Big Box Stores Offer More Smiles to Customers

July 13, 2006

For the second year in a row, employees at big box stores are tops in the U.S. retail market when it comes to offering service with a smile.

A survey compiled by the International Mystery Shopping Alliance and National Shopping Service credits American retail workers with offering a smile to customers 88 percent of the time overall. Employees of mass merchandising stores, such as Wal-Mart, Kmart or Target, led the way in 2005 at 98%

Convenience store employees experienced the biggest survey drop, falling from No. 2 (96%) in 2004 to No. 7 (89%) in 2005.

“Retailers are focusing on the essence of good customer service as a way to gain and keep a customer, as well as a competitive advantage,” said Tony Yorba, executive vice president of Rocklin, Calif.-based National Shopping Service. “A smile inspires positive attitudes and a willingness, even a happiness, to patronize.

Clothing and specialty store employees moved up in the standings, placing second on the 2005 smile survey at 96% – a slight increase from their third-place finish in 2004. Jewelry and accessories was next at 93% moving from fourth place to third. Cosmetics finished fourth at 91 percent.

Grocery/supermarket workers ranked lowest on the list of 10 American industries surveyed by IMSA with 85%. In the 2004 survey, grocery/supermarket placed sixth (90%) out of six industries surveyed. Automotive employees placed ninth (85%) and bookstore workers ranked eighth (86%) in 2005.

“Consistently offering a welcoming smile is an age-old proven business technique,” Yorba said. “But in this day and age, there are so many choices available to customers. So to operationalize the right impression, and the right customer experience, is key to customer retention – and leadership – in any industry.”

The 2005 survey utilized input from 105,654 mystery shops in the U.S.