This side is made by a group of students from NYP, BM class BF, for our BM0203 Retail Store Management ICA2 group project. 
Nanyang Poly Business Management Retail BF Team 3 D&G Team Members: Lesley (Leader), Isabella, Pei Ni, Jaslin and Shao Ran.   Dolce & Gabbana Group In 1985, the company was founded by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. Black in color and geometric in shape are the usual designs for their clothing. By March 2008, the Group’s consolidated revenues have increased by 21% reaching €1,266.6 million. Wholesale revenues reached €1,652.1 million, 55% for the Dolce&Gabbana brand and 45% for D&G. In addition to being the sole owner of the two brands, the Group is also wholly responsible for the management and control of the three business divisions: Production, Distribution and Licences. Additionally, as of 31 January 2009 the Group has an overall workforce of 3,828 personnel and a distribution network comprising 116 directly operated stores and 17 factory outlets. Furthermore, the group has two central brands:  Specializes in luxury items, is influenced more by designers and is more formal and 'timeless', responding to long-term trends rather than seasonal changes. It also sells sunglasses and corrective eyewear, purses, and watches. In February 2010, it was announced that American singer Madonna would design a collection of sunglasses set to be released in May of that year. They also have a set of fragrances, for men and women.  Slightly more casual line that follows an urban inspiration and attempts to set trends rather than follow them. It is the younger, more flamboyant line of the brand. Like Dolce&Gabbana, D&G sells watches as well as clothing, and have been voted the U.K's best luxury brand. In 2005–2006, a limited line of 1000 golden D&G Motorola RAZR V3i mobile phones were distributed by D&G boutiques and major Motorola retailers. In July 2009 D&G signed a lucrative deal with singer Alexandra Burke which will see her model their fashion lines in her music videos and in promotions. |
Customer Service - 5 pitfalls of inadequate or poor customer service
Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 1:15 AM 1) Push selling products - Push selling to the point that customers feels that they feel annoyed or obliged to purchase the product even if they don't need it in the first place. Example in Sasa, the staffs are trained to push sell their products, but when customers shows no sign of wanting to buy anymore other products, they still try to push sell products to them, making the customers feel pressurized and that they are foced to purchase something which they won't like to have. Another such example would be the recent case of the HongKong tour guide, thretening the tourist to buy the goods of a specific store, if not, they would be denied of a place to stay or not given any food to eat. This had caused and uproar in the society and has hurt Hong Kong tourisium trade as a result. As for D&G, they do not hard sell their products to the customers because D&G is a high-end brand. Pushing customers to buy more is not a very professional thing to do. 2) Incompetence: If sales and service staff do not have adequate training and expertise, they may give out antiquated or incorrect information. For example, telling them that the item they want only comes in a set when they can actually buy the products separately. This causes customers to buy products that they do not need. In D&G they divide their staff into several categories. Some staff are in charge of the eyewear category, some in charge of the denim section. By narrowing down their scope, it would ensure that staff know their products better so as to prevent such incidents from happening. In the case of D&G, merchandises are placed in neatly, in an asymmetrical layout, men on one side, women on the other. This makes it easier for customers to navigate or make their way around the store. Moreover, there are several salesperson at the storefront to guide them. The friendly salespeople are trained to guide customers to their desired section instead of just pointing it out to them. 4) Not Passing Judgment on Consumers’ Requests/Tastes - Salesperson should not pass negative judgements on customers' tastes. Something like that happened when i was at a retail store. A girl asked to try on a pair of denim shorts in size 26 but the sales assistant told her that it is too small for her and that she needs size 30. The girl's expression changed and walked off immediately. In the case of D&G, although they know that you cannot fit into a size 26, they would still allow you to try it on first then stand somewhere near your fitting room so that she could help if you need any assistance. 5) Lack of a standard policy: Your policy toward your customers should be clearly spelled out and consistently followed. Customers do not like it when one salesperson tells them one thing and another salesperson tells them something completely different. In the case of D&G, any discounts, return policies, and guarantees are spelled out in writing to customers as well as reinforced by your customer service employees at the time of a sale. Generally company policy should be on the customer’s receipt in addition to being posted visibly throughout the business establishment. Done by: Isabella and Lesley Retail Communication Mix - Jaslin
@ 12:09 AM D&G uses both Paid Personal and Paid Impersonal methods. For Paid Impersonal approach, D&G uses advertising to reach out to the mass. Usually, these advertisements can be seen on newspaper such as The Straits Times and magazines such as Vogues, Bazaar and Her world which are magazines that are target at working women. To advertise on these media, D&G has to pay quite a huge sum of money in order to advertise their latest collections of products to the mass.  Furthermore, D&G has sales promotions on special events such as their anniversary, New year period or during season period such as Chirstmas where they will hold special events and promotions for the mass. D&G has always maintain their store image by making sure that the store atmosphere coordinates with their theme. For example, during Christmas period, the Visual Merchandise team of D&G will make sure that the mannequins and display coordinates with their Christmas theme as well as the headquarter in Milan, Italy. This is to show consistency throughout D&G stores no matter where they are located at. Another example is that the music played on the website can be the same as the ones that were played at the stores. This is done so as to create an image in customers' mind and also to portrait the image they want to customers. Lastly, the website has to be in coordination with their store atmosphere as well to project consistency. In addition, to create website with E-commerce such as credit cards payments or mediacart requires money to set up. This is becasue D&G needs to hire professionals to help them design and set up the tools to allow customers to shop online at their convenience and ease. Moreover, D&G has to pay the maintenance fee in order to contiinue the online services. For Paid Personal approach, D&G staffs are the primary vehicle for providing paid personal communication to customers. This is because through personal selling, salespeople satisfy the needs through face to face exchange of information. For example, salespeople are trained in customer service so as to provide a good customer service to customers as well as to act as a personal tool to understand customers' needs. With these additional factor, customers has to pay more in order to pay the sales staffs and in return, they will get to receive a personal treatment from the staffs via 1 to 1 communication. Next up is the email. D&G inform customers of new merchandise, receipts of order or when an order has benn shipped. However, to enjoy all these special information, one needs to register as their member first. Thye can just register online for updates or spent a minmum amount of money to join their membership at the store where the staffs will help to key in customers' database. D&G will also send direct mails to their members for certain promotions or it could be send by some credit cards company or banks or maybe through certain telecom companies where they have promtions during certain periods or for their rewards systems. Customer Service- Merits of customer service approach
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 @ 4:23 PM D&G uses Personal Approach under the Customer Service strategies. This is because D&G products are priced at a higher cost due to their products' quality and customized services provided to meet customer's personal needs. This will act as a benefit for customers as sales associates offer individual customer service. However, the services provided by different sales associates might differ and is inconsistent. Furthermore, the higher the level of customer service, the higher the cost of customer service. Hence, a good customer service is worth an investment as it'll cost more to acquire customers than to generate repeat purchases. The following cues are used to assess service Reliability: The cashier will double check to ensure that the amount charge to the customers'bill is correct and also the change return to customers are right. Also, if customers reserved an item or request for a transfer from other outlet, the sales associates has to make sure that it is the right size, colour and design. Assurance: Customers will be guranteed that their products are worth the price they for such as quality. If the products are priced higher than normal, sales associates will make sure that they explain to customers why it is priced at a higher cost. For example, the materials used are of the highest quality. The return policy and washing care will be explained during payment so that customer are informed. Tangibility: The appearance of the salesperson has to be well groomed and neat at all time. The staff has to wear their unifom and has to make sure their uniform are clean and well-ironed. the appearance of the store has to be clean and well-lit to project their brand image. Empathy: Customers will received personalised services such as salesperson will help to hang the clothings in the dressing room for customers or alteration services provided. Customers will also be addressed by their name when the cashier hands back their credit cards to them after payment. Responsiveness: Sales associates has to make sure that customers'request are met promptly. Example, calling customer on the promised date to inform them on the collection of products such as altered clothings would be a plus to the responsiveness of D&G's customer service. Meeting and Exceeding Service Standards: The Delivery GAP Instrumental Support - POS systems are used to key in transaction and data stored can be referred back whenever a need arises for the salesperson to check. Emotional Support - Staffs are encouraged by their co-workers or will help each other should they faces problem in work. Empower Store Employees - The salesperson are allowed to make decision regarding how services should be provided to customer. This helps to stimulate initiative for the staffs, promotes learning and teaches responsibility to the staffs. For example the customer wish to return fault items, salesperson is allowed to make decision according to company's return policy after checking the item. Provide Incentives - Incentives are provided for the staffs to encourage the salesperson to work hard and achieved sales targets. Using technology - Technology has improved that now, customers can make purchases with their credit cards and also scanner to save time on keying in the bar codes. Service recovery - Effective service recovery increase customers'satisfactions, purchase intention and positive word-of-mouth. D&G salesperson will listen carefully to the customer's problems and provide a fair solution through procedural fairness. They will also ensure that problems are resolve quickly to reduce number of contacts and giving clear instruction to avoid jargon. Merchandise Presentation and Store Design
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 @ 7:39 PM  Store layout D&G uses a symmetrical concept whereby the store is 'split' into half, right in the middle, with the Women's collection of the left and Men's collection on the right. Display shelves and racks on the left are exactly as the one on the right. They also use a 'loose' concept whereby only a few merchandises are displayed on each shelf. This is to increase the value of their merchandises and also to portray the luxurious image of the brand. The window displays are often left empty with probably only the word "SALES" during promotion periods. Sometimes, only a pair of shoes or a bag is displayed at the window. We interviewed D&G's Marketing Director through the phone to ask him about some questions pertaining to their store layout. Here are the questions and the answers (Note: answers are rephrased) What can you tell us about your store layout? Our shelves are far away from each other so as not give customers more space to maneuver and also to create an 'expensive' look. We usually use classic colours like gold, black and beige for our shelves, display racks and carpet as these are our signature colours and gold gives people a posh feeling. How are your merchandises displayed? The Merchandises are displayed according to their categories. They are also displayed in such a way that female merchandises are displayed on the left of the store and male merchandises on the right. As for our mandarin gallery branch, we have 2 levels. The merchandises on the bottom level consists of seasonal clothings, eyewears and fragrances and other accessories. The merchandises on the top level consists more of casual wear. Done by: Isabella and Lesley D&G pricing approach
Thursday, July 8, 2010 @ 2:18 AM D&G mainly focus on premium pricing approach. Premium pricing is used when the product has one or more unique characteristics. This uniqueness differentiates the product greatly from competition and creates a significant competitive advantage. This strategy demands a high-quality item to merit the high price. Because of the extremely high price, premium pricing generally is a short-term strategy as competitors are attracted to markets with high-margin items. The length of time you can charge customers a premium price depends on the sustainability of the competitive advantage — the greater the sustainability, the longer time premium pricing is a viable option. For example, D&G set its price very high because its unique design and superior quality compare to other brands. Advantage of premium pricing approach: Premium pricing can be used to improve brand identity in a particular market. This is called price-quality signaling, because the high price signals to consumers that the product is high in quality. D&G use this strategy to give their product an aspirational image. However, D&G sometime also use price skimming approach to maintain the competitive in the market. D&G has to use price skimming for some of their products. For example, pants, shirts and jeans.becuase there are too many competitors in the market. If there are too many competitors, each with a full line of products in the varying stages of the product life cycle, buyers will find it difficult to make decisions based on quality or service or value for the price. Inevitably if there is too much competition for the same buyer, the buyer will look for the laptop with the most features at the lowest price. Therefore, If D&G keep premium pricing in some of the product line; they will lose the market share and the reputation,brand indentity will also be hurt. by ShaoRan HRM
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 @ 11:08 AM HRM 1) Compulsory Training All HR practitioners must undergo rigorous training for 3 months to ensure consistent delivery of training. Staff Welfare Days are organised in order to cover various topics and activities for our staff's self development. This gives a voice to every department thus constructive measures can be taken to respond to negative feedback. E.g. Giordano – Staff have to attend a special training at the Giordano warehouse before they can actually work in any of the outlets. Newcomers take part in role-playing and watch videos on good and bad service before they are ready to face customers. In-store training follows, in which recruits are assigned a buddy to help them settle in, while the shop manager guides them through the various day-to-day activities. Trainers track their progress as well. To attract fresh blood, the company also offers a $300 incentive for employees who recommend friends who are eventually confirmed. The environment in the stores helps to foster a strong team spirit, which appeals to its largely young workforce. 2) Staff Welfare (Flexible Working Hours) Offer employees flexible work arrangements with different patterns of shifts and work hours that cater to their personal and family needs. For example 12-hour shifts allow our nurses and other staff to have more off days and part-time hours allow our employees to do meaningful work and at the same time, take care of their family members. E.g. KK Hospital- They have programmes that help staff to achieve a balanced work-life and a healthy lifestyle, which in turn increase the productivity of their work unit. It is win-win for both staff and the hospital. They also have an award to recognise the support of family members in helping the staff to succeed at work. Varied Appraisal : We conduct two types of appraisal, namely Abilities Appraisal and Performance Appraisal. We believe that a person’s market value is best represented by his abilities. For example, if an employee shows an improvement on his ability, he will score higher in the appraisal for ability and will enjoy an upward adjustment to his wage. Appraisals let our employees know how they have contributed to the company E.g. Singapore Airline (SIA) - SIA staff are regularly appraised for performance, and potential. High-flyers are identified early and given every opportunity to learn and grow. Senior managers are uniquely well developed with frequent rotations amongst top positions in the company. This leads to a management team with great breadth and depth, with a shared understanding of "the big picture," with a commitment to do what's best for the customers and the business, not just for one or another department. Reference: http://www.shri.org.sg/hrawards/downloads/SingaporeHRAwards2006.pdf http://www.isoguide.com/Singlenews.aspx?DirID=75&rec_code=39346 http://www.trainersdirect.com/resources/articles/BusinessManagement/ HowDoesSingaporeAirlinesFlySoHigh.htm Done By: Isabella Merchandise Management
@ 10:52 AM Category Management is the name of the process of which, retail businesses uses with the objective of maximizing the sales of a certain category in the business. In D&G there are many different categories, ranging from Men’s apparels, Ladies apparels, all the way to glasses and frames and perfumes. Category management makes different units in D&G to be in-charge of different categories and they would focus on how to improve the sales and profits of that particular category they are in charge of. This narrow down their work scope and they can concentrate on their own categories better, and work 100% on improving products of that particular category. As they do not need to care about other categories, they would be 100% focused on their own category. And also, since those units are made to focus on certain categories, they would be ‘professionals’ and know about that category thoroughly as they would be working on products of that category all the time, they would know and understand all the products which fall under the category, so D&G would not waste time to keep introducing to their workers different categories. Category management also allows D&G to make sure that they improve products of every category which they have, and not leave any category out. It makes sure that same amount of effort is put in, to make each category more profitable. If everyone working in D&G are in-charge of all the categories, they might neglect some category and put in less efforts in improving them. By Lesley 
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