Magazines Archives - 2009 February

HR Training & Service Excellence in Retail
Going beyond training into service excellence
Story 5 - Focus

It would seem as though the situation has turned from bad to worse for retailers in Singapore. Tourism numbers are down, with the city- state receiving only 10.1 million visitors last year, falling short of its target of 10.8 million visitors. Even with receipts growing 5% from the previous year to hit S$14.8 billion (US$10 billion), the figure still misses the S$15.5 billion target that was set for 2008.

Singapore’s economic difficulties were further emphasised when its Ministry of Finance revealed in the
Singapore Budget 2009 the need to tap into its reserves for the first time, to deliver a Resilience Package which is primarily aimed at helping businesses survive the tough times ahead. And as the economy continues to retract and efforts to control costs abound on businesses’ lists of considerations
to survive the downturn, retailers are looking at the most costeffective ways of getting people to
continue patronising their stores.

Local sports and fashion apparel and lifestyle retailer Royal Sporting House (RSH) Limited states that while assessing what is important and what is not, it is critical to look at the impact of “the human factor”.

“People are our most valuable asset, even more so in the retail sector, where they are in the front line interacting with our customers,” Kesri Kapur, group COO at RSH, says. “In this business,
retailers exist for their customers.”

“During the slowdown, our staff must intensify their efforts to bond with their customers and build on their relationships with long-standing patrons. Hence, it is important to lift staff morale and instil a sense of confidence by continually investing in staff training and development,” he continues, adding that customers nowadays desire an “all-encompassing shopping experience” that goes beyond
“best variety, best quality and best prices”.

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