"Associates started to struggle in situations where customers needed advice," says Rick Miller, consulting analyst at The SALT & Pepper Group. "Most of them
really weren't comfortable asking questions to get the information they needed."
The index measured 1,027 interactions in 73 different retail stores over a four-month period measuring 39 separate kinds of service, from the store greeting to merchandise returns or exchanges. Overall, service scored only 48.2 out of a possible 100. Nearly 90% of stores scored well on "average wait time," but one wonders if that's a reflection of less traffic in hard times.
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