Customer is the King......Gimme a break

Several observers of the Indian market have time and again mentioned that the Indian customer has arrived and so is customer service in terms of exceeding his expectations. I think we still have a long way to go when it comes to serving the customer and genuinely making an effort to retain him. Let me narrate a story. Last week I went to this supermarket, Nilgiris, a100-year old brand that has a loyal clientele. The shop is very congested with narrow aisles flooded with merchandise. I was looking for an after shave for my husband. The after shave brands were all placed at the top of the rack. They were very closely packed and one had to make an effort and at the same time show a lot of caution while removing the preferred one. When I picked up one of the brands, the pack nxt to it fell thud on the floor and smashed inot pieces. Immediately the sales gal came running to look at the damage and informed that it would be billed. I continued with my purchase and very time I picked up something, there was someother product tumbling down. I also picked up a couple of aprons for which the price sticker was missing.

I got to know the price only after the bill was printed out at the billing counter. I pointed out to the manager of the store that the merchandise had to be properly arranged so that one could use single hand to pick up products from the shelves. I was told that I was the only customer who seemed to have a problem. I was in turn advised to ask for an escort at the store. As a matter of fact, this information was nowhere displayed in the store. The manager did not even acknowledge the suggestion or register the compalaint of a customer. I duly paid for the broken bottle of after shave, cursed Nilgiris that I would never visit them again. But does it matter to the retailer? A small percentage of this huge population is sufficient for the retailer to meet his costs and make a decent profit. This apart, I noticed the price on the aprons written with a felt pen in one of the corners of the cloth and barely visible. Is this not a perfect case of hiding information that is vaulable for the customer?

The hype that is created around the buzzwords 'the Indian customer', 'customer service' and 'customer retention' fall apart in the wake of such events. So what next? I would visit a different super market and Nilgiris would continue to 'entice' customers.