Customer service from Pandemic takes it cold

But the majority of consumers surveyed felt the level of service they received in stores had not changed, and more than 1 in 10 respondents found it had improved.

This has led to a decline in service in hardware stores and fashion and daily goods stores. According to CQCDLabor shortages are one of the factors that explain the decline experienced by these consumers.

This conclusion was confirmed by Benoit Duguay, Professor of the School of Management Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). Shortage of staff and lack of qualifications: Both are important. People come to the store, are not properly supervised, and may even go to find a checkout to pay because there is only one open.He argued.

These are two of the most frequently identified errors in a non-probability survey. Difficulty getting help and lack of product knowledge for advisors topped the list at nearly 60%.

Knowledge and training of employees is critical in some sectors. It can take two to five years to train an employee to work in a hardware store. People come to us for advice. We need to know about 12,000 different products; People don’t want us to read labels, they want us to know it by heartsaid Eric Pocket, owner of Quincaillerie Corriveau.

Make customer service more interesting

According to Eric Pockett, retaining employees in training is an obstacle. This is a very difficult area. I had an employee who came back two weeks ago who said he didn’t understand how many calls we made a dayHe \ he said.

Some traders have appealed to their employees to take a day off and close on Sunday.

Other businesses adapt their employees’ roles to their strengths. I no longer want to see my experienced employees emptying trucks and watering plants; I want to see them respond to customers. There are many things they no longer have the right to doJean-Paul Doust, co-owner of the company Floralis Jouvens explained.

Jean-Paul Doust, co-owner of the Floralies Jouvens company, in his business aisles.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc

Professor Benoit Duguay believes that employers should use more creativity to make customer service jobs more interesting. If we can’t financially satisfy people with the wages they demand, we’ll have to find other ways, like providing accommodation, gyms or coffee bars in terms of scheduling…we offer fringe benefits that attract people.He argued.

The golden age of e-commerce

To prevent deterioration of customer service, study CQCD 33% of respondents said they do their own research online before going to a store and 26% of them shop online more.

According to Benoît Duguay, young people are more likely to follow these methods.

However, he does not believe that e-commerce is a panacea. Consumption is a pleasure above all else. There is no great joy in sitting down at your computer, making three mouse clicks and entering your credit card numberProfessor said.

According to him, human contact in the shop cannot be completely replaced. There are still people who don’t even go to the store to buy that day, and that’s part of the joy of shopping. And that requires people in the shopAdds Benoit Duguay.

In collaboration with Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc