OPINION
A t the Central Plaza shopping mall in a large Thai provincial capital city , there is a customer information desk just inside the main entrance that is normally staffed by a couple of sharply dressed and coiffed employees . Needing to find a specific store quickly one recent afternoon , and having been repeatedly bamboozled by the flaky in-mall wi-fi , I asked one of the personnel at the desk . Not only did she tell me where the store was ( down one level , an 80-metre walk and a sharp left turn ): she actually took me there herself .
That ’ s the extreme positive end of the Thai customer service continuum . But it is not necessarily typical . Generally , retail service falls into three main buckets : the extremely helpful ( like the woman in Central Plaza ), the extremely overbearing and unhelpful ( the followerhoverers ), and the totally neglectful ( associated with phone addiction and indifference to the product ). If Thailand wants to take the next step forward as a retail destination – it already has world-class shopping malls and stores – it needs to come to grips with those second and third buckets .
Follow and hover At many stores , the customer experience can be downright creepy . The creepiness is typical of particular retail categories such as appliances , home improvement and technology . Labour in Thailand is cheap , so retailers hire a lot of them : many more than are really required for the jobs . A retail employee often earns as little as 350 baht ( US $ 10 ) a day . Moreover , on any given day in a large store a lot of people call in sick or are absent for family or other reasons , so retailers over-hire to provide cover for absenteeism .
The result is that there is a cadre of highly visible , idle employees who are obviously just whiling away the hours . At many stores , there will be a rugby line of them waiting for a customer . Upon entering the store looking for , say , a fridge or a computer , the unfortunate visitor is immediately swooped upon by an employee , who skids to a stop adjacent to or behind the shopper , and simply watches in silence . As the customer moves from item to item , the employee will follow in lockstep . When the customer moves to the next department , a second employee takes over from the first . This kind of tag-team , or relay , continues until the besieged visitor heads for the exit . In a way it is comical , but for the retailer ’ s top-line , it isn ’ t funny at all .
All of this , of course , wouldn ’ t be as much
Enforce bans on all private use of phones by staff on the shop floor .
of an issue if the employee could handle questions or provide some useful assistance . Unfortunately , this is usually not the case . The problem isn ’ t limited to retailers of expensive durable goods . Recently , I visited the new flagship of a high-profile international clothing brand that opened in Bangkok ’ s Central World , which , like Central Plaza , is owned by Central Pattana , Thailand ’ s largest mall operator . The store was beautiful and the merchandise engaging . However , browsing was rendered impossible by an overzealous employee who followed me everywhere and persisted in giving me unsolicited information that I didn ’ t need .
As I attempted to pick up and finger the fabrics to get a sense of how they would feel being worn in the harsh tropical heat outside , the employee actually got physically in my way . This was not a deliberate block , rather the employee simply seemed not to be aware of where her own body was and was desperate to make the sale . Eventually , I simply left the store and the retailer lost a sale that it certainly would have made if I had been left alone to decide for myself .
This is also true in other categories of merchandise , from footwear to food processors . The store employee in Thailand always wants to be the one who is nearest the customer when the purchasing decision is made , because irrespective of whether any assistance has been provided , the employee wants to be the one to carry the item to the register . This is how ( s ) he gets a commission , or points towards a bonus or some other reward , depending on the retailer . It is rare for genuinely useful assistance to be rendered .
Product knowledge : what ’ s that ? Actual product knowledge , or lack thereof , is a massive problem in Thailand and the developing ASEAN countries , for two reasons : first , it prevents the staff person from providing the kind of technical assistance that makes the purchasing process enjoyable . The journey should be joyful , not a pitched battle against the employee ’ s own ignorance of the products . Second , it prevents the retailer from guiding the customer to the optimal purchasing decision . For example , Lululemon hires people who are experienced in yoga . The better athletic footwear retailers in the world are renowned for hiring only staff who themselves practise and love the sport . Thus , running shoes are sold in-store by people who themselves run . They know everything about the technical performance of different brands . They know ►
August 2024 www . insideretail . asia 37