Digitalisation Era: Singtel registers 5-fold jump in online transactions since 2012

Singtel’s digitalisation efforts are gaining traction, with its customers increasingly making transactions online and using their smartphones to do so.

With 70% of Singtel customers regularly shopping online, online transactions have risen more than five-fold since 2012.

This comes as Singtel has, in the past 5 years, upped its investments in digital innovation to create a seamless shopping and customer service experience across both its online and offline channels.

The investments have also helped Singtel improve operating efficiencies and win several industry accolades.

Gan Siok Hoon, Vice President of Retail & Channel Sales, Consumer Singapore, Singtel, said, “We have integrated our online and offline touch points and enhanced our suite of omni-channel solutions to meet the changing needs of consumers. Our digital innovations have helped boost our productivity and garnered us some of the industry’s much coveted recognition. We are constantly exploring new solutions to better serve our customers and make it convenient for everyone to shop.”

Singtel won 10 awards this year for using technological innovations to provide excellent customer service experience. These include the Singapore Retailers Association’s Achievement in Customer Experience Platinum award for the third consecutive year in the telecommunications sector, as well as the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation’s Gold award for creating a seamless sales journey through digital innovation. Singtel Mobile also maintained its number one position in the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) for the past five years and garnered the highest average CSISG score from 2007 to 2016.

With just a few mouse clicks, Singtel customers can compare devices, check for availability of stock, make a purchase and get their orders delivered or arrange for collection at the nearest Singtel retail store.

About half of Singtel customers choose the convenient option of collecting their purchases at the shop within four hours of making the transaction. To complement the online buying experience, Singtel also established virtual and live chat agents to assist customers. Such innovative services helped cut queues at Singtel shops despite the strong demand for new smartphones launched by Apple, Samsung, Google and Razer in recent months.

At Singtel retail stores, traditional price tags have been replaced with digital tags that allow customers to scan and add items to their shopping list before queuing up to pay or speaking to sales staff. With the use of an integrated app on tablets, sales staff can access information at their fingertips and use the data to assist customers anywhere within the stores.

Innovative technology has also been deployed to augment traditional call centre services. These include a messaging application as well as a visual interactive voice response that provides customers self-service options while waiting in queue during a call to the Singtel hotline.