Shipt’s Chief Product & Experience Officer, Karl Varsanyi shares his view on why having a strong purpose is critical to business

Each year, Reuters gathers together leaders from the companies most dialed in on the customer to explore trends, strategies and omnichannel experiences transforming experiences today. This year, hundreds of attendees traveled to San Diego’s Mission Bay Resort for a two-day series of keynotes, fireside chats and panels. 

Our Chief Product & Experience Officer, Karl Varsanyi, lent his voice to the session called “What’s Next for Service & Experience. 2022 & Beyond” among leaders from Dominion Energy and Edward Jones. Shipt served up viewpoints on the importance of personalization and contributed our point of view on innovating, while doing things the Shipt way, to differentiate in this rapidly changing delivery industry. 

At Shipt, we believe that technology, when paired with human connection, offers the most relevant experience in delivery. And because shoppers are the gateway to personalization, we believe that our features and experiences can serve as a foundation to provide quality service through delivery.  

“What we do could be very transactional, but our purpose is to spark connections that show why every person counts,” said Karl. “The reason we have a purpose like that is because we believe that shopping is deeply personal and built on a foundation of trust and relationships.” 

How does this passion for personalization come to life in Shipt’s features? Last year, we rolled out two offerings that are exclusive in the industry Preferred Shopper and Dietary Preferences. And while these features prove that relationships are meaningful to the bottom line thanks to their increase in customer satisfaction and order frequency rates, Karl explained that it doesn’t always have to take a first-to-market feature to facilitate people connecting. 

“When a customer places an order and a shopper accepts that offer, a relationship is created,” Karl stated. “Once that happens, we allow those two individuals to communicate with each other via text. For a practical reason, this is because shoppers may need to chat about a substitution, but a more emotional reason is to keep the experience really personal, whether it be a shopper complimenting a customer on their front doorstep succulent planter or sending 16 smiley emojis to say thank you. We foster this to, in part, bring people together.” 

So, what does Shipt think is on the horizon when it comes to customer experience? Well, never before has there been such a craving for connection than in a post-pandemic environment and we want shoppers and customers to know more about each other. 

“The more a shopper knows about a customer, the more confidence they have in their ability to shop for that person. We’re a technology company, it’s what we do, and yet we also believe strongly that humans are critical to the experience, so we build relationships and connections into the Shipt experience.” 

For all Shipt has to offer in delivery, download the Shipt app or visit Shipt.com.