Ezzati's podcast - Coffee Bean @ Millenia Walk
Hazel's podcast - Novena:
The 2 communication approaches adopted by Gap are:
- Internet advertising applications
Most people ate IT savvy and tend to find information about things on the Internet. Hence, it create more awareness for this group of people. Most companies have their own website nowadays eventhough they have physical stores. Having multiple channels help to generate more awareness and thus, adds up to their sales.
Other than that, by having their own company’s website, GAP can convey more information to customers about many things. For example, company’s profile and information about the clothes that they want to purchase that customers might want to know. The information that the get would be useful when deciding to purchase items from GAP as information on the internet can be quite in-depth and is almost accurate eventhough it is impersonal.
Furthermore, new arrivals can be easily found out when it is published on their website as some or maybe most people do not pass by the store very often.
- Salespeople
Sales people are always upselling and telling people of promotions when the customers walk into the store. For example, like when you buy a pair of pants they will tell you about a shirt that matches, which is going at discounted prices too. They inform, persuade and remind the customers regarding the company's products.
Answers to the questions related to the Retail video:
a) Describe the retail sector as spoken by Lynn Bavage.
- Flexible sector
- Pick hours to work to fit ur life
- Job fit around lifestyle/ lifestyle around job
- It's an exciting, enjoyable job.
- No two days are the same.
- You will be working with people.
- You will be working with different products.
- Not necessarily qualification
- Experience
- Ability to communicate
Jobcentre Plus. Tesco.
e) Briefly describe the important skills that are outlined in the video. What are the benefits for the retail employees in the video?
Important skills
-Experience & not qualification
In retail, not only qualification is important but experience is also as important too. It simply because it takes time to build self-esteem and confidence to deal with customers and not only qualification.
-Ability to communicate & working with people
Communication is one of the key to success in retail. This is due to the fact that communication is essential not only among customers but even colleagues. Your colleagues would be the one teaching you things especially when you are new and you would need their help at times. Furthermore, customers can choose to switch brand anytime. They tend to be loyal to a company that can create a relationship/bond with them. This will stop them from switching as they are already comfortable speaking to the service providers from that company.
-Good at working with products
Service providers must know the product they are selling so as to promote better and are able to answer any enquiry made by customers. Customers will then be more convince to purchase the product as the know more about it compared to products from any other brand/company that does not provide sufficient information about the products.
Benefits of employees
-Flexible hours
Employees can choose when and how long they want to work according to their availability. There is no other job that offers the same kind of flexibility.
-No 2 days are the same/New daily experience
Unlike office jobs that have similar daily tasks, everyday is different in the retail sector. Daily, service providers tend to meet different customers, tasks and situations. This shows that retail is a fun industry.
-Helps to build confidence
By dealing with many and different customers everyday, service providers in the retail sector tend to gain confidence easily as they have to find a way to deal with the customers properly so as to meet their customers’ needs and wants.
f) Outline any two retailing careers that are available at the retailers that are mentioned in the video.
The manager of the floor and team leader of the retail assistants.
The manager of the floor is in charge of the shop or store floor where the products are on display and retail assistants are working. He supervises the floor’s operations.
The team leader is in charge of the retail assistants, taking care of their working schedules and making sure they get to work on time. Part of a team leader’s job is to also keep track of the sales and to lead the team into hitting their target.
Overall, the floor manager and team leader
• supervises the assistants,
• needs to be good at working with people in order to have a good relationship with a customer,
• have confidence to learn quickly to pick up skills along the way,
• reliable and trustworthy.
SIRS
- Stands for Singapore Institute of Retail Studies
- Jointly established by Singapore Workforce Development Agency and Nanyang Polytechnic
- Is the first national retail training institute
- SIRS focuses on continuing education and training for the retail industry
SIRS aims to build a world-class and customer-centric retail workforce for Singapore through various skills-upgrading programs and services for the industry.
SIRS offers services to retail businesses, retail professionals and individuals (unemployed or from other sectors) who wish to join the retail industry.
SIRS provides services which retail businesses can tap into, including:
- Nationally-recognised continuing education & training to retail workers under the Retail Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) framework.
- Executive development programmes (e.g. seminars and workshops) to senior and mid-level managers in the retail industry.
- Consultancy to retail businesses (e.g. advice and guidance on customised training programmes).
- Career counselling and job placement to workers in the retail industry or jobseekers considering retail as a career.
- Market intelligence on retail strategies trends.
- Best practices and standards for the retail sector.
Retailers
For employer-sponsored workers who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents only:
•Course Fees (after SDF Funding)
•$15.00 (plus prevailing GST) per module / per participant
•Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP) Funding
•In addition, employers are entitled to claim for salary costs if they send their staff for training during working hours. The following rates apply :
•For workers below 40 years old -80% of hourly basic salary, capped at $10 per hour
•For workers 40 years old and above with "A" Level Qualification & below -90% of hourly basic salary,capped at $10 per hour
Person interested in a retailing career
SIRS's Training Programs
As an institute for the retail sector, their training programs are aligned to meet the national standards - Retail Workforce Skills Qualifications (Retail WSQ).
The Retail WSQ confers national recognition on the skills acquired through its qualifications. It complements the pre-employment training delivered through our national education system by focusing on job competencies (i.e. having the abilities to do the job well) that encompass employability, occupational and industry skills.
Retail WSQ details skills, knowledge and attitudes required for various occupations at every level in the retail industry. These competencies are developed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and endorsed by employers, unions, industry associations and training providers in the retail industry. It is also translated into training modules to enable a worker to develop the required competencies to do his job well.
Courses Offered
•Singapore Workforce Skills QualificationsCertificate in Retail Operations
•Advanced Certificate in Retail Supervision
•Diploma in Retail Management
Career Services Centre
SIRS provides career guidance for individuals seeking a career in retail and those considering a career move from another industry or within the retail industry. This includes facilitating placements for individuals trained by SIRS, so that they can gain employment in the retail industry after training.
Individuals can obtain information about and advice on issues like the current retail employment situation, job opportunities within specific professional specialisations and alternative job opportunities. We have a team of professional career consultants who will advise and guide potential jobseekers, even plan a training programme and work together to bring these trained jobseekers and potential employers together.
SIRS' career guidance is a free service.
5 Pitfalls of inadequate or poor customer service given by retailers:
Lack of Product knowledge
Every customer service provider/ retail assistant has to have in-depth knowledge of their products in order to help customers make their decisions. Lack of product knowledge will cause customers to lose interest in the products as they do not know much about them, and ultimately cause them to switch to another brand.
Lack of respect
Lack of respect in customer service refers to the fact of not giving the customer full attention or treating customers like a “king”. Examples include ignoring the customer whether they are in need or not and could be basic things like not greeting them.
Insensitive to customer’s time frame
This simply means that the customer service provider lacks the sense of urgency when serving customers. Even though the customer is not in a rush, he/she would still want to be served as quickly as possible.
For example, there was once when I went to Isetan and had a bad experience. I was only greeted after 10 minutes. When I asked for assistance, the 2 sales associates there totally ignored me.
Impersonalized service
Nowadays, customers have high expectations of the service provided to them. Basic expectations that are met are just a norm and it takes more than that to build relationship with customers. Things like taking note of regular customers and their purchases, calling them by their name are examples of personalized service. More can be done to improve on it eg updating customers about upcoming promotions and/or new arrivals.
Insufficient responsiveness
It is normal for customers to give feedbacks/complaints every now and then whether it is in a good way or not. The fact that they are trying to find out or tell the retailer what went wrong etc. This should be received positively by the retailer.
Other than that, the retailer should take the time to respond to the customer as quickly as possible to show that they are care about every one of their customers.
Retail workforce skills qualification (WSQ)
WSQ, or the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications, is a national credentialing system that trains, develops, assesses and recognises workers for competencies they need to stay employable. Based on standards developed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and various industries, WSQ ensures workers acquire workplace skills needed by employers.
With clear career progression pathways, workers can also use WSQ to:
- Upgrade their skills
- Plan their careers
As training and assessment are competency-based, not academic-based, workers have to demonstrate the right competencies before they are certified. Experienced and competent workers however, can opt for WSQ certification without training, as its entry criteria are skills and knowledge, not formal qualifications. Therefore, WSQ is accessible to all workers.
The quality of WSQ is assured by WDA, from the development of competency standards, accreditation of training providers to the award of qualifications.
Objectives of WSQ
1. To professionalise the industry:
- Where the industry lacks CET qualifications and the support of a Pre-employment Education and Training (PET) system.
2. To enhance labour market
- flexibility and skills portability: Where growing industries have high demand for skilled workers (high potential of skills conversion).
- Where movement between companies within industry is expected.
3. To establish skills standards for workers:
- As objective benchmarks for the skill level of workers.
Let's now look at how WSQ helps the:
- Retailer
- Retail Industry
- Person who is interested to start a retailing career
Retailer
As an employer, your organisation can reap the benefits of WSQ by sending your staff for training and assessment under the WSQ.
These benefits include:
- Benchmark against best practices across the industry;
- Guide job description development;
- Improve performance management systems and training programmes;
- Establish employee career paths;
- Guide training needs analysis;
- Facilitate recruitment of competent staff; and
- Provide skills assessments.
An employer can either send its staff to an external Approved Training Organisation or provide the training internally if they meet the required criteria as an Approved Training Organisation itself. For workplace literacy and numeracy skills (WPLN), you could obtain the current competence of your staff and seek recommendation for appropriate training level for your staff from the Centre for Employability Skills. For employability and industry-related skills, you can assess the training needs of your staff and send them for relevant training at any of the approved training centres under the WSQ.
Retail Industry
The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) for the Retail Industry helps you get the competencies you need to get and keep a job in the retail industry. WSQ is recognised by industry and provides useful career pathways for workers interested in career mobility and progression in the retail industry.
Training Modules
The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) for the retail industry offers a total of 76 modules grouped under three qualifications. The qualifications are offered at three levels: operations, supervisory and managerial. Depending on what you think is suitable for you, you can choose to either:
•Do one or more module/s; and/or
•The full qualification
Person interested in a retailing career
For basic work skills, you can be trained and assessed for your employability through the Employability Skills System.
With a WSQ certification, you:
–Can upgrade your skills
–Can assess your skills against established work standards
–Have credentials for your existing skills that is recognised by other employers in Singapore
–Can plan your career path
Service Excellence WSQ
The Service Excellence WSQ aims to professionalise customer service skills as well as to raise the level of customer service standards in Singapore through training. The training will equip aspiring or existing service professionals with the relevant core competencies needed in a wide range of service related jobs. These competencies were validated by industry partners and benchmarked against international best-practices. They form the basis of the Service Excellence WSQ and are set to shape the way in which organisations, regardless of industry sectors, train and mould their staff to deliver excellent service.
One of the Service Excellence WSQ modules, "Provide GEMS Service" was adopted as a core training module to increase service level in key tourist touchpoints for the IMF/Worldbank event held in September 2006. The training programme was named "The Singapore 2006 Customer Service Training Programme" and it has effectively trained some 30,000 service staff that may serve the IMF delegates.
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