Competitive Advantage of Store Design and Customer Handling in Retail Store Design

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF STORE DESIGN AND CUSTOMER HANDLING IN RETAIL

STORE DESIGN

Good design creates the vital difference in today's competitive marketplace. Successful companies use design as a powerful tool in their marketing strategy by making better products and building a strong retail identity. Design creates a better environment at the workplace and projects the organizational image. Good design offers many benefits - a vastly improved quality; a defined statement of identity; an optimizing of resources.

Good design creates products that look good, work well, last long and are affordable. Today's market leading products, however, have to make the consumer feel good too. They must possess that indefinable quality that only industrial design can offer. The expertise to deliver global quality along with an insight into local requirements helps us design products that are appropriate to their context. The design solutions evolve from genuine collaboration with clients, foregoing pre-determined styles and use the best materials and technologies available.

Each workplace is uniquely designed to create an environment that celebrates the culture of the organization and the nature of its activities. The elements are sturdy to resist wear and flexible enough to adapt to changing requirements.

The identity of a brand requires a consistent ambience at all retail outlets that can swiftly respond to changing needs of retailing. The retail environment is the physical interface between the customer and the brand and is therefore the culmination of the entire effort that has gone in building the brand. Design improves the quality of life by creating objects that stimulate the senses. Such objects offer practical usage with a striking visual language.

With shopping increasingly becoming a trip borne from choice rather than necessity, people will choose to shop in environments that embody their aspiration of a leisure day out. The mix of uses, the level of service, the retailers represented and their level of presentation are part of the story, the other area we can influence the total experience is the overall mall environment; the container that hosts the shops and customers. The most successful interiors will have closely matched their interior design offer with the aspirations of their core customer. We have seen how retail environments are shaped by variable factors such as the retailer and presentation and the architectural design, and the other key area to consider is the design of signs, furniture, and art pieces in the environment. The reason that people still shop, even in the internet age, is so they can socializes, and actually touch the merchandise. So it is possible for retail environments to be too dynamic, and certainly the luxury customer is looking for innovations, authenticity, quality, and service, but not necessarily too much visual or aural activity.

CUSTOMER HANDLING

Customer service is not merely keeping the customer satisfied; it is keeping the customer delighted. It is not enough to have a satisfied customer, he/she should be ecstatic for doing business with you . Customer service should go beyond products. In today's volatile business world and challenging economy, retaining customers is critical to our success. Customers have choices and if we don't give customers some good reasons to stay, competitors will give them a reason to leave . But things don't always go smoothly and customers complain, sometimes for good reason, and sometimes for no reason.

Learning how to handle complaints professionally and smoothly can increase customer loyalty and retention. customer complaints—if used correctly—can be a valuable resource that you can turn to your advantage. They can give you insight into problems with your selling process. Accept each complaint for what it is—a chance to learn.

First of all, answer every complaint promptly and politely. Before answering with a solution to a customer's complaint, be sure that you understand the problem, and be as specific as possible in your replies. If the customer is frustrated and complaining, expect the tone of his or her message to be angry and confrontational. That doesn't mean you should be. Respect your frustrated customers and reply to them in an empathetic tone.

But don't stop there. If you haven't received a reply, follow up with the customer to make sure that you have addressed his or her concerns. This additional email will show the complaining customer that you're willing to come to a mutually agreeable solution to the problem. If a customer sees that you're willing to work with him or her, this will go a long way in resolving the issue. Just