For subscribers
Japan discovers the customer may not always be right
Demographics are squeezing Japan’s ability to deliver the same high levels of service as before.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Japanese government is now planning a landmark revision of labour law to require companies to protect their staff from customer rage.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Leo Lewis
Follow topic:
One of the world’s best-known luxury brands recently conducted a survey of its global store network, sending local platoons of secret shoppers to assess the level of customer service. Despite their stellar reputation, the outlets in Japan fared dismally.
“The problem was not the service. It was the shoppers,” relates the senior director in charge. “In reality, we knew the service in our Japan stores was by far the best anywhere in the world, but the Japanese customers that we sent found faults that nobody else on earth would see.”
