Pretty staff won’t deter shoppers, but bad service certainly will

Much has been made in the last week of the appearance of shop assistants; with one study claiming attractive staff could put off some female shoppers, and Abercrombie & Fitch being successfully sued for unfair dismissal by an employee with a prosthetic arm.

Abercrombie is of course renowned for its model-like workers and unashamedly employs a “look policy” – which unfortunately Riam Dean was not considered to adhere to by one store manager.

Rightly or wrongly, the way Abercrombie chooses staff and posts chiselled topless men at its doors has set it apart from the rest of the high street and still draws tourists in droves to its store on Savile Row.

Walk down Regent Street on a regular basis and you will often be approached by tourists trying to locate the slightly hidden-away store, which booms with loud music and as one observer says “makes a better night club than a shop.”

The constant traffic through its doors is perhaps evidence that pretty staff are not so intimidating to young shoppers and a straw poll of this office at least would certainly seem to back this up.

What is important, more now than ever, is having polite helpful store staff. In one small fashion chain I recently visited on a quiet Sunday afternoon the girls chatted amongst themselves and loudly criticised much of the merchandise instead of offering even a moments help.

I find it hard to see how such stores stay afloat as it has certainly put me off ever going in again.

However at the other end of the scale you have the poor harassed store staff in Primark trying desperately to keep some form of order when crazed bargain hunters rummage through merchandise for bargains. Go into the Oxford Street store at any time of the day and this is often the case.

Yet the public love Primark and will happily forego a less than pleasant shopping experience to come out with bags and bags of shopping for under £20. How the staff or the store look is of small significance to this kind of shopper.

Today many of us shop without the medium of a shop assistant as online shopping grows ever more popular. However plain old fashion manners should not be lost from the high street as good service you remember. In a world increasingly void of brand loyalty shoppers will still leave with some affinity to a store if someone does do that little extra to help.

Looks will certainly have little to do with that.