Cutomer Service as seen in "The Natick Collection"

While shopping in the Natick “collection” with my aunt a few months ago I was amazed at the treatment we received in one of the fancier stores. My aunt is a fairly well off individual, however she has four kids and to say the least doesn’t always get “decked out” to go to the mall. Yes, her four kids are a little rambunctious but needless to say they were in a stroller while we were walking in the mall and not wreaking havoc. My aunt , dressed in sweatpants and a casual t-shirt with some running shoes decided that she would like to go into Gucci.

Gucci is defined as “The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gucci There is nothing in this definition that says anything about the company’s customer service mission, okay I get it, this is a high class store in which only people who have oodles of many can really afford to buy.

As I walk into Gucci I realize that not one person has greeted my aunt or I at the door. Okay, fine. However, my aunt is interested in purchasing a pocketbook and needs some help from a sales associate. The four people working in the store are chatting at the cash register while my aunt is picking up a bag, wrapping it around her shoulder and such and is still not approached. Due to lack of customer service my aunt did not purchase the bag, and walked out of the store. After we had left this was a continuing trend in about three other stores. It interested me that people who were walking in these stores in the “higher end” of the Natick Collection whom were wearing high heels, nice clothes or clothes that looked like they had already been purchased in the stores were getting top notch customer service.

I think that customer service should be a top priority in many of these stores, especially since their products are much higher in price than other stores in the mall. The judgments being made about the potential customers are killing business in some of stores, much like Gucci. I know that if my aunt was approached like the woman who was wearing high heels and expensive jeans then she would have bought the purse. However, the fact that we were ignored in the store was astounding to me. The stores do not care about customers walking in the door unless they fit a certain frame work, however, they need to realize that potential customers who may even make larger purchases than others, could not look like their “average” customer.