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We did an exploratory qualitative research about the virtual customer care IT tools in the big Brazilian retail
companies. The sampling criteria was intentional and as convenience, we got the 10 biggest Brazilian companies of the
retail industry, according to the ranking of Brazilian magazine Revista Exame (june/2004) called “500 maiores e melhores
empresas” (500 biggest and best companies).
So, the 10 Brazilian retail companies of this research are: Pão de Açúcar, Carrefour, Casas Bahia, Sonae, Ponto
Frio, Bompreço, Sendas, Lojas Americanas, Wal-Mart and Pernambucanas.
The searched characteristics in each virtual customer care IT tool are explained below:
Table 1 – Main Characteristics of Virtual Customer Care IT Tools
Site
How accessible is the site (how long it takes to the complete download of the home page).
E-mail
Response Time of a sent e-mail (how long to receive the conclusive answer. The effective
response time is the break between the e-mail sent to company and it’s answer).
Electronic
Submission
Forms
Is it available in site?
Is it divided in sections or key fields?
Does it work?
Auto
Response
E-mail
Is it available in site?
Does the company send an automatic response e-mail?
Does the auto response e-mail have any customization? (customer’s name, subject of the
original e-mail, problem or doubt sent by customer).
Does the auto response e-mail indicate the final response time?
FAQ
Is it available in site?
Is the link in the home page?
Is it divided in sections or subjects?
How many sections/subjects?
Does it work?
Auto
Service
Is it available in site?
What kind of contents are available?
Chat
Is it available in site?
Response time to the complete download of connection (how long to establish the
connection? This break is from customer’s access to the first phrase received from the
attendant).
Site
Customization
Is it available in site?
Does it work?
Site Map
Is it available in site?
How many levels of sections or subjects?
Does it work?
Discussion
Groups
Is it available in site?
How many groups are?
Video ´
Conference
Is it available in site?
Response time to the complete download of connection? (how long to establish the
connection? This break is from customer’s access to the first image/sound received from the
attendant).
4. Data Analysis
4.1. Site
Convention