Crate & Barrel's AI revenue story
Featuring Kate Showalter
Vice President, Customer Care and CBH Services at Crate & Barrel
From store floor to C-Suite, and how a 30-year retail veteran turned service into revenue
Kate Showalter has done what most CX leaders only dream about. She transformed customer service from a cost center into a revenue machine. In this candid conversation, the Crate & Barrel VP reveals how 30+ years of institutional knowledge became her superpower in the AI age.
Discover how Showalter drove change in annual savings, her insider tips on building the best teams, and why she doesn't count deflection as a success metric. Kate shares how she contributes to her C-suite coalition, and why she coaches AI like a new support agent.
This is a masterclass in enterprise-scale transformation from someone who's lived every level of the business, from selling wine glasses on the floor to shaping the future of retail CX with Gladly.
"We haven't talked about deflection. I don't even use the word. I don't have a metric for it. I don't, I don't touch it. I talk about CSAT for AI. I talk about how we've resolved customer issues with AI. I don't talk about deflection."
Kate Showalter
Vice President, Customer Care and CBH Services, Crate & Barrel
About the host
Joseph Ansanelli is Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Gladly, a CX platform powered by AI that puts people, not tickets, at the center of every conversation. In addition to leading Gladly, Joseph is a partner at Greylock Partners. As host of Radically Personal, he serves as a curiosity translator, drawing out strategies and hard-won lessons from CX leaders navigating the AI revolution, exploring how they prove ROI, manage change, and scale without compromise.
About the guest
Kate Showalter rose from the retail floor to the C-suite over three decades, bringing a frontline perspective to her customer experience leadership at Crate & Barrel. In an industry obsessed with deflection, Kate's team doesn't even track the metric. Instead, they focus on building customer devotion through dedicated service, empowered teams, and frictionless AI. Her philosophy is straightforward. Exceptional processes are powered by exceptional people, and customer service isn't a cost center, it's the competitive advantage that drives business results.
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