Great customer service leads to customer loyalty

Successful retailing combines friendly customer service and simple product offering. Maintain your core values – and this will set you apart from the rest of the crowd.

Companies walk a fine line when they ‘study’ their competitors. Be true to your brand and brainstorm how you can create the same positive feelings, in a way that is distinctive, yet consistent with your targeted customer impression. Your long-term aim should be to leverage the unique strengths your brand possesses instead of copying your competitors gimmicks and signals.

Businesses are now realizing that true customer loyalty cannot be bought for discounts, ‘miles’ or points. These are a short-term fad, which get boring when they don’t deliver on the initial expectation. Customers are truly loyal to the experiences they prefer. Your loyal customers return because the experiences you create are preferable to those delivered by your competitors.

Your competitors may be able to match your products and services, feature for feature, but the experience your brand offers is yours alone, and provides you with a true competitive advantage. To enjoy profitability in the long-term retailers need to reach out from the confines of the box, continually innovating and varying their offering in order to lead consumers.

Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director
Giordano Middle East

What are shoppers really looking for?

Retailers are under the impression that shoppers want a good shopping atmosphere, convenient store locations, sufficient sales help, helpful and knowledgeable sales staff and good levels of customer service. However, recent studies polling shoppers, has revealed that there is a real requirement for special promotions and sales, better quality merchandise, great value, efficient return policies and continuous brand reliability.

Nothing will turn a shopper off more than rude or pushy salespeople, long lines at the checkout and unpriced items. Do shoppers complain about these problems? Answer – No. It is too much hassle, and with the lack of available time they can’t be bothered, they don’t know who to complain to or they feel that no matter what they say, the problem will not be resolved.

Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director
Giordano Middle East 

"We need to be doing things differently, rather than doing different things".

The father of Taoism, Lao-Tzu is credited with saying ‘when you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.’

The world of apparel retailing is incredibly competitive, with customers becoming more and more disillusioned with the various lines, styles and brands available.

To be successful, the retail offering should be relevant, functional and affordable. Customers don’t buy from a company; they buy regularly from someone they can trust, someone knowledgeable, someone who delivers what is promised. While a number of customers can spend hours rummaging through rails looking for that individual item, most people don’t have the luxury of time anymore, and turn to familiar outlets, where they know that what they are looking for can be found quickly and affordably.

A majority of global customers are cost and time conscious. It is rare that you will find a customer who thinks of cost as no obstacle, never mind time. If you want repeat custom, make your customers shopping experience an enjoyable one. Gone are the days when we could divide our time into two separate categories “work” and “leisure”. The 21st century shopper generally believes they’ve lost eight to ten leisure hours per week over the past decade.

While shoppers are looking for more expedient ways to spend their time they are also looking to get the most from their wardrobe, being able to wear their clothes in a number of combinations, yet still maintain an individual style. In order to reach your customers most basic needs you need to be doing things differently, rather than doing different things.

Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director

Giordano Middle East

The three things a great retailer will do

Identify what’s important – identify what’s important to your customer, what’s important in that moment.

Make it obvious - Once you’ve identified what’s important you make it obvious.
Old is new again – trends come back but with a twist.

And, think customer first at all times!

This will drive everything you do – you have to be in service to the customer – what’s important to the customer? What does the customer want? What does the customer want to buy? How does the customer like to buy it? How does the customer like to see it?

This is what you have to ask yourself over and over again – what is important?

Ask yourself these three questions when you first reach the office in the morning:

What is important? – Identify it.
How do I make it obvious? – What’s my strategy in making it obvious?
How do I make old new again? – Because I know that the newest craze isn’t necessarily going to be the winning ticket.

Think customer first – when you start from this place, you will see the answers and you will see how simple it is. Customers want you to do the thinking for them – that’s part of your service.

And that’s what we do here at Giordano - we do the thinking for them – make it simple, and as easy as possible.

How do we make it easier? How do we make it more obvious? How do we service the customer better with our product?

We innovate – within our domain – through style, colour and details – the potential is infinite.

Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director
Giordano Middle East

Brand Value

Creating a strong set of values around a brand denotes good value for a quality product. From the consumer’s point of view, acceptance of a product that is backed by good value becomes easy.

“The power of branding lies in the minds of the customer.” And companies have to use the power of branding to distinguish itself from the competition and also show customers that it is better than the others. Creating this differentiation is all the more significant in today’s marketplace where we have more choices of products with so many different brands. Differentiation is the key to win customers away from other brands. Two brands that have been able to achieve this differentiation with remarkable effects are Starbucks and Barista. Both have created differentiation with the social experience they offer customers through the ambience and comfort created in every outlet.

In the end, brands don’t just happen; they are created, nurtured and maintained. A brand once created has value.

Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director
Giordano Middle East

Creating brand performance

Merely creating brand awareness by itself is not enough; the quality of the product is of primary importance.

At Giordano, we take quality very seriously. In our chairman, Peter Lau’s words: “The essence of quality is the maintenance of trust between customers and retailers. When the trust is enhanced the retailer is regarded as a quality provider.”

In any brand loyalty programme, customers are the focal point. Brands must build a strong communication channel with their customer base for getting feedback, interacting, and understanding their needs. These are crucial and must be a continuous process. It is effective to conduct focus groups where, for example, new campaigns are shown and feedback sought. There must be innovation and creativity in what a brand does. The result of all our efforts is to provide exceptional customer service at all times. Once a company has created brand equity that’s not the end of the road. In fact, there is no finish line and the work just goes on.

Brand management at Giordano is towards creating the ‘world’ brand. A world brand is different from a global brand – it has no centre, knows no national or cross-cultural borders, it is truly owned by the local consumers. It is truly “think global, act local.” As a world brand, we will function as a virtual company where every office is interdependent


Ishwar Chugani
Executive Director
Giordano Middle East

Keep Your Cool this Summer with Giordano

As the mercury rises, sizzle in the brightest of hues while you stay cool and comfortable with Giordano’s summer collection, in stores from May 1.  With sporty tees and Big Tees, skater shorts and pants, skinny jeans, leggings and jeggings – the region’s favorite place for wardrobe essentials let’s you show your fashionable side without melting in the sun.

Limited Edition women's Big Tees make colour-blocking easy

Giordano’s Summer 11 collection focuses on a lot more color and also launches its new and innovative G:Cool technology of NatruDry fabrics, guaranteed to keep you cool and dry.   Men’s essential highlights include the G:Cool skater shorts and pants, specially designed for those who love an active lifestyle and want to brave the scorching heat with confidence, thanks to performance-driven fabrics and NatruDry technology.


The new men’s range has a wide selection of everyday wardrobe essentials like yarn-dyed stripe polo shirts, the ever-popular Lion Polo in a wide variety of color combinations, tipping polo shirts, striped and print shirts, and slim and regular fit plaid shirts with long or short sleeves - all just perfect paired with Giordano khaki pants or denims.

It's all about G:Cool with NatruDry fabric technology

For women too, there is no shortage of treats in store. Wardrobe-staple fashion tees in black, white and grey  are complemented by Giordano’s Summer 11 limited edition Big Tees in scorching brights, making this season’s colour-blocking trend ever-so-simple to wear. The Big Tees are a must-have match for stretch cotton Lycra leggings, jeggings or skinny fit denims and look super sweet accessorized with cotton scarves.

“At Giordano, we’re committed to providing our customers high quality and versatile essential clothing at great value. This Summer’s Collection is all about simple, easy to wear pieces that look great every time you put them on,” says Ishwar Chugani, Executive Director, Giordano Fashions LLC.  “That’s why we’re the go-to place for men’s and women’s wardrobe essentials.”






Giordano Middle East