So, here's a retail pioneer - having previously overseen marketing & strategy at leadership level for brands like Lacoste, Barista and then Co-founded Amorettos juice bars - sharing insights as a marketer-customer. Enjoy!

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Customer Service In the Indian Retail Industry: Gurpreet Wasi.

“Do what you do so well that they come again and bring their friends” – improvised Walt Disney quote.

Service is something that we all love to talk about in the context of Indian Retail but its only best understood while talking about it since very few Retailers have actively managed to walk the talk as far as Customer Service is concerned.

Since we are talking of an industry which is still in its infancy, I remember my first brush with organized Retail was when Crossroads opened in Mumbai and we walked around like a group of awestruck teenagers, marveling at the glitz and whatever else while grim faced sales people gave condescending looks to hoards of Kishore Biyani's 'India B' who trooped in to have a look. I remember walking into Ashley Shoes at Crossroads and feeling like walking into a funeral. What made it worse was that then I didn't really expect anything different. Just a nice store with uniformed staff, who could reply in some form of the English language was all that customer service was expected to be back then.

How things have changed ever since. I have not visited Ashley Shoes in a long time but I feel the popular shoe brands like Reebok, Nike, Adidas do a good job of selling and service. They make the customer feel welcome and the youthful energy of these brands comes through in their service attitude. Though one cannot of course easily differentiate between the service styles of any of them. Its only the odd effort at genuinely superior service that makes the vital difference between brands which compete neck to neck.

To give you an example I was recently attending a Retail Seminar where the MD of Reebok India was anchoring a session on 'retailing to women'. I had recently got a pair of Reebok Shoes as freebie with my new Sony Ericcson phone. The shoe was available only in Men's sizes and I had grudgingly kept the pair though I knew I would never wear them. I couldn't resist taking a quip at Mr. Singh that evening and told him that I only wanted to point out that women were getting a raw deal from MNC marketers. The gentleman gracefully accepted my point and while I was walking out of the seminar a Reebok guy casually asked me about that particular experience and we exchanged visiting cards. A few months later I was hand delivered a pair of size 5 Reebok shoes at my office address. I was floored and I think this is exemplary customer service. I am now a die-hard Reebok follower after years of having only patronized Nike. I buy shoes for my husband and 2 kids and no prizes for guessing who gets the business from now on. That is the power of customer service. No amount of advertising can create the emotional connect that excellent service creates in an instant.