US shoppers may soon be able to turn to screen-based alternatives if shop assistants are unavailable, writes Jonathan Birchallin New York

At Apple Computer's flagship store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, the post-Christmas retail rush was in full swing last Wednesday.

Customers were lining up outside the glass cube entrance to file down the stairs into one of the hottest stores in the city. At the long Genius Bar that runs down one side of the store, 21 employees were providing customers with the technical advice that has set Apple's retail concept apart from the competition.

But on this particular day, 21 "geniuses" were still not enough. A customer clutching his computer who tried to register for a face-to-face advice session was told he would have to wait three hours and walked away.

The afternoon melée, at a retailer known for its "high touch" customer service, was an extreme illustration of one of the central challenges that extends beyond retail to customer service in general.

How do you have enough experts available to serve customers, but not so many that their wages bankrupt operations?

"Retailers are always trying to find a way to use fewer people to service and touch more customers," says Jeff Smith, head of global retail practice at Accenture, the consultancy group.

In 2007, a handful of leading retailers will try a new technological approach to the issue. If a sales representative is not available, shoppers will be offered a screen-based alternative - not just a static web page but a live video link from the store to an expert sales agent located either in another store or, more likely, in a call centre.

"We think the potential is enormous, certainly in retail formats," says Chris Sang, chief executive of ClairVista, one of two small US companies that have developed "remote support" systems. "There's really a total consensus among all the retailers we speak to that this is a good solution."

Experticity, ClairVista's Seattle- based competitor, already has its system being tested by a leading US office supply retailer and a European mobile phone network operator. Further deployments of LiveSupport are expected during the first quarter of 2007.

ClairVista says that its own Live Expert screens will be in use by a national consumer electronics retailer at the same time. Neither company would give details of customers because of confidentiality agreements.

DL Baron, the founder and chief executive of Experticity, first had the idea of using the internet to provide live customer assistance in 2000, when he was standing in an airport queue.

"I showed up at the airport and there were all those counters and only two agents working, and the whole idea of distributive labour force came to me," he says.

He realised that the airline probably had other service staff elsewhere in its network who could be linked to kiosks at the airport.

Both systems involve more than just a video link. The screens can show content such as demonstration videos and product information. The latest version of LiveSupport lets customers access the system from home computers or mobile phones.

ClairVista launched Live Expert in November 2005. The system uses large screens for a stronger impact, on the basis that this is where the battle to win over both customers and retailers will largely be fought.

Both companies agree that the remote systems are particularly suited to the needs of "commodity" retailers, which are now trying to sell more sophisticated and expensive products and services that need to be explained to customers.

Best Buy and Circuit City, for instance, have both followed Apple's lead in creating teams of experts to provide a higher level of customer service.

Remote support systems could make it easier for mass retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target to follow. As they try to sell higher-end electronics and add ons, including customer warranty plans, such companies will also want to control staffing costs.

As Sang is aware, the aisles of US retailers are littered with aspiring technological solutions. ClairVista launched a line of DVD dispensing kiosks at outlets, including McDonald's restaurants. "The challenge is getting something implemented," he says.

"This takes a strategic point of view. It's not something that you stick in a corner and see how it works. And if you just take $7 per-hour inventory clerks and put them in front of the camera and call them an expert, then it is not going to work."

Smith says that most retailers are wary of "functional change", preferring instead to look for "a point solution to a point problem that incrementally improves their operations".

That covers recent technological innovations, from self-service supermarket checkouts to barcode readers that provide a commentary on a particular bottle of wine or a pharmacy kiosk that will check a customer's identity and dispense repeat prescriptions.

Remote support could provide that "point solution" if it increases sales. Experticity claims that, in pilot tests, it increased the overall value of a sale in more than 70 per cent of cases.

But Smith argues that systems such as remote support could be a chance for retailers to take a new look at the kind of expertise they are providing. It could be an opportunity "to create people who are more the agent of the customer than they are experts or stockers or cashiers".

Beyond retail, both Experticity and ClairVista see plenty of scope for using remote support systems to augment customer service - whether that is by linking doctors to new walk-in health clinics or checking in hotel guests.Baron says that Experticity was recently approached by a high-end fashion retailer that was interested in using the system to offer style advice.

But surely customers always prefer to deal with a real person face-to-face? Not necessarily, says Baron, although it is a key question for retailers.

"We encountered doubt and scepticism," he says.

"Then we found out that not only would customers engage with a screen, but they were delighted.

"Putting enough knowledgeable people on the floor is really tough, so the person on the screen has access to a lot more de facto information. And the person on the screen, for some customers, is also a lot less threatening. They're not going to follow you round the store trying to make a sale."