Visual Merchandising and Customer Loyalty

Abstract
Visual Merchandising plays a very important role in Brand loyalty for stores and
brands in general. Visual Merchandising is an important role in the store inter
ior & exterior. Store exterior includes window display, store formats, fixtures
and fittings and interior lighting etc. If retailers want to project the best si
de of their company in the minds of the customers and in turn brand loyalty they
have to make sure their visual display should be pleasing to the customers. Vis
ual Merchandising is a powerful tool in shaping consumers final decision inside
a store.
Most studies of satisfaction and loyalty focus on the brand level of decision ma
king. But in this paper I have tried to shift the focus on Visual merchandising
effects on brand and customer loyalty through explaining the important aspects o
f visual merchandise like store exteriors, interiors and displays. Satisfaction
plays a very important role in developing brand loyalty of a customer.
Companies use Visual Merchandise to carefully manage the ‘look and feel’ of the bran
d in store and for presenting products in the most effective ways. It means inve
sting in expertise and resources for the use of ‘best practice’ Visual merchandising
techniques to gain maximum control of selling process. It is a complementary fu
nction to the buying strategy and when used together can have dramatic effects o
n sales, profits and product performance. Getting an in store Visual merchandise
right is regarded critical to success and can make a huge difference between a
company’s success and failure.
Key words: Consumer Decision, Satisfaction, Best Practice.

INTRODUCTION
Retailers now-a-days have paid close attention to intensify its retail identity
by unique visual Merchandising strategies to arouse purchase. Mannequin format i
s an important criterion to influence the awareness stage and shop entry and the
sensory pleasure inside a store. The combination of mannequin, lighting and pro
ps in a window display and a store highlight can further intensify the decision
process where the former affects the affective pleasure of consumers and help th
em determine the suitability of a store’s retail identity to personal preference,
the latter intensifies the sensational feeling of consumers and encourage the te
ndency to try on or purchase which directly relates to the pre-purchase stage.
There are seven factors of brand loyalty and they are brand name, product qualit
y, product display, price, style, and service quality and store environment. It
is mentioned that a store having a good product display can gain loyalty from th
e customers thus supporting the statement of having a positive relationship betw
een customer loyalty and Visual Merchandising.
Visual Merchandising is the art and science of displaying and presenting product
on the sales floor and in the windows with the purpose to increase store traffi
c and sales volume. Along with your store design, it is a key component of your
store’s unique identity and your best form of advertising. Through them you are ab
le to communicate to your target customer your brand’s identity, what is unique an
d special about your offering and what makes you better than other stores. Of co
urse, like in advertising, the message has to be clear and consistent. Because i
f it is not, you will end up attracting the wrong customers or deliver the wrong
product and experience to them. If your store looks and feels high end but your
products are not, you might discourage your mid to low-income level target cust
omers from checking you out because they associate your expensive look with high
 price merchandise. At the same time, the customers that you will attract, the m
ore affluent ones, will most likely not buy because your selection doesn’t meet th
eir expectations for pricier, more luxurious products. Whatever your brand’s uniqu
e identity is, you must create an environment where everything from the shopping
bags to the displays in the windows conveys the same clear and consistent messa
ge. This is the art of branding, and it is as necessary for environments as it i
s for products. Visual Merchandising is an extension of your store’s customer serv
ice. (Jim Dion)
More than two-thirds of shopping decisions are made at the point of sale. Theref
ore, for brands in nearly all categories from candy to computers the difference
between success and failure frequently is tied closely to retail presentation. E
ven with the growth of Web based shopping, which will change the shopper s point
-of sale environment, the importance of a brand s visual identity won t diminish
. Online shoppers will continue to view and select among numerous packages and l
ogos and make their decisions based largely on each brand s visual presentation.
(Scott Young)
Visual merchandising is correlative with all other sales promotion and publicity
media. The sales potential and the depth at the which visual merchandising can
affect a customer’s behavior depicts how important Visual Merchandising will be fo
r increasing Customer Loyalty of that store. (Charles Dirksen)
In current highly competitive environments, improving consumers’ loyalty to brands
allows firms to secure a comfortable long-term position in the market-place. Tw
o different approaches for analyzing brand loyalty are then discussed: the downs
tream one, based on observing consistent purchases of a brand over a period of t
ime and the upstream approach, which focuses on the motives that are behind a re
peat purchasing of a brand. (Abdelmajid Amine 1998)
Due to the similarity of merchandise, retailers utilize visual merchandising to
differentiate their offerings from others’ as well as to improve the desirability
of products. There is a pivotal relationship between college students’ impulse buy
ing behaviors and two types of visual merchandising practices: in store form/man
nequin display and promotional signage. In-store browsing may be a link between
internal and external factors, as an important component in the impulse buying p
rocess as well as a link between consumers’ impulse buying behavior and retail set
tings including exterior and interior display. As a customer browses longer, she
/he will tend to encounter more stimuli, which would tend to increase the likeli
hood of experiencing impulse urges. This supports Stern’s (1962) conceptualization
of impulse buying as a response to the consumer’s exposure to in-store stimuli. T
he more the store stimuli, such as visual merchandising, serves as a shopping ai
d, the more likely the possibility of a desire or need arising and finally creat
ing an impulse purchase. The importance of window display in relation to consume
rs’ buying behavior has received minimal attention in the literature. However, sin
ce a consumer’s choice of a store is influenced by the physical attractiveness of
a store (Darden at al., 1983), and the first impressions of the store image is n
ormally created at the façade level, it can be suggested that window display may i
nfluence, at least to some degree, consumers’ choice of a store when they do not s
et out with a specific purpose of visiting a certain store and purchasing a cert
ain item. The initial step to getting customers to purchase is getting them in t
he door. (Jiyeon Kim)
To build long-term customer loyalty, price, quality, variety, and right image ar
e very much needed. To attain this, the aesthetic appeal of the store and the wa
y the products are displayed at the store are very important. Thus, the visual m
erchandising (VM) is the need of the hour at the retail stores. Amidst this comp
etition where products and quality will be almost similar, the only point of dif
ferentiation will be the ‘experience’ that the consumers will get while shopping. Th
e biggest role of providing the shoppers with an unforgettable experience will b
e that of Visual Merchandising (VM). It is high time that Indian retailers under
stand and adopt the scientific and professional system of VM rather than conferr
ing to traditional displaying of products. Communication that transforms passive
environment as dynamic experiences by strategically placing brand visuals encou
rages active consumer participation. For this, we need to create successful POP
concepts which start with a clear understanding of all the components of VM, in
depth knowledge of problems faced in effective implementation of VM, and study o
f consumer preferences and buying behavior. Also important is conducting of comp
arative analysis of stores (so far a neglected area in Visual Merchandising), wh
ich can help in improvising the sales volume vis a vis competitors. (Shivani Sha
rma and Nirdesh K. Singh)
In a retail store, better attention is paid to what makes the store special and
unique. This can require reducing inventory, and/or selecting specific products
that better reflect the nature of the store brand. Notice how many successful re
tail stores have simple interiors. It takes skill to simplify elements down to t
hose few that are critical. (Herrainco Brand Strategy & design Inc.)
This would include:
> Eye catching store signs, photography, displays and graphics
> Unique, quality products
> Organized merchandise that is color blocked and neatly displayed
> Clear interior signage/ information
> Attentive, helpful staff
> Functional and pleasing fitting rooms
> Appropriate and appealing store scent and sound
> Be empathetic.
Better attention should be paid to in-store visual merchandising. When you consi
dering how important a company’s product or service are, it’s surprising how little
time and money is spent on professional photography. A few signature images shou
ld be created that define the brand emotionally and speak to customer aspiration
s. In every case there are certain colors, images, typography and even language
that will better reflect your specific style and story or history and, as such,
help you define your brand. It takes confidence and sometimes courage to drill d
own. Less is more. It’s true in almost every type of design from garden design to
restaurants and retail stores. As consumers, we often take for granted many of t
he successful brands around us, not realizing how much effort they make to ensur
e brand consistency. At the end of the day, your brand is a promise you make to
customers that the experience they have with you is repeatable. And in order for
you to repeat it, you must know all the elements that are entailed in detail, f
rom what colors, typefaces, sounds and smells best reflect your company, to how
merchandise is packaged and displayed.
VISUAL MERCHANDISING CAN HAVE THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS IF DONE IN A RIGHT WAY:
a) Increase footfalls for business
b) Creating Customer Loyalty
c) Improve the shopping experience
d) Raising the expectations of the customer
e) Increasing turnover

A) Increasing footfalls for business: A good visual merchandising effort in

a store is reflected well on the façade as well as on the window display. Thus ma
king the store more attractive for the customers and enticing them to enter the
store and have a look at the merchandise which is either on display outside or s
ome other merchandise which will be on offer inside. Thus good visual merchandis
e increases footfalls for a store and eventually making it more profitable.
B) Creating Customer Loyalty: This is the topic on which the whole research
paper is based on. Visual Merchandising definitely has an impact on customer lo
yalty and thus any retail store’s main aim is to get loyal customers. If a consume
r finds good merchandises on the window or on display and they keep on finding g
ood stuffs, a customer is bound to become loyal to that store as they will have
a perception about the store giving them good merchandises. Thus components of V
isual Merchandising like flooring, window display, façade, lighting, fragrance, ma
nnequins etc. have to work together in order to create loyal customers for the s
tore. It is very important for the retailers to spend considerable amount of mon
ey on the display of their merchandises as they don’t realize that this could be t
heir first step in creating customer loyalty.
C) Improving the shopping experience: A good visual display and merchandisi
ng will give a customer a good shopping experience and thus memorable as well. T
his will give the customers an urge to go back to the store and visit it again s
ince its ambience and environment was to their likeness. Along with customer ser
vice, Visual merchandising also plays as a silent salesman to attract customers.
D) Raising the expectation of the customers: By having a good visual mercha
ndising display the store raises the expectation of the customers. They expect t
he same cleanliness, sophistication, attractive display, good merchandise etc th
e next time they enter a store. Thus a retail store has to spend a considerable
amount on a continuous basis to maintain the expectations of the customers.
E) Increasing Turnover: When the footfalls increase, customers become loyal
, the shopping experience gets better the customers will start harnessing more t
rust into the store and thus that will increase the turnover of the store in tur
n. The managers must realize that investing in visual merchandising is not any i
nvestment down the drain, but it is like a future investment which will just giv
e enriching returns in the future through increased turnover and thus the compan
y will expand more and more from there on.
IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING
1) Retail Signages: Signages are one of the integral components of visual m
erchandising executed at any retail store. It can be a drop down from the ceilin
g of the store with a word like ‘Groceries’ written on it in an eye catching font or
it can be an A-4 or A-3 size paper pasted on the store shelves promoting scheme
s like ‘Buy One Get One Free’ and revealing prices of the products lying on the shel
ves or it can also be a beautifully painted wall having colorful pictures and pu
nch lines like ‘Is Se Sasta Aur Achchha Kahin Nahin’ on it and so on and so forth. W
hatever may be the case; signages are considered as one of the most appropriate
ways of conveying messages to the customers. The challenge before the retailers
is not limited to simply displaying these signages at their stores but is of des
igning them professionally while focusing on some of the important parameters li
ke quality of the paper or the material used, color scheme applied, font used, i
.e. whether it is legible enough or not, simplicity of the message such that it
is easy to be interpreted by the customers and above all, location at which thes
e signages need to be placed inside the store such that they attract maximum att
ention of the customers and pursue them to buy the products. Studies have reveal
ed that one has not more than 3 seconds to let the customer know what he/she wil
l find inside the store.
2) Retail Planogram: A retail planogram is a diagram that shows how and whe
re specific retail products should be placed on shelves or displayed in order to
increase customer’s purchases. A skilled planogrammer at retail store develops th
ese planograms for different types of visual merchandising displays (such as she
lf-displays, pegboards, or slat board). These are developed based on the informa
tion available for the product such as the amount of inventory left for the prod
uct, volume of sales per square foot of retail space, and other specific informa
tion about products (such as stock keeping unit numbers, product codes, etc.). B
y analyzing past and current sales patterns, a planogrammer makes recommendation
s about the number of ‘Facings’ (how many of the products should face straight towar
d the customer) a certain product should have on a retail display, how high or l
ow it should be on the display, as well as which products should surround it. Th
is planogram is then printed out as a visual to be followed by the part time hel
per that is often hired to restock retail shelves and displays. This gives manag
ement of a retail store or chain more control over how products are displayed, a
nd allows them to track and improve on the success of their planograms. This com
ponent is taken care well at the Food Bazaar as there were separate sections for
all categories of products without any inter mingling of products. It was almos
t a negligent component at Subhiksha, as there was no proper order of number of
facings of a product nor any emphasis was given on category-wise display of prod
ucts. Juices shelve containing oils and vice versa were the common phenomenon at
the store. VM at Choupal Fresh was also strictly taken care of.
3) Retail Merchandising: Retail merchandising is a major component of visua
l merchandising. It takes into consideration almost everything a customer experi
ences from his first sight of the storefront, which includes an attractive and i
nviting entrance of the store, height of the building of the store, display wind
ows (in the case of Food Bazaar and Subhiksha lot of colorful charts were pasted
on the window panes at the entrance) marquee, parking space, etc. until he/she
leaves the store with a purchase in his/her hand. It is all about understanding
the way customer shops such that the products can be placed at positions in the
store where they have maximum chance of being picked up through increasing visib
ility and appearance with the help of flood lights, par bulbs, suitable fixtures
and fittings, etc. For example, in the case of ITC Choupal Fresh, all the racks
were placed on the left hand side and the cash counter was on the right side of
the store keeping in view that the moment the customer enters the store; he tur
ns to the left instead of right. Moreover, for the display of exotic fruits and
vegetables, a special chamber was designed making it more appealing.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The VM implementation process is very critical in any retail store, because if t
he implementation is not proper than the top management will approve on to somet
hing and when it comes to practically putting it together might turn out to be c
ompletely different. This might lead to wastage in money and also wastage in res
ources plus on top of that customer dissatisfaction and customer loyalty might b
e hampered, which can cost the company dearly.
Implementation Process: The VM encompasses a number of activities starting with
the designing of layout for the store and packaging of products to the final dis
play of products in the store. All these activities are carried out through the
joint efforts of various teams, such as category team which deals with a particu
lar category of products like staples, fruits and vegetables, etc.; marketing te
am which plans promotional strategies like ‘Wednesday Bazaar’ in food bazaar, etc. O
ut-of-house team takes care of places outside the reach of customer and visual m
erchandising team. The major task of final designing and implementation of VM is
carried out by the visual merchandising team which comprises visual merchandise
r (one each at head office and at the respective store) category team and coordi
nator.
The process usually takes 10 to 15 days. Whenever a VM has to be executed at any
of the stores across the country, the category team briefs the coordinator abou
t various promotion schemes that are to be highlighted in the store, estimates o
f cost involved in VM implementation, specificity of the products to be displaye
d at the store, focusing on the unique selling points, etc. The coordinator in t
urn passes the information to the visual merchandiser at head office. He then de
velops planogram(s) for the launch of the product and passes it to the coordinat
or, who in turn shows the various options to the category team for its approval.
All options are either shown graphically or a demonstration is made at a store
to decide the best one. Once approval is made, Visual Merchandiser at the store
executes the plan with the help of housekeeper. The process of VM execution in a
ny retail store varies according to the category of the products. For example, i
n the processed foods category, VM is required for product promotion, pricing, l
aunch, etc., especially in the case of festivals, whereas for other categories o
f products like staples, VM is required for the launch of new products and promo
tion of the existing products. The companies like Gits, Panchanjanga, Britannia,
Amul, Pepsi, etc. are involved in brand promotions for which they pay a price a
s per the specifications of the space allotted such as shelves, bays and gondola
space, etc. for the VM. The budget involved in VM of any product category is di
rectly proportional to the MRP of the product. VM budget also varies depending u
pon the store category as for all Food Bazaars, the budget was found high for A
category (turnover more than 1.5 crore) store as compared to B (turnover between
80 lakh and 1.5 crore ) and C category (less than 80 lakh) stores.

MODEL OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING & CUSTOMER LOYALTY

1) Why integration of Visual Merchandising and CRM: Integration of Visual m

erchandising and CRM is extremely important because if it is not integrated a st
ore can face lack of footfalls, low Return On Capital (ROC), Location disadvanta
ge, No repeat sales in a store. These stores face similar type of problems and d
ue to which they either have to shut shops or drastically cut costs by reducing
their workforce or extensive savings on day to day activities thus reducing the
quality of offerings to the customer. These all finally result into the same thi
ng i.e. customer dissatisfaction and in turn low sales and no customer loyalty.
2) Need for integration of Visual Merchandising and CRM: Visual Merchandisi
ng is as important a part of Customer retention as CRM. These both are the diffe
rent sides of the same coin. CRM helps in building brand trust and also makes th
e customer feel that they belong to that store or vice versa. Visual merchandisi
ng on the other makes the customer feel that they should go back to the store be
cause of its cleanliness, display of merchandise, the overall feel of the store,
environment of the store etc. Both these verticals are very important to increa
se sales and also footfalls thus integration of CRM and Visual Merchandising is
extremely necessary for a store.
3) Product Value: Merchandising Presentation Techniques (MPT) is a part of
Product Value. This helps in creating a value of the product in the minds of the
customer and thus enhancing sales and customer loyalty through attractiveness o
f the merchandise display on a continuous basis.
4) Service Value: Service Value is the intangible benefit that a customer d
erives from a product or a store’s offering. Its service value is derived from the
offering that they give to a customer in comparison to their competitor. This g
ives them a differentiating factor from their competitors and thus their unique
offering creates loyalty. Services like Happy meals by McDonalds give them a dif
ferentiated factor from other competitors.
5) Brand Value: Brand value includes customer engagement. Customer engageme
nt means how much you can involve your customer in your store through offers, pr
omotions and exclusive privileges. Customer involvement has a substantial impact
on the loyalty of a customer. Loyalty programs include loyalty cards like First
Citizen Card, iMint etc.
6) Generates the desired objectives and enhances repeat purchases: Through
proper integration of VM and CRM an organization should be sure that they are he
ading in the right direction. Through integrating these two important verticals
an organization meets its objectives i.e. increase in footfall and higher sales.
Finally customer loyalty will also be resulted from this activity.
7) Delivers exception value and incremental returns to retailer: When the r
etailer invests in CRM and Visual Merchandising, he doesn’t do it just for the cus
tomer’s. He is in turn helping himself by investing in something which is going to
give him rich returns in the future. It’s a very systematic process, it all start
s from attracting the customer inside the store, then ensuring that the customer
is pleased with the store and its environment, make an impact on the customer’s m
ind, ensure repeat purchases, enable CRM activities and then finally making sure
the customer is loyal. All this will ensure the retailer of getting incremental
returns and delivering exceptional value for the customers.
SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Retail is learning the baby steps and is in its nascent stage especially in deve
loping economies like India, Brazil, and Vietnam etc. Not much research study ha
s been undertaken to understand the functional areas of retailing like category
management, visual merchandising management, CRM in retail etc. There needs to b
e an urgent call to increase the focus on researching the retail management best
practices to enhance the running of the retail industry in India. This paper in
tents to forge a relationship between visual merchandising and CRM practices and
dwells into the depth of understanding how visual merchandising can enhance cus
tomer loyalty for a retailer/ retail business. Future research should be underta
ken so as to develop business models and mathematical models for testing the val
idation of the correlation between visual merchandising and Customer loyalty/ CR
M
CONCLUSION
Visual merchandising in India is still catching importance. Retailers are a bit
reluctant to spend on enhancing the retail store image. Thus visual merchandisin
g falls prey to limited budgets and thus ordinary displays. CRM is a mere lip se
rvice and not a actual practice, but, successful examples of western retailers l
ike Nordstrom, Harrods, Target and Selfridges prove a point that repeat sales in
retail will only happen by enhancing CRM practices. An attempt has been made in
this Research Paper to advice Retail Practitioners that more footfalls would be
generated by enhancing the Visual Appeal of the Store and by nurturing long las
ting Relationships with the Shoppers so as to repeat more customers, increase th
e basket size and add more incremental returns to the Retailers.

References:
1) The Impact of Visual Merchandising on the consumer decision process for
intimate apparel by Derry Law (Institute of textile clothing, The Hong Kong Poly
technic University, Hong Kong) and Joanne Yip (ACE style institute of intimate a
pparel, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong)
2) Influence of Brand Loyalty on Consumer Sportswear by Wong Foong Yee (Dep
artment of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Management, Univer
siti Putra Malaysia) and Yah Yah Sidek (Graduate School of Management, Universit
i Putra Malaysia)
3) Visual Merchandising - Make It A Feast For The Senses By Jim Dion
4) Putting the pieces together by Scott Young
5) Visual Merchandising Research series by Howard M. Cowee
6) Consumers true brand loyalty: the central role of commitment by Abdelmaj
id Amine (ESA, Universite´ Paris Val de Marne, IRG Cre´ teil and DMSP Dauphine Resea
rch Centers, 3–5 Voie Fe´ lix E´ boue´ , 94000 Cre´ teil, France)
7) College students apparel impulse buying behaviors in relation to visual
merchandising by Jiyeon Kim (Under the direction of Dr. Brigitte Burgess)
8) Nature and functioning of visual merchandising in organized food retaili
ng by Shivani Sharma, Nirdesh K. Singh, V.P.S Arora ( Agricultural Economics Res
earch review)
9) Herrainco brand strategy & design Inc. Canada
10) Brand Loyalty: the link between attitude and behavior by Allan L. Baldin
ger and Joel Rubinson
11) Effects of Brand loyalty on advertising and trade promotions: A game the
oretic analysis with empirical evidence by Deepak Agrawal (Purdue University)
12) Repurchase Loyalty: The Role of Involvement and Satisfaction By Svein Ot
tar olsen
13) Visual Merchandising: Dressing your business for success By Paula Reidy
14) Visual Merchandising by Alek Salzstrig
ANNEXURE
CASE STUDY: NORDSTROM
John Nordstrom was born in Alvik Neder Lulea, Sweden, in 1871. He left for Ameri
ca at age 16 with two pals and a little more than $100 -- an inheritance from hi
s father -- in his pocket. By his third day in America, after buying a new suit
for the journey, food, and boat and train passage, he was down to $5.
Nordstrom found odd jobs with railroad crews, in coal mines, lumber camps and at
shipyards.
The work took him across the United States, from New York to Wisconsin, to the r
edwoods of California and eventually to Washington, where he learned of the Alas
kan Gold Rush. Nordstrom managed to make about $13,000 in Alaska.
So when Carl Wallin, a shoemaker Nordstrom had befriended in Alaska, asked him i
f he would be interested in opening a shoe store, he thought, "Why not?"
By 1928 Wallin and Nordstrom were regularly disagreeing about how to run the bus
iness. Nordstrom was ready to leave, but his son Everett was keenly interested i
n the shoe business.
Wallin sold his part of the business to Nordstrom, who then sold it to two of hi
s sons, Everett and Elmer.
The company s philosophy has remained unchanged for more than 100 years since it
s establishment by John W. Nordstrom in 1901: offer the customer the best possib
le service, selection, quality and value.
Nordstrom has basically given importance to three things in order to make sure t
heir customer service is excellent:
1) What senior managers can do: Managers create, maintain, and support the
corporate service culture. They consciously spread the culture of service throu
ghout the organization and among new hires.
a) Tool to value your employees: Employees who witness a colleague giving e
xcellent customer service are encouraged to write up a description of what they
saw and submit it to their manager. To give Nordstrom people a standard to aspir
e to and to surpass. Outstanding acts of customer service are rewarded.
b) Keys to success: Make customers feel comfortable by paying attention to
every detail of the experience – bricks and mortar or virtual. You must create an
inviting place to do business. Make your public voice or face a pleasant one. C
reate an atmosphere of helpfulness. Create an atmosphere of professionalism. Edu
cate your customer to make sound choices.
2) What supervisors can do to create Nordstrom style service: Nordstrom bel
ieves it is frontline supervisors that must create the atmosphere and the custom
er culture service to support senior managers.
a) How is it done? By hiring the right people, empowering staff, mentoring
employees, praising and rewarding employee successes or services. Hire the smile
; hire the personality and the confidence.
b) The Nordstrom Way includes hiring good people and keep working with them
, nurturing them, and giving them the tools to succeed
3) The Nordstrom Inverted pyramid:
At Nordstrom, our goal is to provide outstanding service every day, one customer
at a time. The Inverted Pyramid represents the company’s philosophy and structure
, placing customers at the top. Next are those who directly serve customers —our s
alespeople and those who support them. Department managers, buyers, merchandise
managers, store managers, regional managers, our executive team and our board of
directors then support this group. The Inverted Pyramid helps remind us that we
need to value those closest to our customers. We work hard to make decisions in
the best interest of our customers and those serving them.
All tiers of the pyramid are working to support customers and the frontline empl
oyees who have the most contact with customers.
4) What employees can do to create Nordstrom style customer service: Staff
must understand that they are on the frontlines in making an organization a cust
omer-service culture. Frontline people must have a thorough knowledge of the pro
ducts and services an organization offers because it is through those products a
nd services that relationships are created, nurtured, and maintained. Building a
nd maintaining relationships with customers are essential elements to a good cus
tomer service philosophy. Relationships are the essence of customer service.
Service = Sell Relationships
5) Relationship Building principles:
a) Give clients more than they expect.
b) Leave clients something to remember you by.
c) Think the project (problem through).
d) Ask yourself: “If I were the client would I pay for this”. Don’t give reasons
why it can’t be done – Tell how it can be done and the consequences.
e) Don’t wait to do it if it can be done now.
f) Service the client not the project.
g) You don’t know if you don’t ask.
h) Start a conversation with one new person every day.
i) Write ideas being discussed in front of clients.
6) Seven keys to delivering great service:
a) Right attitude
b) Understand the customer’s needs
c) Communicate clearly
d) Reach agreement
e) Check understanding
f) Take action
g) Build on satisfaction

Reasons for success of Nordstrom

Provide your customer with choices
Create an inviting place
Hire Nice, Motivated People
Sell the Relationship: Service your customers through the goods and services you
Sell
Empower employees to take ownership
Disregard the rules and be innovative
Promote competition
Commit 100% to customer service