RetailCustomer Service

How Camping World Uses IBM watsonx Assistant to Boost Customer Engagement by 40%

Camping World deployed IBM watsonx Assistant as a virtual agent named Arvee across all web properties, increasing customer engagement by 40% and improving agent efficiency by 33%.

Impact

40%

Customer Engagement Increase

33%

Agent Efficiency Improvement

33 seconds

Average Wait Time

~8,000

Conversations Auto-Resolved

Challenge

Post-COVID customer volume surge exposed infrastructure gaps including inadequate staffing, lack of 24/7 coverage, and customer queries going unanswered during off-hours, resulting in lost leads.

Solution

Deployed IBM watsonx Assistant virtual agent (Arvee) integrated with LivePerson across all web properties. Added SMS capabilities, Oracle and Salesforce integrations, and 30+ FAQ automations for dynamic routing and warm handoffs.

Tools & Technologies

What Leaders Say

We were looking to create more free time for our agents to build meaningful and impactful conversations with our clients.

Saurabh Shah, CDO/CIO, Camping World

The visibility into our customer engagement changed the game for us.

Brenda Wintrow, SVP Sales & Customer Experience, Camping World
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Full Story

Camping World, America's largest retailer of recreational vehicles and outdoor products, experienced a post-COVID surge in customer volume that exposed critical infrastructure gaps. The company's contact centers across three business units (retail, financial services, and dealership) lacked adequate staffing and 24/7 coverage. Customer queries went unanswered during off-hours, resulting in lost leads and extended wait times.

The company partnered with IBM Consulting to deploy IBM watsonx Assistant integrated with LivePerson's conversational platform. A virtual agent named "Arvee" was deployed across all web properties, handling routine inquiries, performing dynamic routing, collecting customer data, and enabling warm handoffs to live agents. The solution was enhanced with SMS capabilities and integrations to Oracle and Salesforce, supporting 30+ FAQs.

The results were transformative: customer engagement increased 40%, agent efficiency improved 33%, and wait times dropped to just 33 seconds. Of nearly 14,000 retail chat conversations, approximately 8,000 were resolved by Arvee without any human escalation.

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