More and more luxury brands are hiring from hospitality and aviation, a growing trend that I am so happy about. As customer expectations evolves Luxury retail needs to think less sales and more hospitality. Its not only about actions but shifting mindsets from “client” to “guest”.
When I started working in Luxury retail in India over a decade ago, we did hire cross industry, but honestly there wasn’t that much Luxury retail talent available. Now in Dubai, I see this trend more and more, especially since hospitality standards are exemplary. Whether Training managers, Client Advisors or Store Directors, I encounter many lateral hires from top hotels or leading airlines. Under pressure to elevate the customer experience and meet the clients emotional needs, Luxury brands need this fresh customer first perspective to drive change. Hiring out of retail can infuse a sale centric culture with those ultra luxury nuances a customer has come to expect. While most luxury brands have incorporated hospitality touches like comfortable seating and food and beverage services, I do believe there is potential to embed subtle gestures throughout the customer journey.
Some of the simple customer centric actions, luxury retail brands can immediately implement from hospitality is
1.Immediate Welcome: Walking into a store and having to wait to be greeted is unacceptable for a luxury brand that wants to make a customer feel special. While this can happen during busy periods, I have also experienced it in low traffic hours. Client advisors have a tendency to get distracted with each other or their devices and unintentionally ignore an entering customer on a slow day. Luxury brands need to prioritise placement of staff and advisor to client ratios. Overall welcoming protocols have to be institutionalised for consistency whether you have a low or high traffic store.
2. Ask the name: Addressing a customer by name is another best practice luxury hotels consistently do well, in person and on the phone. Very early on in the interaction, Client advisors should ask the customer their name with a reason and then address them by it. Nameless client interactions are no longer acceptable for luxury brands, specially with a increasing desire for personalisation, clients expect it!
3.Recognise returning customers: Hospitality has always lead in client relationship management when it comes to recognising returning customers and personalising the way they treat them, especially because they are masters at capturing customer details. While in the GCC luxury brands do this well for VVIP customers, today’s global luxury client expects to be recognised no matter where they are.
4.Escort customer: A simple behaviour I highly recommend is walking customers to the door or desired destination versus just pointing them in the direction. As you might have experienced in in the best of hotels when you enter and ask about a specific location they walk you there and use that as an opportunity to build rapport. Luxury brand advisors need to escort customers to the door and provide a warm farewell to make a lasting impression.
5. Get verbal feedback: Imagine when you check out and the hotel receptionist asks you how your stay was, it’s a nice closing touch isn't it? It's time client advisors in luxury brand stores tied up experiences with this special touch. Remember it’s not just about finding the perfect product but making the sure the customer had all their expectations met.
These five simple gestures can transform transactional client interactions into emotionally fulfilling ones. As a luxury customer specialist who has worked in India, the Middle East and Europe, these gestures are universally welcomed by clients. It makes them feel seen and cared for as individuals versus another nameless customer. As a luxury brand, today you are expected to add these special touches in your customer journey otherwise how is the experience you provide different from any other retail brand?
How can you make this happen?
Are you a brand manager or training manager, struggling to bring a sense of hospitality to you customer experience? Or perhaps you have implemented these recommendations but your mystery shopping assessments show inconsistencies. I recommend trying a more experiential approach, something I have tried and tested to drive self-realisation and build first hand customer empathy in your retail team. Put them in the shoes of a hospitality guest to really appreciate the impact of their actions and conduct immersive customer journey mapping workshops with client advisors to help them see what the customer really values at every interaction. The best way to create the hospitality mindset in your team is to build inner understanding about why these gestures matter, and they will effortless play the perfect host.
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