Poor customer service will push many Canadians to do their shopping online this Christmas, suggests a recent survey.
“These days consumers are not going to suffer poor service because they know they have options,” said Bob Macdonald, president of Maritz Canada, a Mississauga-based performance improvement company that conducted the survey.
“This is a call to action for retailers,” Macdonald said. “Retailers need to be pretty sophisticated because they must be competitive not only with the store next door, but also with someone shopping on the Internet in the comfort of their own home.”
The Maritz survey — a study of 1,000 adults across Canada — shows that 47 per cent of Canadians polled say they will do “some online shopping” during the coming holiday season.
Among those who plan to shop online, one-third (37 per cent) said they turned to the Net “because they don’t like dealing with salespeople.” One in four Internet shoppers (23 per cent) said they get “better customer service online than they would at a store.” Survey results are considered accurate to within 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Leadership training counsellor David Crisp, said holiday service levels are a dilemma for retailers because recruitment and retention is a huge challenge, but he was surprised by the study findings.
“Those numbers sound high to me,” said Crisp, who retired in June as senior vice-president of human resources for the Hudson’s Bay Company. “A couple of years ago, Christmas came and went and people were complaining that Internet shopping delivery wasn’t very good.”
The Bay needs about 10,000 salespeople for the December holiday rush. In order to train, the retail giant starts hiring in September. The Bay does supplementary recruiting in November, to account for attrition.
“People think retail isn’t a sophisticated job, but when you are starting from scratch, you’re faced with a challenge of how to get all that to stick in their heads,” added Crisp. He said the Bay’s training regimen involves several weekday evening courses, plus a full day session on the weekend. Once the salespeople hit the floor, they’re also assigned a sales buddy for backup.
Meanwhile HR departments looking for some help to put an end to bad customer service may be relieved to hear the Retail Council of Canada is launching a national certification program, raising the bar for customer service, while keeping pace with growing competitive retail forces on the Internet.
Voluntary certification and training for front-line retail sales managers and associates is slated to begin in 2003. The program invites salespeople to enroll in self-directed training — under the watchful eye of a job coach — in preparation for a 100-question exam and a professional performance assessment.
“Sales and service is not just about selling more, it’s also about consumers’ experience, it’s about allowing buyers to make their purchase on their own terms,” said Macdonald. “No matter how popular the Internet becomes, it can’t provide the hands-on experience for purchasers that traditional retailers can. A national certification program is exactly the thing that’s needed.”
Certification was raised a number of years ago in the federal government’s “Accidental Career” report (so called because many people end up working retail by accident) on the state of the retail industry. Among the many recommendations was a call for national standards for retail salespeople. In response, the Retail Council initiated a one-year pilot certification project, involving 80 salespeople from across Canada.
The pilot concluded successfully in April. Costs and infrastructure for a full-fledged national program are now being calculated.
The program is what the Retail Council’s certification and training project manager Mark Richardson calls a “self challenge,” meaning participants can opt to write the exam before or after completing the training. Results from the exam outline participants’ strengths and weaknesses for followup training and retesting.
Pamela Addo, the Retail Council’s director of communications, said the certification program is a cornerstone in the Council’s bid to redress a common perception that retails sales is “a job until you get a real job,” not a profession.
Heather Fullerton, retail sales manager at the popular Apples for Gold gift shop, north of Toronto, took part in the pilot project out of curiosity. She wanted to influence how the standards were set, while assessing how Apples for Gold stacked up against other stores.
“For the most part, the certification program confirmed we are doing the right thing,” said Fullerton, a 13-year veteran at Apples for Gold. “It’s very competitive in the retail industry now. Not so much for us, because we offer a unique customer experience, but I know the big guys out there have to be feeling the competition with the Internet.
“When I first heard about the program, I thought ‘right on,’ we’ve needed something like this for years and years. This is a big step forward in Canada,” added Fullerton. “The certification process even got into things like cleaning your fingernails and brushing your hair before you meet customers. Some people in retail don’t seem to realize it’s so important to look nice and act nice. There are expectations out there. You have to be patient, you have to have the ability to smile.”
Joe Konecny is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
“These days consumers are not going to suffer poor service because they know they have options,” said Bob Macdonald, president of Maritz Canada, a Mississauga-based performance improvement company that conducted the survey.
“This is a call to action for retailers,” Macdonald said. “Retailers need to be pretty sophisticated because they must be competitive not only with the store next door, but also with someone shopping on the Internet in the comfort of their own home.”
The Maritz survey — a study of 1,000 adults across Canada — shows that 47 per cent of Canadians polled say they will do “some online shopping” during the coming holiday season.
Among those who plan to shop online, one-third (37 per cent) said they turned to the Net “because they don’t like dealing with salespeople.” One in four Internet shoppers (23 per cent) said they get “better customer service online than they would at a store.” Survey results are considered accurate to within 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Leadership training counsellor David Crisp, said holiday service levels are a dilemma for retailers because recruitment and retention is a huge challenge, but he was surprised by the study findings.
“Those numbers sound high to me,” said Crisp, who retired in June as senior vice-president of human resources for the Hudson’s Bay Company. “A couple of years ago, Christmas came and went and people were complaining that Internet shopping delivery wasn’t very good.”
The Bay needs about 10,000 salespeople for the December holiday rush. In order to train, the retail giant starts hiring in September. The Bay does supplementary recruiting in November, to account for attrition.
“People think retail isn’t a sophisticated job, but when you are starting from scratch, you’re faced with a challenge of how to get all that to stick in their heads,” added Crisp. He said the Bay’s training regimen involves several weekday evening courses, plus a full day session on the weekend. Once the salespeople hit the floor, they’re also assigned a sales buddy for backup.
Meanwhile HR departments looking for some help to put an end to bad customer service may be relieved to hear the Retail Council of Canada is launching a national certification program, raising the bar for customer service, while keeping pace with growing competitive retail forces on the Internet.
Voluntary certification and training for front-line retail sales managers and associates is slated to begin in 2003. The program invites salespeople to enroll in self-directed training — under the watchful eye of a job coach — in preparation for a 100-question exam and a professional performance assessment.
“Sales and service is not just about selling more, it’s also about consumers’ experience, it’s about allowing buyers to make their purchase on their own terms,” said Macdonald. “No matter how popular the Internet becomes, it can’t provide the hands-on experience for purchasers that traditional retailers can. A national certification program is exactly the thing that’s needed.”
Certification was raised a number of years ago in the federal government’s “Accidental Career” report (so called because many people end up working retail by accident) on the state of the retail industry. Among the many recommendations was a call for national standards for retail salespeople. In response, the Retail Council initiated a one-year pilot certification project, involving 80 salespeople from across Canada.
The pilot concluded successfully in April. Costs and infrastructure for a full-fledged national program are now being calculated.
The program is what the Retail Council’s certification and training project manager Mark Richardson calls a “self challenge,” meaning participants can opt to write the exam before or after completing the training. Results from the exam outline participants’ strengths and weaknesses for followup training and retesting.
Pamela Addo, the Retail Council’s director of communications, said the certification program is a cornerstone in the Council’s bid to redress a common perception that retails sales is “a job until you get a real job,” not a profession.
Heather Fullerton, retail sales manager at the popular Apples for Gold gift shop, north of Toronto, took part in the pilot project out of curiosity. She wanted to influence how the standards were set, while assessing how Apples for Gold stacked up against other stores.
“For the most part, the certification program confirmed we are doing the right thing,” said Fullerton, a 13-year veteran at Apples for Gold. “It’s very competitive in the retail industry now. Not so much for us, because we offer a unique customer experience, but I know the big guys out there have to be feeling the competition with the Internet.
“When I first heard about the program, I thought ‘right on,’ we’ve needed something like this for years and years. This is a big step forward in Canada,” added Fullerton. “The certification process even got into things like cleaning your fingernails and brushing your hair before you meet customers. Some people in retail don’t seem to realize it’s so important to look nice and act nice. There are expectations out there. You have to be patient, you have to have the ability to smile.”
Joe Konecny is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
