Offer more than what’s expected

(Very few people can resist something when it’s out of the ordinary. Photo from AFP)

Customers like nice surprises. Shopping at Iora one day, the lady at the counter packed my blouses in a nice cloth bag instead of the usual plastic or paper bag. It probably cost the store a few more pesos than the plastic or paper ones, but it certainly made me remember the brand and decide to come back again.

Of course, the nice packaging wouldn’t matter one bit if the products they sold were no good. But since I loved the blouses, it made Iora stand out from the crowd. This reminded of an article recently published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that says “To keep customers loyal, offer more than what is expected.”

NOW that dollar-spending foreign tourists are rediscovering the Philippines, local retailers and mall operators are bound to experience a noticeable increase in sales as well as competition from one another.

Despite such motherhood statements as “having it all,” no single establishment can ever claim to have everything under one roof. Standing out from a crowded field can, indeed, be a daunting challenge even to the biggest and most astute player.

Like the Emporium Shopping Complex on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, Manila-based shopping establishments need to go beyond what’s expected of them to keep local and foreign customers happy and loyal.

Dubbed as “the ultimate shopping complex,” the trendy Emporium, apart from directly operating a multilevel department store, houses high-end tenants as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci. It’s also the home of such mass-market chains as Zara, Guess, Greyhound and Esprit.

In terms of size, however, it pales in comparison to a number of bigger, more diverse establishments in Bangkok, including its newer and equally upscale sister mall, the Siam Paragon. Both malls and a number of other properties in Thailand are owned and managed by the Mall Group.

What the Emporium lacks in size, it tries to make up for in terms of services targeted specifically to tourists, expatriates and Thailand’s ever growing “hi-so” (high society) set.

Out of the box

Under the helm of former hotelier Paipan Laklaem, the Emporium’s senior shopping complex manager, the mall has been providing department store clients out-of-the-box services inspired by a five-star hotel’s efficient and friendly concierge.

“We’re certainly not the only department store in Bangkok,” said Laklaem. “By providing these services, we hope to give something different to our customers.”

The services include so-called “hands-free” shopping, limousine service and flight reconfirmation. For internal as well as external marketing purposes, such features are grouped under the Emporium’s tourist service center.

“It’s one of the advantages of being small,” said Laklaem, a former sales manager of the Peninsula Bangkok. “Unlike in the case of bigger malls, it’s not as difficult for us to look after the needs of our customers regardless of the market segment.”

The hands-free service allows the shopper to shop at any of the department store’s five levels without queuing to pay every so often or lugging around heavy bags. Selected items can be paid for in one transaction and collected later at a designated area.

Tourism remains and will continue to remain vital in Thailand. Apart from an English-speaking staff led by frequent visitor to the Philippines Watchareewan Singkaew, the Emporium’s customer relations manager, the department store has a number of multilingual interpreters on standby to assist Japanese, Korean, Russian, French and German tourists.

Tourists, especially those leaving on evening flights, can check out of their hotels by noon and use the extra time to shop at the Emporium.

What about their luggage? They can deposit them at the Emporium’s Platinum lounge until the time comes for them to leave for the airport. Mall hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“We even go out of our way to help them repack their things,” said Laklaem. “Should they need to ship items to their respective countries, we can arrange that for them through DHL.”

An information counter also offers money-changing services and VAT refund for tourists. Mall personnel can even assist shoppers make cinema and restaurant reservations as well as hook them up with taxi and car-rental services.

As its experience has shown, size doesn’t necessarily matter. In fact, some foreign customers, especially politicians, celebrities and members of royalty, relish the relative anonymity and discreet atmosphere a more intimate mall such as the Emporium offers.

It takes a lot of creativity to think out of the box, and plan to offer more than what is expected by your customers. If you own a water refilling station, for example, an SMS service might be valuable for busy moms in meetings whose children suddenly ran out of water. Add some SMS reminders on how to keep water safe from bacteria, send them out at least once a week to your customers, and you will always be top of mind for any busy parent.

Let’s say you’re a laundry service. Keeping a database of your customers and the contents of their laundry basket may help you give them a better experience of dealing with you as a returning customer – and you will be able to remind them that the hubby’s jusi barong needs its annual cleaning!

As the article said towards the end: It pays to stand out of the crowd.

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