DUBAI, UAE - A survey of the retail sector of Gulf States reveals that one in four customers are unwilling to repeat or recommend a visit to the outlet based on the service they received. ‘Are You Being Served?’, the first comprehensive study of customer service across the Gulf, finds that retailers are missing sales opportunities by failing to create customer loyalty.

The report by performance improvement specialists, Grass Roots, is a survey of the retail sector in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and sets out to measure customer satisfaction levels based on visits by mystery shoppers.

Key findings of the study are:

- Lack of customer loyalty - Retailers are missing sales opportunities. Due to the substandard service received, 23% of shoppers say they would not return to the outlet they visited. 27% would not recommend it to friends or family. - Positive work-force - Outlets were manned by polite and friendly staff, with 83% of staff judged as helpful. - Real knowledge is lacking - Staff have a positive attitude but are short on product knowledge. 40% of staff did not recommend or guide customers to a relevant product or service. - Inadequate sales skills and lack of initiative - 34% of staff did not ask any questions to establish details about what the customer needed. 41% did not check that the customer had what they wanted or needed. - Good first impression - 94% of shoppers reported a clean and tidy environment. Shoppers found efficient speed of service to match the physical environment, 71% were served within three minutes.

Mark Spicer, Operations Director, Grass Roots, commented, “With nearly one third of shoppers saying they would not return to or recommend the outlet, the implications in terms of lost sales opportunities are alarming, especially at this time when a massive increase in retail outlets has coincided with an economic downturn. Gulf retailers need to invest in understanding the current needs of their customers and to train and engage staff to create a smarter workforce or else they will continue losing the war for repeat custom.”

To rank the States, each receives a Performance Index score; a percentage score which objectively measures how retailers are doing. The UAE did consistently well across the various sectors of the report and gained the highest overall score from the survey with 78%. Bahrain came in a strong second with 73%, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia achieved 70%. Trailing in 5th place was Qatar with 65%. Across the sectors surveyed, each State has its own particular challenges:

- Gulf retailers were at their weakest in the section dealing with the fundamentals of the sales process - product knowledge and meeting customer needs. Even though the UAE led its peers, only 75% of its sales staff guided a customer toward a suitable product. - Qatar logged the lowest scores throughout the survey, most notably for cluttered outlets and poor product knowledge, however, this does not put Qatar shoppers off, and 78% reported that they would make a future visit. However, this does raise questions about the levels of service that customers in Qatar expect. - Saudi Arabia gained low scores when it came to interaction with customers; whilst this may be explained by cultural sensitivities, it is worth noting that 60% of the mystery shoppers in Saudi Arabia were men. - Kuwait, which achieved an average score in many performance sectors of the survey, ranked surprisingly low when it came to shoppers visiting the outlets again. Only 66% of Kuwaiti consumers said they would return - the lowest score of the region. - Bahrain, which also received average scores for performance throughout the report, scored higher than might be expected when it came to repeat visits - 82% were happy to return.

Mark Spicer concludes, “Our report reveals Gulf customers have come to expect a lower level of service. When rating specific areas, customers reported their dissatisfaction throughout the survey, yet when asked about the overall service experience, they judged this as satisfactory and gave Gulf retailers an average score of 69%. This however is not an overly impressive figure and demonstrates that service levels in this region are not in-line with the rapid expansion and investment the region’s retail sector has seen in the past 12 months”.

For the Gulf retail survey, Grass Roots sent genuine customers to outlets in four industry sectors: automotive; fast food and coffee shops; banking; and mobile phone products - selected due to their fast growth and increasingly competitive nature. The mystery shoppers made 350 visits over a two month period.

To download the full report ‘Are You Being Served in the Gulf’ visit www.grassroots.ae

GRASS ROOTS

- A leading international performance improvement company - Conducts 100,000+ mystery shops per annum for clients in the Retail, Financial, Automotive, Telecoms and Leisure sectors - Part of Grass Roots Group PLC, with offices in 16 countries - Services cover communication, education, measurement, rewards and events - Over 1000 clients - 325 employees - Listed in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Sunday Times list of Best 100 companies to work for - For further information visit www.grassrootsmeasurement.com For further information contact: Nana Mancell Grass Roots Middle East & North Africa t: +971(4)321-5822 m: +971(50)878-9667 e: nana.mancell@grassroots.ae w: www.grassroots

Source: Grass Roots

For further information contact: Nana Mancell, Grass Roots Middle East & North Africa, t: +971(4)321-5822 m: +971(50)878-9667, e: nana.mancell at grassroots.ae