1. I waited for 10 minutes before the staff spoke to me again and answered my question. It was an inadequate service as letting a customer wait on the line for 10 minutes is quite ridiculous because it seems to be implying that staffs are unsure about the company’s return policies and had to take 10 minutes to find it out.

2. I wanted to get a pair of shoes so I went to the Charles & Keith outlet at Causeway Point. Over there, a particular pair of flats caught my eye and I immediately asked for a pair to try on, which was too loose and I needed a size smaller but the store had ran out of stocks for that size. After telling me that the size is out of stock, the staff went back to do what she was doing before I asked her for assistance almost immediately, when she assumed I did not have the intention to look around for other designs and make a purchase. With the lack of customer service and bad attitude of staff, I was a little upset and left the store.

3. Once I was at the Wisma Atria Outlet, it was really packed and crowded. I wanted to try on a pair of shoes so I asked the staff there for assistance and she took about 15 minutes to come back to me with the pair of shoes for me to try on. When I thought she was back in the storeroom getting me the shoes, I saw her serving another customer instead. She went in and out of the storeroom to get shoes for that customer to try on and it seemed to me as if she had forgotten about my request. I felt as though I was not respected as a customer. The least she could do was to ask her colleagues to serve me, but she did not and I had to wait for her to finish serving that customer before she turns her attention to me.

4. There was once when I was at the Orchard ION outlet when I wanted to purchase a pair of sandals but it was out of stock. So the staff called up the Wisma Atria outlet and made a reservation under my name, which I had to go collect myself. Since the two outlets are located quite close to each other, I did not really mind walking the distance. However, when I got to the outlet at Wisma Atria, they did not have stocks for the sandals as well. Trying to help me solve my problem, they called up the outlet at Plaza Singapura, where it is confirmed that they have the item. I was expected to go down personally to make purchase for my reservation but I did not because it would take some time to travel there and I was in a rush. Therefore I did not managed to get my sandals until two days later when I found time to go and purchase it. This was an unpleasant experience because it caused so much inconvenience for me and it made me doubt the reliability of the communication system of Charles & Keith as they made a mistake with the location of where the instocks may be.

5. I was at the Charles & Keith outlet at Novena Square when there were no staffs around to ask for assistance. I walked in into an empty shop as I was the only customer that time and I did not see any staff on the sales floor. So I left the shop without getting any help from the staffs.

Platinum

Typically, the platinum segment consists of the most loyal customers. These customers aren’t overly concern with Charles & Keith product prices. They are more concern with the quality and value of the products (shoes, bags, accessories) they purchase. Platinum customers are the most loyal, therefore the heaviest users of Charles & Keith products. They are also most likely to be one of the few who do not mind trying new products that Charles & Keith produce.

Charles & Keith keep their platinum customers by offering incentive programs.

Gold

The gold segment differs from the Platinum segment because most gold segment customers are more price sensitive. The gold segment customers do not purchase as much as platinum segment customers. Gold segment customers aren’t as loyal to one retailer and will go to competitors if the price is more attractive.

However, Charles & Keith have implemented a few options to turn gold segment customers into platinum segment customers.

Charles & Keith attract the gold segment customers by having seasonal promotions and sales that is up to 70%.

Iron

The iron segment customers most likely are not loyal to any one in retail business. These customers are very price conscious and will shop many places to get the best price. These customers are not likely to spend much at any one store. Iron segment customers don’t deserve any special treatment because of the small amount of business they provide to a single retail business.

Firstly, Charles & Keith try to turn iron segment customer into a gold segment customer by having a price matching with the competitors. Competitors like Mitju, Mondo and U.R.S Inc who are mainly competitors of Charles & Keith have several price attraction techniques therefore Charles & Keith can price their product in a way that will ensure that customers patronize their shop.

Secondly, Charles & Keith have a sale on specific merchandise. For example, Charles & Keith can have discounts on their bags to reach out to customers who love bags.

Thirdly, they can do more advertising. Charles & Keith did very little advertising except for their sale posters at the entrance of their shop. By having television commercials, large posters on buses/taxis or interesting video clips on their products will have customers to remember something about the brand or products.

Fourthly, Charles & Keith can have comparable merchandise at discount prices. For example, if Charles & Keith have discount on its high heels, customers will definitely compare it with a similar pattern of heels at Mitju, therefore by having comparable discount on all its high heels, they will definitely win iron segment customers over their competitors.

Lead

They are the segment of “problem” customers. These customers are the most likely to actually cost a business money by being customers. Lead segment customers demand a lot of attention for very little spending. In segment, abuse of return privileges is very common.

The lead segment has been a nuisance to retail business for years. As for Charles & Keith, they retailers have implemented different programs to dissuade the lead segment customers.

Firstly, Charles & Keith implement tighter return policies. Their products are only exchangeable for 7 days only with receipt. Also, the products need to be in good condition and they do not allow their sales items to be exchangeable.

Secondly, Charles & Keith associates who have specifically been trained to deal with these “problem” customers. Charles & Keith staffs are well-trained to not accept any exchange requests to products which do not fit the exchange requirements.