September is a defining month for retail contact centers. Holiday promotions are finalized, fulfillment networks are under pressure, seasonal hiring is underway, and customer service leaders are preparing for the surge that follows every major shopping event.
The National Retail Federation expects retail sales to continue to grow this year, reflecting continued consumer demand despite economic uncertainty. Every additional order creates another opportunity to either strengthen or weaken customer loyalty through the quality of customer experience (CX).
Fulfillment is a major part of that experience. While the action in the warehouse determines when customers receive their packages, and the condition they arrive in, that’s not where customers direct their frustration when their delivery is delayed or the package is damaged. They turn to the contact center.
The contact center CX is critical. That’s because the quality of those interactions often determines how customers remember the brand long after the holiday decorations come down.
Increasing staffing is one way to prepare for that reality. Contact center operators also need thoughtful use of AI, well-trained agents, and workforce models that can adapt as customer needs change throughout the season.
Holiday Fulfillment Has Become a CX Issue
Retailers have spent years investing in faster fulfillment and more sophisticated logistics. Even so, peak demand creates conditions that strain even the strongest supply chains. Weather delays, carrier capacity issues, inventory shifts, and last-minute order changes can quickly spike contact volume.
Most customers reaching out to help desks during the holidays are under pressure and trying to solve a problem with a deadline attached.
A delayed gift carries real emotional weight. Customers, very understandably, expect immediate answers and clear next steps, and the contact center is responsible for protecting trust at the most stressful point of the customer journey.
Automation Can Handle Volume When Applied Thoughtfully
AI has become an important tool for managing holiday demand. The Liveops 2025 Holiday AI & Customer Service Report found that 78% of shoppers interacted with AI during the holiday season and 85% said automation made service faster or more accessible.
AI performs best for routine interactions such as order tracking delivery updates, return initiation, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). For these tasks, automation cuts down on wait and response times and frees up agents to focus on higher-value conversations.
However, quality matters as much as availability. Ultimately, customers want AI that works. Retailers should prioritize accuracy, context awareness, and seamless handoffs over volume.
Transparency is also essential, with 69% of respondents saying that brands should always reveal when AI is being used. Only 22% said that companies clearly disclosed it.
Customers want to know when they’re talking to AI and to be given a clear path to a human agent when needed builds trust. Automation should function as a capacity multiplier, not a replacement strategy.
Complex Fulfillment Problems Still Require Human Expertise
Unfortunately, too often AI isn’t helping to build that trust. Our survey found that 55% of shoppers escalated an AI-assisted interaction to a human agent. But nearly half (45%) said AI failed to understand their problem while 54% believed people ultimately delivered better service.
Complex fulfillment situations require interpretation, empathy, and judgment that automation can’t replicate.
For example, customers whose holiday orders arrive damaged or whose gifts miss an important milestone want more than a status update. They need to feel confident that someone understands their situations and has the authority to resolve these matters.
But difficult conversations are rarely governed by standard workflows, and that’s where well-trained agents remain essential.
Smart CX Is About Flexibility
Seasonal planning often centers on headcount, but that’s only part of the picture. Fulfillment disruptions create unpredictable demand spikes that static scheduling can’t handle. A sudden weather event or carrier delay can generate thousands of customer inquiries within hours.
Flexible customer service models, such as distributed agents and on-demand capacity, allow contact centers to scale support where it’s needed without carrying unnecessary overhead throughout the season.
Prioritizing flexibility over raw headcount ensures the right expertise is available when interactions become more complex and emotionally charged.
AI Can Make Agents Better, Too
Some of AI’s greatest value in the contact center happens behind the scenes. Before an agent joins a conversation, AI can give them shipment history, summarize previous interactions, suggest language, provide compliance guardrails, and draft follow-up notes.
So, instead of spending time gathering information across multiple systems, agents begin each interaction with context already in hand.
...difficult conversations are rarely governed by standard workflows, and that’s where well-trained agents remain essential.
This reduces cognitive load, improves consistency, and allows employees to focus on solving problems and making customers feel heard. AI works best when it’s not a replacement for agents, but when it acts as a partner that helps them work better.
Preparation Should Extend Beyond Technology
Technology alone can’t deliver a seamless CX. The supporting processes matter just as much.
By now, most retailers have already selected the AI tools they plan to use during the holidays. The remaining work focuses on operational readiness.
Customer journeys should be tested from beginning to end. Escalation paths deserve close attention, particularly for fulfillment scenarios involving delayed shipments, damaged products, or inventory substitutions.
Agents need preparation for AI-assisted workflows alongside coaching on handling emotionally charged conversations. Simulation exercises based on likely holiday scenarios help employees build confidence before contact volumes increase.
Cross-functional coordination also plays an important role. Customer Service, eCommerce, Fulfillment, and Logistics teams benefit from shared visibility into emerging issues so they can respond consistently as conditions change.
The Holidays Are Won After Checkout
Customer loyalty is often determined not by the purchase, but by what happens when something goes wrong.
As retailers enter the busiest months of the year, fulfillment challenges will inevitably generate customer questions. Some interactions will be routine, while others will require thoughtful problem-solving under pressure.
To manage both, contact centers need to combine intelligent automation with skilled agents and flexible schedules. AI is now integrated into holiday operations, but it’s not the central character.
The strongest CXs still depend on how well technology, people, and processes work together. Investing in all three allows retailers to reduce customer effort, strengthen trust, and finish the holiday season with stronger relationships than they started with.