With many European economies showing slow growth, the retail
sector is coming under increasing pressure to improve its service
and cater more for consumer demands.
Is the customer always right? The answer, it seems, depends
on which country you are in. Shopping is very much a part of
a country's culture, and attitudes to shopping and consumers
vary from country to country just as much as climate or taste
in food. From the air-conditioned order of American malls to
the anarchy of African bazaars, the way we shop shows the way
we see ourselves and our relationships with other people.
Recent economic hardship has given the consumer increased power
in Europe as retailers fight to win their share of reduced disposable
income. This has meant falling prices, plenty of special offers
and a re-examination of what customer service really means. People
often point to America as an example of sophisticated customer
service. In restaurants in the south of the USA, for example,
waiters compliment you on your clothes, ask about your day, compliment
you on the wisdom of your order and then return every ten minutes
to refill your glass and make sure that everything is to your
satisfaction.
Anyone who has waited 30 minutes to be served
in a restaurant might well dream of such attention, but do
Europeans really want
US style service? As a friend of mine once told me, "By the end
of the evening I had spent as much time talking to the waiter
as to my wife." It is a question of expectations. Different nationalities
expect different types of service.
A Chinese-American friend loves telling people
about how her Chinese mother shops for clothes: "First of all she waits until
they are on sale, then she haggles until she gets an even better
price and then she finds some small fault with the product and
demands a further reduction. She never buys anything at the regular
price." Could you imagine trying such tactics in a department
store in your country?
Attitudes to service are, of course, affected
by employers' attitudes to their workers. As American sales
and service personnel
are heavily reliant on commission and tips, they have more incentive
to provide more service. But is this fair? Do we think it is
fair to ask shop assistants to work late evenings, Sundays and
12 hour shifts? Does it fit in with our picture of society? It
might not be a case of "Is the customer always right?" but a
case of "How much service is it fair to expect?"
Reading for meaning
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Find words or expressions in the above article which have
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