Standaard Boekhandel Group Reaches a CX Breakthrough with Premium Plus and Zendesk

What happens when the nation’s largest bookseller realises its traditional ways need a refresh? For Standaard Boekhandel Group, with 133 stores across Flanders and 39 across Wallonia, the answer was to turn disruption into opportunity and raise the bar for customer experience in Belgian retail.

Improving customer experience isn’t a one-time effort — it’s a continuous journey. Standaard Boekhandel Group is committed to taking meaningful steps forward every day, ensuring that their processes evolve to meet changing expectations and deliver better experiences for their customers.

Challenge: A need to uplift customer experience to modern standards and beyond

Standaard Boekhandel Group faced a turning point. As their business grew, so did their CX challenges:

Long response times (up to 2–3 days for a first reply)
Fragmented communication between teams and with customers
Outdated tools and manual processes
Siloed internal and customer support, making consistency difficult
Limited reporting, focused on outdated metrics like time to full resolution rather than metrics that truly reflected customer experience and agent efficiency.

“In the past, we used KPIs to measure how we performed as a company. Premium Plus gave us insights on how to measure what really mattered: how customers experienced our company and service.”

Stef Blokerye, CX Manager at Standaard Boekhandel Group

Solution: Partnering for success

Recognising these pain points, the leadership knew it was time for change. They needed a solution that would not only modernise customer support but also empower employees across every department.

That’s when Standaard Boekhandel Group turned to Premium Plus, a partner with a reputation for not just implementing CX and EX software, but transforming the entire experience. Premium Plus introduced Zendesk, a flexible platform designed to connect people, processes, and data, delivering the seamless service both customers and employees deserved.

What set Premium Plus apart?

Discovery workshops to understand unique needs.
Step-by-step rollout tailored to Standaard Boekhandel’s business.
Focus on the entire journey. Not just technology, but people and processes.

Responsiveness to custom requests

Premium Plus provided true partnership and flexibility, acting immediately on custom requests. As Stef put it, “It’s incredible to have a partner who can build what you ask for, but even more, truly thinks along with you and leverages deep technological expertise to configure even the most custom out-of-the-box solutions.”

Bringing experience from other companies

The team didn’t just bring technical skills. We shared valuable insights from other businesses and industries, ensuring Standaard Boekhandel Group benefited from proven best practices in Zendesk and customer experience.

Stef explained, “Premium Plus has experience with different kinds of companies. They’ve seen multiple Zendesk configurations. So they don’t just sell the product, they sell the experience. They give you insights, they give you the possibility to get the best out of Zendesk specifically for your needs.”

The value in being challenged and the trust established

Premium Plus was chosen not only for their expertise but for their willingness to challenge the status quo and build a relationship based on trust and mutual growth.

“What makes a project like this rewarding is knowing we’re not just making a sale. We’re building a relationship based on trust and shared goals. Our aim was to deliver solutions that would keep supporting Standaard Boekhandel’s evolving needs long after the initial rollout.”

Yannick Van de Voorde, Account Executive at Premium Plus

Solution in action: Transforming customer experience from A to Z

It started with listening. Premium Plus ran discovery workshops with Standaard Boekhandel Group’s teams, diving deep into their unique challenges, needs, and workflows. Rather than a one-size-fits-all roll-out, the project became a journey, tailored to the organisation’s culture and business goals.

With Premium Plus’s guidance, Standaard Boekhandel Group achieved:

1. Unified customer support

Customer interactions are brought together in one place, centralising communication and connecting channels that previously operated in isolation.

2. Custom workflows and automations

Routine tasks are streamlined through tailored workflows and automation, reducing manual effort and speeding up case handling.

3. Custom dashboards and actionable analytics

Legacy reporting is replaced with real-time, insight-rich dashboards that make performance easier to monitor and improve. These insights include:

First reply time
CSAT
AI engagement
Ticket deflection
Agent performance

4. Multilingual support with instant translation

Agents can support customers in both Dutch and French, with real-time translation tools removing language barriers and speeding up responses.

5. AI-powered agents and Agent Copilot

Routine queries are handled by intelligent AI agents and Agent Copilot, reducing manual workload and ensuring customers get fast, consistent answers.

Maximising Zendesk Copilot’s value

Premium Plus started by showing Standaard Boekhandel Group what Zendesk Copilot could do. We suggested rolling it out gradually, not all at once, so agents could get used to the new system.

Here’s how we made Zendesk Copilot work:

Step-by-step rollout: We began with the most common and high-impact case: questions about order delivery times.
Smart process setup: We configured Agent Copilot so that if a customer forgot to provide an order number, it would automatically ask for it. This meant agents always had the details they needed to help, without extra back-and-forth.
Technical support: We handled the technical side, setting up basic API calls and automating actions in Zendesk. This cut down on repetitive clicking and typing for the agents.

Zendesk Copilot in action

With Agent Copilot now handling routine questions and collecting missing details automatically, agents could stop worrying about small tasks. Instead, they could focus on bigger, more valuable work. For example, when there was a delivery issue, agents didn’t have to instantly cancel and refund the order. They had more time to look for alternative products and offer creative solutions, keeping more orders alive and helping Standaard Boekhandel Group maintain or even increase their revenue.

“Premium Plus isn’t just an implementation partner. They’re an experience partner. They don’t just implement Zendesk, they’re adding another layer on top of the Zendesk tool. The tool itself is great, but they get you into the driver's seat the way you want it.”

Stef Blokerye, CX Manager at Standaard Boekhandel Group

Results: Measurable impact and real change

Results after the first month with Zendesk and Premium Plus

0 %+

CSAT

0 hrs

First reply time

0 %+

SLA

0 %+

One-touch tickets

Ticket numbers decreased for the first time, even as the business continued to grow. As Stef explains, “For the first time in years, our ticket number is going down. And the biggest reason for that is the deflection rate on our website, our FAQ, and the chatbot.” With routine questions handled through these channels, agents are freed from repetitive work and can now focus on building genuine customer relationships and solving complex, high-value cases.

What customers are saying

Customers noticed the difference. With much faster response times and more personal service, satisfaction scores rose significantly.

“We’re getting more and more insights about how pleased customers really are with our service… The customer satisfaction rating has increased by more than 10%.”

Stef Blokerye, CX Manager at Standaard Boekhandel Group

How agents experienced the change

Agents felt empowered and supported by the new customer experience software. They could focus on meaningful, complex problems instead of repetitive tasks, and the new reporting and tools reduced their stress and increased their motivation.

Standaard Boekhandel’s agents now have the freedom and the tools to do what they do best: help their customers and add real value to the business.

“We worked with Standaard Boekhandel Group to set up Zendesk, taught the team how to keep the instance up to date and healthy, and helped Stef become their Zendesk champion. They were eager to move things forward, took real ownership of the project and the tool, and were easy — and great fun — to work with.”

Anton Verhelst, CX Consultant at Premium Plus

Next Chapter: Elevating employee experience

Why employee experience matters

In a busy retail environment, every employee needs fast, reliable support to do their best work. Standaard Boekhandel Group saw that improving internal service was key to retaining talent, boosting morale, and ultimately delivering better customer outcomes.

Fast, reliable internal support = happier, more effective staff
Better EX = better CX

Why Premium Plus and Zendesk for employee experience

Having seen the success of Zendesk in customer support, Standaard Boekhandel Group once again partnered with Premium Plus for their expertise and personal approach. The goal: to unify all internal requests, including IT, HR, finance, facilities, product management, and marketing, on a single, flexible employee experience platform, planned for launch in 2026.

The ongoing EX transformation

The journey to unify the internal service desk is underway. Zendesk for Employee Service will be rolled out across key departments like IT, Facilities, Marketing, and Logistics. Premium Plus continues to guide the process, ensuring the employee experience solution matches Standaard Boekhandel Group’s evolving needs.

New employees are expected to experience smoother onboarding and faster support, helping to build a positive and productive culture. Just as with customer operations, the ability to measure and track internal support performance is going to drive rapid, targeted improvements across all teams.

The company remains committed to continuous improvement, with Premium Plus as a long-term partner for both customer and employee experience.

Looking ahead: Continuous improvement and future plans

Standaard Boekhandel Group is not stopping here. Plans are in place to:

Expand AI and automation to streamline even more workflows
Leverage Premium Plus’s strategic advice to keep adapting and growing with the business
Continue enhancing reporting and analytics to guide every stage of their transformation

“We see Premium Plus as our long-term CX and EX partner. Together, we’re building a culture where everyone — customers and employees — gets the support they need, when they need it.”

Stef Blokerye, CX Manager at Standaard Boekhandel Group

If you want to hear more about how Premium Plus is as a partner, you can contact Stef Blokerye on LinkedIn.

Conclusion: Ready for your own CX and EX transformation?

Standaard Boekhandel’s story is proof that true transformation is about people, not just technology.

With Premium Plus and Zendesk:

Fragmented processes became seamless support
Customers and employees are empowered
Reporting and measurement drive smarter decisions and keep improving — every day