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The retail sector represents a massive future growth opportunity for CRM (customer relationship \ management) outsourcers in Asia-Pacific (AP), with contact centre agents servicing the industry projected to increase by 30 percent by 2016, according Ovum.

“We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for CRM outsourcers globally to win business in the retail sector," says Peter Ryan, Ovum lead analyst and author of the report.

However, Ryan says that to be able to take advantage of the potential the retail market offers them, CRM outsourcers must first enhance their offering.

One example is to provide additional services to existing retail clients that will allow them to target their end users with add-on products that enable the retailer to boost revenues and reduce costs in the contact centre.

According to Ovum’s figures, the Asia-Pacific market size for outsourced contact centre agent positions in the retail sector will grow from 478k positions in 2011, to 681k in 2016, an increase of almost 30 percent for the period.

Australia proved to be the most sluggish in comparison to China, The Philippines and India within the AP region, with a CAGR of only 3.8% over the five years. China, being the growth engine globally, shows a CAGR of 12.9%. The Philippines is not very far from China, showing a CAGR of 11.2% from 2011 to 2016.

Ovum’s report advises that the enhanced services CRM outsourcers adopt in order to win business should focus on areas in which their services are better equipped than any in-house solution to drive retailers' businesses forward.

“There is significant likelihood that consumers' disposable income will remain tight or evaporate altogether, thus having a tough impact on retailers profitability, meaning that there will be pressure to cut overheads in order to maintain margins," notes Ryan.

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