Lifestyle needs a makeover

Shopping at Lifestyle can be quite exhausting and unpleasant at times specially during end of season sales time where there is utter confusion and long lines at the cash counters or clothes scattered on the floor. Their home section is always in the state of confusion as it is and you have to really watch your way there as the staff  seems to be always rushing to their restrooms in a hurry and in the process colliding into customers. I always avoid going to the home section for that reason...

Recently I was also disappointed to the see that their clothes were soiled or stained. And when I requested for a certain stained item from the lingerie section to be exchanged, I was met with opposition at first but eventually I convinced the floor manager to do so after a lot of persuasion. But my advice is that always check their items thoroughly before purchasing. I always check the stuff I buy but this time even I got misled thinking and trusting the sales person and not checking it in details as I usually do. I notice that their staff spills big packets of lingerie on the floor so that customers could choose from them. That reminded me of some street shops where clothes are displayed on the floor. I actually did not feel like buying such items as I give a lot of importance to cleanliness...

Long time back I have had experiences of being overcharged in my shopping bill out there as well. And in sales times I even had the misfortune of walking over the puddle of  a child's urine which the Lifestyle staff did not bother to clean immediately and clothes were falling over it. Remember always wash the clothes you purchase before wearing !

Lifestyle certainly needs a makeover in it's cleanliness, staff attitude specially in home section , staff etiquettes as well as maintenance of the clothes they sell.

Good Customer Service needed in terms of attitude and body language

I am once again reminded of my job as Guest Relations Officer at Hyatt long time back. I guess it holds true that Once a Hotelier, Always a Hotelier...As part of the the "Exceeding Guest Expectations" Training we would have lots of quizzes. One question was that " What are our guests' most basis expectations ?" The answer was " To be cared, to be understood and to be provided with good service."

People in the customer service industry should be more sensitive to the needs of their customers to have them coming back to them. Companies and Institutions should give them the best training to ensure that they meet the expectations and requirements of the guests and customers. They should be also given training in etiquettes and body language to aid them in delivering the most pleasant interaction with their customers. In this regard, I think that Lifestyle and Nike ( Ground Floor GIP Mall,Noida) need to pay attention as they have a lot of staff members with bad and aggressive attitudes.

Marks & Spencers Noida generally provided very good service to their customers and it is always nice shopping there. But in matters of etiquettes Marks & Spencers as well as Lifestyle needs to strictly prohibit their staff from coughing on customers and digging their noses while giving clothes to customers. As silly and irrelevant as this may sound, some customers actually get offended by such manners and do not want to pick up clothes from there then.

Later I will be telling more about the experience of a family member at the Nike shop which is on the ground floor of GIP Mall. Their attitude is really bad and the all male staff threatens and dominates by surrounding the customer in a group when the customer raises a complaint. I would suggest never to shop there. Instead Nike shop on the other floors are better at that mall.

This is where I stress that it is so important for even good brands like Nike to follow up on the services provided by it's franchises to customers to preserve their reputation and image. No wonder many are now going to Adidas even though they like Nike here. Of course we cannot base our judgement on one or two bad experiences as it is the individual who may have given the worst customer service and not the brand itself. But what can be done not to alienate the customer would be for the Brand name to be careful in selecting the people it lends it's names and franchises to and ensuring that they are providing good services through customer feedback.

I personally feel that not only famous personalities but common sales person at a shop is also in a way endorsing the brand he or she sells. The responsibility rests on that person on how he or she make it a positive shopping experience for the customer to shop at that store. All the more Nike and other famous brands like Lacoste here should be selective in hiring their staff or providing them on job training to deal with the customers specially senior citizens effectively and positively.