Customer Service Report: Case Study Of Old Navy, Roots And Gap (Toronto)

Introduction

Sales and customer service is an essential part of the customer experience. All the big brands have to ensure that their sales and customer service staff has been well trained to handle the customers well to retain the existing customers and acquiring new ones. These activities ensure customer satisfaction.

This report will deal with understanding the Author experience at a few stores in Canada and the subsequent customer experience there.

Customer Experience at Old Navy

• Name of business: Old Navy, Toronto ​​​​Date: 10 March 2020
• Employee Name: Catherine ​​​​​​Time: 5:30 pm
• Task: shopping for clothes
• Physical Space:

The store was quite ergonomically designed. It was spacious with bright lights and colours. The entire area was well directed with signs to ensure that people could navigate easily.

The store is located in the busiest shopping district of Toronto which attracted a lot of crowds. Because of this, it is extremely busy all the time. While the store was clean, what I did not like was that the washroom bins were not emptied and were overflowing.

Salesperson:

When I was mystery shopping, I was assigned a salesperson named Catherine. She was very friendly. Since we were almost the same age, we gelled up quite well.

Her body language was pro-active and at no point did she show she was tired or disinterested. In-fact, from her non-verbal cues, she was interested in and went out of that way to help us. She was well dressed in a black dress uniform and stilettoes.

Sales Technique:

As mentioned above, Catherine was an available salesperson. She greeted us with a cheerful smile and asked if we wanted to have some water or not, since it was sunny out there.

She took her time to understand my requirements and did not rush me through it, or overwhelmed me with so many options. She also provided me with information about how to care for the material, like washing and ironing it and keeping it prim and proper.

She took my size right and then sat me down at a counter. In total, she got me just four formal shirts but they were really good. She was a smooth talker.

However, she was really smart. She was quite active in up selling as she eventually persuaded me to buy a cream coloured sweater as well. This she did quite tactfully by asking me what I did. I told her I am a student, then she took me to the discounted section and told me I could get good deals. While I had not planned on buying that sweater, is till ended up with it.

Customer Experience at Roots

• Name of business: Roots Toronto ​​​​Date: 9 March 2020
• Employee Name: Douglas​​​​​Time: 6:00 pm
• Task: shopping for clothes
• Physical Space:

The store was quite spacious and well lit. The counters were spatially arranged to ensure that the customers could move around easily and the floor does not become crowded easily. However, the areas were quite small for the kind of publicity they gathered. It could not take more than 50 people at once without causing inconvenience.

Salesperson:

The sales guy who attended to us was Douglas. He was a shy guy who was reserved. This experience was different as he was not too proactive on selling and would simply give to us what we would ask. He would not interfere too much with suggestions of his own.

He was well dressed however had a very underconfident vibe and body language.

Sales Technique:

Douglas was not very pro-active in sales and maintained a calm attitude. He talked only when talked. He was more responsive than pro-active.

He barely made any communication. He did not indulge in any kind of up-selling. The overall experience was quick. This was the fastest I left a shopping mall.

Customer Experience at Gap

• Name of business: Gap, Toronto ​​​​Date: 11 March 2020
• Employee Name: -​​​​​ ​Time: 6:00 pm
• Task: shopping for clothes
• Physical Space:

The GAP showroom was one of the best clothing shops I have been to. It was really big with open white spaces. It had mirrors all around. Also, it had cloth racks and counters in a very specifically spaced positions so that overcrowding is avoided.

Further, it had self-checkout counters for a few things as well. the place was well lit and had music playing in the background.

Salesperson:

Here, our Salesperson was not wearing a name tag and did not bother to introduce himself either. He was dressed in regular GAP hoodies and blue jeans with good sport shoes. He had piercings on him as well.

He was loud. While he showed interest in us, we thought it was required too much effort. Maybe he was tired.

Sales Technique:

Unlike other salespersons, he was open and not pushy. She was quite communicative and was able to understand my requirements. But at the same time, he had opinions of his own and was trying to communicate them more than it was required.

He had a good taste no doubt. He further got me recommendations. There was something that I liked however it was not in my size. The online ordered it for me as well. I felt really good about it.

He asked me for my preferences and suggested my stuff accordingly. He too tried to up sale me a pair of jeans but wasn’t successful as I feel he was too tired to be persistent.

Conclusion

This shopping experience was unique as we went there for a lot of observation. We understood how customer service is important and how different brands train their employees to deal with customers in a pro-active manner.