Department Stores Category The manager of Seiyu, one of Hong Kong's premier department stores, says satisfying customers and making millions of transactions a year is a matter of 'adapting' to the individual needs of every customer.
Seiyu, which is located in Sha Tin's New Town Plaza mall, won this year's Hong Kong Retail Management Association's (HKRMA) Mystery Shopper award for excellence in customer service among department stores.
'We try to give our customers the service they want,' said Seiyu managing director William Wong.
'People are different. Some want to do things fast, others want to get a lot of information and then be left alone.' Mr Wong said the 326- strong staff roamed the floors of the 150,000-square-foot store to assist customers. 'With so much going on, we have to leave it up to the people on the frontline to make many decisions.' Training was critical in ensuring each department functioned at peak efficiency, he said, particularly as Seiyu generally hired younger people with high school degrees to staff the floor.
Their lack of experience was made up for in training seminars, he said.
'Like any retail store, we have training in selling skills, how to talk to customers, employee appearance and product appearance and knowledge.' Mr Wong said the goals of the top level and lower level management were all aimed at customer satisfaction. The key was implementing this in each department and that was where the individual employee fitted in, he said.