My Experience in High-End Boutiques
This is totally based on my own experience shopping in Boutiques here in Orchard, Singapore.
As Christmas was just around the corner, it seemed that many people in Singapore didn’t really care about the covid cases anymore, flooding to town to find last-minute gifts for their family and friends. Well, not to mention that we are still currently in Phase 2 where only 5 are allowed to gather…
I had lunch with my auntie, niece, and nephew at the TungLok Novena. And my goodness were we Lucky enough to get there before the lunch crowd. Then we parted ways after that. I was thinking in my head “Why not go to Orchard to have a walk and maybe see some new collections from the different brand's cos who knows when I’ll get the chance to go to town ever” so I did it... I took the MRT and alight at Orchard. I totally forgot that it was a school holiday... GOD, there were SO MANY PEOPLE... I actually thought that Orchard would be a little empty because of the local transmission at Mandarin Oriental BUT NO... I was amazed at the number of people there. But whatever, as long as we keep the distance, I’ll be fine so I went to do my own thing. I walked 10,500 steps today and FYI , I went from ION to Takashimaya , Design Orchard, Somerset back to Takashimaya and I head home.
So now, let me tell you what you’re here for. But before I begin, how I rate the store’s service is based on a few pointers. And as a person who’ve worked part time in the service line before, it’s evident whether you’re serving the customer properly or not but I have to re-emphasise that this ratings are based on my own personal experience. So Please No Hard Feelings.
1. Greet Others With A Smile
I know that some people had the experience whereby they smiled at customers and the other party didn’t smile back. I totally get that a lot however I always tell my friends or colleagues to be the better person in the situation so whether they smile back or not, it doesn’t really matter because maybe they had a rough day or that their personality is just like that .. who knows? If the person assisting is not smiling, he/she might seem unapproachable so it’s better off smiling
2. Be Friendly
I’m not saying to be overly friendly with the customer like you are with your friends but maybe build a foundation where the customer is comfortable talking to you. Trust me, just by asking how’s your day or how you’re doing can go a long way in terms of building an impression and relationship
3. Talk WIth Confidence
It may be difficult when you first started out, you might stutter or eat up your words or worse, getting scolded by the customers for getting the information wrong. Been there,done that. This confidence I’m talking about is not about being confident in your appearance but yes, that is an important factor as well but the confidence I’m referring to is about the product or service you’re selling. Make sure you know what you are selling so that the customer know what they’re buying. But if you’re new in the industry, refer them to someone who know about what the customer is referring to. To others, not knowing what you’re doing might seem like a big mistake to them and yes it might be true in some cases but for me, it’s a lesson that shows that you’re not ready/ prepared thus it’s a mistake that should never happen again.
3. Be Interested
Okay.. seems easy right? Well it’s easy to say but difficult to do . Why? Being interested means that you ignore all the other things and just focus on the customer. That’s how important customer service is. No matter how talkative they are, all you have to do is listen. Try to understand and from there you roughly know what are their needs and wants. Then now, you can recommend some stuff for them to buy.
4. Eye Contact
Again, having good eye contact, is kinda signalling the other person that I’m respecting you. Don’t stare at them but maintain a good eye contact especially when the customers are talking. Don’t run your mind somewhere else.
5. Don’t Judge
It’s human nature to be judging others. But not to the extent of whether he/she will buy the products or not. ITs JUst PLain RUde IF YOu HAve THAt MIndset
My first store that I went to was the newest concept store of Loewe
LOEWE
9/10
It was a great experience given that it was the first physical store that I’ve shopped in a while. The lady assisting me was super nice, asking me whether I had any preferences of what I was looking for, about my day and so on and so forth, she also told me facts about the store and what the best sellers are while still giving me some privacy. It made me feel very comfortable with the people in the store. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch anything that I would like for myself so, I left the store with a smile.
Next was PRADA, which was a couple of stores away
PRADA
10/10
One of the best customer service I’ve experienced while shopping at ION. Even though, the staff was busy, when he saw me entering the store, he quickly kept away what he was doing and attended to me. As a customer, you’re always gonna expect the best from the brand especially from a high end brand. Again, asked what I was looking for, whether I would want a drink and can he be of any help. He then recommended me the bestsellers of the season which was indeed what I was looking for, Prada Re-nylon. He is one hell of a good salesman.. I was very tempted to get the limited edition grey re-nylon bag:( The staff actually gave me his name card to contact him if I want the bag. In the end, I thought to myself “would I splurge $3000 on a bag which I don’t use often?”
Reluctantly left the store and moved to GUCCI
Gucci
10/10
Again, walked in with a high expectations for the service of the brand. The lady who served me was great, she was very understanding and asked me a couple of questions about my preference and from she kinda knew or pictured what would look good on me. She handed the famous 1961 Jacky but it didn’t really fit me so she gave another option which is the sling bag in the picture above, 1955 shoulder bag.
Honestly, I got a pretty hard time choosing the two bags and in the end.. didn’t get them however she gave me her number for contact and a Gucci membership so that was great.
Another hard to missed was the LOUIS VUITTON.
Louis Vuitton
10/10
So for this high end boutique, I was told to walk around first because all the staff are attending to customers.. so I walked around looking for handbags that I might buy for myself as a Christmas present. A few minutes later, a lady staff came up to me and I swear that she is one of the nicest staff I’ve met in my life. She was so understanding and outgoing as if she was a friend of mine. I had no issues about the service at all. She gave many options from handbags to jewelry and even offered to give me a private upstairs.
Hands down, the best service ever.
Again she gave me her name card with her contact number on it as well the bag number for me to look up online. Which I mean it was great, nothing could beat that at all. When I got her name card, it explained why I got such great service.. it was because she is the team manager for ION LV.
I actually went Takashimya which was further down the road to again shop,and the service wasn’t the best compared to the one at ION but it was still better than the next store I’m gonna mention.. FENDI
Fendi
5/10
Okay, I’m sure that many of you, readers are shocked at why I put 5 for their service. Let me tell you why I was so disappointed with them, starting off, walking in was great asking me about my day which was like “phew, we’re off to a great start!”
She was pretty loud in terms of speaking to customers and I could tell that she’s the type of lady that is firm, always sticking to her ground and love to make her decisions known. And this is just based on the first impression.. imagine knowing her. The character that I’ve just mentioned is not a bad trait per say but when you’re attending to customers, you should be aware that you’re serving them and that the tone of voice matters because it affects the whole experience for the customer shopping in your brand.
When she attending to me, she kept talking to her male colleagues and there are actually moments where I had to wave for her attention. But it wasn’t worse..
What pulled me off was when she asked about my budget, I mean no harm in that but how she served me afterwards was the problem. I told her roughly bout $2,000-$2,500 (it’s actually a lot). She said why not look at the wallet or hat sections. I was like okay cool but I was actually looking for a bag. And she said, “Oh the bags are actually roughly about $4–7k, which actually exceeds your budget.” I looked at her and was actually shocked that she had said such remarks with such a sloppy attitude. It was as if I could not afford or something like that. But then I still continued looked at the bags and clothes and walked off. It was such a bad experience shopping at such an expensive store.
Moving on to the next store Dior
Dior
8/10
There was too many people at ION’s Dior, so I walked to Takashimaya instead. Even though, it has lesser items displayed, and many items out of stocked, my experience was still better than Fendi’s. The staff assisting was nice as well, but why deduct the 2 points? While I was looking at the saddle bags and monogram handbags she actually talked to her male colleagues, again let emphasise, nothing wrong in that but not to the extent of letting the customer wait for you. That’s kinda like the basic rule of customer relations. But oh well, it ended off pretty smooth.
So there you have it, my experience in 6 high-end stores right here in Orchard,Singapore. Maybe you will agree or disagree to the criteria I’ve set when being served as a customer and that’s okay because each one of us is different, looking for different type of experience in service. And I hope you learnt something new and wishing you a great and healthy 2021!
with love,
Narlin
