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Nikki Sun

Hong Kong ranked bottom for the first time in an annual global customer service survey as a gloomy economic outlook apparently wiped away the smiles of many local employees.
The survey, conducted by Mystery Shopper Service Association, collected data from 61 countries and regions by sending out trained individuals to experience and anonymously measure services while posing as potential customers.
Hong Kong placed last out of 37 countries surveyed last year in its “smiling index” – down from third last in 2014.
The city achieved a score of 48 out of 100, far below the global average of 83.
Hong Kong consumer services feel pressure as young graduates cool to industry, survey finds
Association chairman Anders Wong said the city had failed to improve upon last year’s result. In 2014, it experienced “a 20 per cent drop” in its smiling index score from 2013. Hong Kong’s ranking actually fell last year as other places improved their performance.
First place in the index was secured by Ireland for the second year in a row.
Macau ranked a spot higher than Hong Kong with a mark of 53. China scored 83, ranking 26th and 11 places above the city.
The survey did not include data from Singapore.
Wong believed the major reason for the city’s lacklustre showing was weak economic conditions, citing a sluggish local stock market and falling property prices discouraging landlords who are not seeing good returns on their investment.

He added it was inevitable that frontline staff would feel frustrated by their shrinking commission fees in the wake of poor sales performances.
Wong also thought high turnover among frontline staff had prompted employees to not take their job seriously. Still others settled for muddling along, he said, adding that this phenomenon was especially common among younger employees.
“Hong Kong doesn’t have a happy culture,” said Wong of the current predicament.
However, Barry Mak, an associate professor at Polytechnic University’s school of hotel and tourism management, advised the public to interpret the ‘smiling index’ with care.
Why so glum? Hong Kong shop workers ranked third last in ‘service with a smile’ survey
“It’s not fair to draw the conclusion that Hong Kong is terrible because it ranked last in a report,” he said.
“Do people in London always smile at you? “ Mak asked, adding it was not surprising that people living in large cities were not fond of smiling. He said an absence of smiling was “a by-product” of life in a metropolis.
And in a sign that the city’s gloomy conditions had not yet lifted, the city’s retail sales plunged 13.6 per cent year on year in the first two months of this year – the sharpest slump for the sector since 1999.
Industry insiders have warned in recent months that large-scale lay-offs and even a tide of shop closures would not be surprising in the near term if the bleak economic situation persisted.



Service with a scowl? Hong Kong dead last in global customer survey ‘smiling index’

A saleswoman and customers at a cosmetic shop in Wan Chai. Photo: David Wong

Employees serve customers shopping for gold jewelry at a Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. store in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. China's imports of gold from Hong Kong surged 67 percent to the highest level in more than two years in December as stock market turmoil and anticipation of a further weakening in the nation's currency spurred demand for a haven. Consumers were also buying in the run-up to Chinese New Year in February, the peak demand season. Photographer: Billy H.C. Kwok/Bloomberg ORG XMIT: 603153381

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Hong Kong

City drops from third last in annual report as dismal economic outlook cited
