Category Archives: Customer Service

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowships 2017

Posted on June 27, 2016 by

In the summer of 1989 I spent eight weeks travelling around the United States and Canada looking at the customer service practices of North American retailers.  I visited numerous retailers, large and small, and interviewed countless owners, managers, directors and … Continue reading →

Posted in Basketball, Churchill Fellow, Customer Service, Retailing, USA, Winston Churchill Memorial Trust | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Easy, it Ain’t

Posted on September 7, 2015 by

What with the announcement by a number of retailers that they are re-considering the tone of voice and announcements made by their self service checkouts and others who are removing such non-human (inhuman?) equipment, it has not been a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Communications, Customer Service, Easyjet, Personal, Retail Failure, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Service Quality, Twitter | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bread of Heaven

Posted on August 3, 2015 by

A couple of years ago this blog fell silent for a month or so. No, it was not one of my extended holidays (if, only), but rather involved me being otherwise occupied around the death of my father. Well, my … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer Service, Service Quality | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Great, the Good and the Minister

Posted on June 29, 2013 by

There are a lot of retail industry conferences out there, and if I combined the industry ones and the academic ones (assuming cost was no barrier) then I am sure I could readily conference the year away. Boring, repetitive but … Continue reading →

Posted in Brands, BRC, Consumer Change, Customer Service, High Streets, Internet, Multichannel, Retailers, Tax | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Bank On It

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

I was in a Building Society branch last Saturday morning in the centre of Stirling – a rare enough occurrence on its own, but made more interesting by the conversation going on next to me. The customer had a problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Banks, Customer Service, Internet shopping, Marks and Spencer, Opening Hours | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Retailing in Seattle

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

A quarter of a century or so ago I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship.  As part of that I ended up in Seattle and interviewed various executives and family from Nordstrom, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Co-operatives, Customer Service, Farmers Markets, Start-ups | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Easter, Tesco and M&S

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

Another month, another set of Scottish retail sales figures, another disast…   Oh, hang on, these weren’t the worst figures ever; which makes quite a nice change. The headline figures were actually not so bad; well at first glance. But, look … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Customer Service, Marks and Spencer, Retailers, Scottish Retail Sales, Stock, Tesco | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments