ShoreTel Helps Retailers Maximize Valentine's Day Profits

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ShoreTel® (NASDAQ: SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple unified communications platforms, including business phone systems, applications, and mobile UC solutions, continues to provide communications solutions that help retail companies improve productivity, enhance the customer experience and increase sales.

The retail sector is one of ShoreTel's strong vertical markets. ShoreTel's ease-of-use and management makes it a perfect fit for retail companies which are often faced with managing growth and reducing costs with minimal IT staff, while still maintaining superior levels of customer service. A ShoreTel UC solution, with integrated contact center features, leverages the power of VoIP to integrate communication tasks, allowing real-time management of various communications channels, including voice, IM, video and conferencing, ultimately enabling retailers to offer a better and more responsive experience to customers.

ShoreTel's roster of retail customers includes companies of all sizes and types, including specialized retail customers, like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Phillip's Flowers and Gifts, and Tulip, a leading UK food supplier. For these retailers, having a reliable ShoreTel IP PBX with integrated UC is especially critical during the Valentine's Day holiday – one of their busiest days of the year. This year is no exception – the National Retail Federation is predicting spending for Valentine's Day to reach $18.6 billion – an estimated $1 billion above the prediction for 2012. During holidays, ShoreTel's retail customers often need to increase the number of call center representatives to manage the increase in traffic; the easy-to-use functionality of the ShoreTel business phone system allows them to easily bring the new representatives fully onboard with minimal training.

"Our ShoreTel phone system has been one of the best investments we have made in our business. The system is extremely user-friendly but yet sophisticated and function-packed," said Peilin Pratt, vice president at CandyWarehouse.com. "With Valentine's Day coming up and increasing calls coming in, ShoreTel, with its effective desktop Communicator call manager, keeps our customer service team organized and efficient."

"ShoreTel's reliable and streamlined communication solution allows retailers to focus on enhancing the customer experience, which is at the heart of every retailer's success," said Kevin Gavin, chief marketing officer at ShoreTel. "These benefits are especially apparent during the busy holiday shopping periods when retail companies simply don't have time to worry about complex communication systems."  

Around the globe, retailers are reaping the benefits of a ShoreTel business phone system with integrated UC to enhance customer service and improve their bottom lines, particularly during the Valentine's Day shopping rush.

• "Valentine's Day is a very busy time at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, especially with all the Valentine's Day products we sell! Our Customer Service Workgroup takes catalog orders, assists with online order calls and places orders for their franchise stores calling in to replenish inventory items. And our Field Service rep workgroup takes calls from franchises and company owned stores calling in for support. Our ShoreTel system helps us ensure we handle the increased number of calls we receive so we don't miss any orders and the products get shipped in time for Valentine's Day."
  - Key Jobson, CIO, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

• "We chose ShoreTel because they matched all our requirements, and frankly, no other supplier came close. We can now leverage this in the future by implementing the conference bridge which will allow us to link all the sites together for communication purposes, as well as enhancing our profile and the service we can deliver to our retail customers."
  - Tony Brown, IT Director, Tulip

• "Having grown over 85 years to one of the nation's leading florists, we needed a state-of-the-art communications system. ShoreTel improved our handling of customer calls into the Contact Center, gave our distribution center and ten Chicago-area branches uniform station equipment for the varying needs of our users, and added far more features than our previous systems at a lower monthly cost."
  - Jim Phillip, Chairman & CIO, Phillip's/1-800-FLORALS

• "Each improvement or feature that allows an opportunity for better customer service is definitely worthwhile. The ShoreTel system allows us to concentrate on creating the most innovative and unique designs suitable for specific occasions and to not worry about the technical end of our phone call. We find the caller ID feature extremely helpful as sometimes before we answer the phone we know which customer is calling and can even have their history up before we start speaking...impressed? Yes, they usually are."
  - Sue Rice, Contact Center Manager, Phillip's/1-800-FLORALS

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Contact

Megan McFarland

Edelman

[email protected]

(650) 762-2993

About ShoreTel, Inc.

ShoreTel, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOR) is a provider of business communication solutions whose brilliantly simple unified communications platforms, applications and mobile UC solutions promise a new rhythm of workforce engagement and collaboration. With costly complexity eliminated by design from its award-winning, all-in-one IP phone system, UC and contact center solution, and its industry-leading hosted phone system, workers enjoy a freedom and self-reliance that other providers can't match. Users have full control to engage and collaborate, no matter the time, place or device, for the lowest cost and demand on IT resources in the industry. ShoreTel is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has regional offices and partners worldwide. For more information, visit www.shoretel.com or www.shoretelsky.com.

ShoreTel, ShoreTel Sky, and the ShoreTel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ShoreTel, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

SOURCE ShoreTel