 9 in 10 say agentic AI-led experiences will help their organizations reach their goals. 'With agentic AI reaching a new level of maturity, we're closer than ever to solving some of the most persistent customer pain points in enterprise environments,' Liz Centoni, EVP and chief customer experience officer at Cisco, said in a prepared statement. Business leaders are bullish on the potential of AI, but they aren't losing sight of the importance of human connection. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents believe that agentic AI needs to be combined with human empathy and connection to optimize the experience for customers. Three-quarters believe agentic AI as it now stands is unable to recreate human empathy. Businesses have very high hopes for AI, but there's also low trust, according to Jean-Francois Damais, global chief research officer at Ipsos. Business and tech decision-makers expect agentic AI to handle more than half — 56% — of customer interactions within the next year. But customers are skeptical and concerned about the impact AI will have on their experiences. Three-quarters of customers globally think that customer service is becoming too impersonal and too automated, according to a 2024 Ipsos global trends study. Another Ipsos survey released earlier this month found that 2 in 5 global consumers think companies will be the biggest benefactor of AI. Only 14% think customers will benefit the most. Transparency and putting the customer first is key to deploying AI, according to Damais. 'An implication for companies will be that they really need to be clear on the benefits that AI will provide, and they need to think about what AI will bring in terms of benefits to customers,' Damais said. 'Will AI really improve the experience, or is it just a way of cutting costs, or appearing to be modern in their delivery, because everyone is talking about AI and everyone wants to implement AI-driven processes?'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Intuit leans into AI to improve taxpayer experience, boost revenue
This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Intuit's AI-driven expert platform strategy is delivering an improved customer experience and drove 15% year-over-year revenue growth across the business, executives said during a Q3 2025 earnings call last week. AI was particularly impactful for customers using TurboTax this filing season, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said. The software directs customers to the right product to file taxes and reduces the time spent filing. 'With our investment in data, AI and AI-enabled human expertise, we are disrupting the assisted category with experiences that are resonating with customers across both consumer and business tax,' Goodarzi said. 'The exceptional results are fueled by strong execution of our strategy to win as an AI-driven expert platform by delivering the best experience, speed to money, and the best price for customers.' Intuit, the parent company to TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and Mailchimp, has gone all in on AI to improve customer experience and boost revenue. Intuit reported total revenue of $7.8 billion in third quarter 2025, according to an earnings report. The strong results led the software company to raise its guidance, including revenue, operating income and operating margin. Intuit expects consumer group revenue to grow 11% year over year to $4 billion for the full fiscal year, to be driven by TurboTax Live revenue. 'The strength across the company is driven by our global AI-driven expert platform strategy, powering prosperity for consumers, small and mid-market businesses, and accountants,' Goodarzi said. 'We're fueling the financial success of approximately 100 million customers by automating everyday tasks, managing complex workflows and processes, and solving challenges before they arise with predictive insights, and taking actions.' Intuit uses AI agents as well as AI-assisted human agents. TurboTax's AI-powered, mobile-first 'done-for-you' tax product drove a 12% reduction in the average time a customer spent filing. AI also helped human tax experts. For TurboTax's full-service offering, experts spent about 20% less time preparing a return, according to Goodarzi. 'Our data and AI platform capabilities had a profound impact on the productivity of our experts,' Goodarzi said. 'By doing a lot of the work for them and helping them finish returns quickly and accurately, they spent more time engaging and onboarding customers.' Intuit is planning on rolling out a broader set of end-to-end AI agents, including a customer AI agent, a payment AI agent, a project management AI agent, and an accounting AI agent, Goodarzi said. These agents can also talk to each other to solve customers' problems. 'Our goal is to solve challenges before they arise with predictive insights, take smart action on our customers' behalf, and seamlessly connect them to AI-enabled human experts when needed with customers always in control,' Goodarzi said. Goodarzi is confident that Intuit can further disrupt the $35 billion assisted tax category. One competitor that had been ready to disrupt the field was the federal government. In 2024, the IRS came out with its own free tax filing software, Direct File, which earned high customer satisfaction marks. That program is now on the chopping block should the $3.8 trillion Republican tax bill that just passed the House become law. Intuit and H&R Block, which has its own tax-filing software, have long lobbied against the IRS providing free software directly to taxpayers, ProPublica found. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lowe's looks to pro loyalty program to drive higher spend
This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Lowe's is focused on improving the experience for professional contractors and online shoppers to accelerate sales, executives said on a Q1 2025 earnings call Wednesday. Pro sales and digital sales were bright spots in its earnings. Both saw mid-single-digit growth, which offset comparable sales decline of 1.7% year over year, according to an earnings report. 'We feel great about our pro business,' CEO Marvin Ellison said. 'And we also are really pleased with the adoption of our updated pro loyalty program, MyLowe's Pro Rewards, the ease of use and also the number of new customers that are joining the platform.' Lowe's is courting professional contractors and strengthening its online experience to bolster its bottom line. The retailer reported net earnings of $1.6 billion, according to an earnings report. Executives attributed the decline in comparable sales to the pullback in discretionary spending by DIY customers and bad weather early in the quarter. 'Despite ongoing challenges in the housing market, we are pleased with our team's focus and execution in the face of significant macro uncertainty. We continue to deliver operational excellence, combined with value and outstanding service to our customers,' Ellison said. The retailer credited its updated pro loyalty program for the momentum in pro sales. The program, which was rolled out in February, emphasizes simplicity and convenience. Lowe's expects the program to drive greater utilization, repurchases and higher spend. 'Pros only need to provide their phone number and check out, getting them back to the job site faster, and joining has never been easier with the addition of our new Spanish language enrollment option,' said Joe McFarland, EVP of stores. Lowe's DIY loyalty program, MyLowe's Rewards, also saw growth, reaching over 30 million members in the first quarter. Members spend nearly 50% more than nonmembers. Lowe's has been investing in AI to improve the digital shopping experience. The retailer launched Mylow, an AI-powered adviser, in March, which can provide 'step-by-step instructions for any project with any level of complexity from how to fix a leaky faucet to how to build a deck and everything in between,' Ellison said. Earlier this month, the retailer rolled out Mylow Companion for store associates across Lowe's more than 1,700 stores. The AI adviser has access to product details, product advice and inventory information. 'With this knowledge at their fingertips, our associates can quickly feel confident in answering customers' questions, even if they've just started in the store or been asked to cover a new department,' McFarland said. Despite price pressures from tariffs, Lowe's is looking to keep prices steady and says it will offer competitive pricing. 'We're not in the habit of donating market share to the competition, and so in this environment, we're going to be as keenly focused on competing on price as we are every single day,' Ellison said. Sign in to access your portfolio
