Women staff – a source of increasing sales for retail chains

As retail outlets grow, multinational brands are using more female staff for the convenience of female customers.

LAHORE:

As the middle class is emerging rapidly in the country, retail outlets in metropolitan cities are increasingly focusing on their female staff and training them to help guide female customers in choosing products in a much more convenient way.

Though the trend to hire women from hiring agencies is not new, with the rise in the number of retail outlets, multinational brands are using more and more female staff at each segment for the convenience of their customers, especially ladies, as well as to make their business flourish.

The female staff is not only instrumental in increasing sales of retail chains, but is also a source of attraction for female customers who visit the same stores again and again as they feel more comfortable to shop in such an environment.

“No doubt, the shopping trend is associated with women and the sophisticated shopping environment is attracting more and more female consumers to our stores,” said Quratul Ain Shahid, Manager Public Relations of Metro Cash and Carry. “If we compare the ratio of visitors to Metro, around 80% of shoppers are women,” she said.

Big retail chains train staff in handling sales of general household and grocery items, but for the slots allotted to fashion products, the supplier provides its own staff with proper sales training.

The relationship between regular female customers and the staff also helps the former to know about those products about which they are confused. For instance, many ladies desiring to purchase machinery often look undecided as different companies have varied multifunctional products and such is the time when the female staff guides customers according to their pocket size and needs.

In general household items and grocery, the female customers already knew much, but for specific brands the staff properly guided them, Shahid added.

She said usually women visited the stores in groups – a relatively new trend – which combined shopping with fun coupled with staff guidance.

“For customers, female staff sometimes proves to be a blessing while choosing the brands. Male staff is hardcore sales-specific, they often avoid details and guidance and we never feel comfortable with them,” said Aliya Shahid, a shopper.

“Whether we have to shop for our home, for ourselves or even for kids, we feel free to visit such stores as we know we will be entertained according to our needs,” she said.

Shahid said the idea of having female staff at shopping centres was very popular amongst women. “I feel very comfortable asking a woman (staff member) to help me select what to buy and the female staff often knows how to cater to our needs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.