By: Swaminathan Balasubramanian
Last updated : January 28, 2019 10:07 am
One of the biggest retail showrooms in Kerala, Seematti, is all about understanding customer needs and accordingly serving them. Beena Kannan, a leading fashion designer who is also the CEO of Seematti, shares her views on how the store maintains customer satisfaction
We are living in an age when where a customer can access the latest fashion trends across the world right on his digital device with just a click. But this in no way makes it easy to decode the millennials entering a store, according to Beena Kannan, one of India’s leading fashion designers who also owns one of the biggest retail showrooms in Kerala, Seematti.
The store, which began in 1910 at Alappuzha with a total floor area of 4000 sq.ft, has now evolved into a sprawling textile mall with the combined facility and utility area being five lakh sq.ft and a high-street presence.
Seemati has both self-select and executive-assisted segments in the stores. “On a dry day we make our staff assist the customers till the billing happens, while on a busy day, we try to bring in additional staff from other counters to manage the crowd. Training is what helps us in all aspects,” says Beena Kannan. She further adds that every
On the design front, Kannan says that Seemati keeps renovating itself every five years. “We always go for renovating area by area in our stores. In general, we do keep changing the look and feel of the store every five or six years. However, some renovations in the special segments keep changing time to time.” Speaking on the challenges in terms of maintaining the look and feel of the store, she says that it’s all about striking the balance between those who want variety and those who want consistency.
While Seemati bets big on 360-degree campaigns, their in-activities give them opportunities to engage with the customer. “Some of the key activities include bringing dancers from Rajasthan for a ‘Jaldance’ or dancers from China for a dragon dance, to just name few. Other activities include awareness campaigns by students, featuring store mascots and in-store fashion shows,” explains Kannan, while talking about how the store keeps the buzz alive for shoppers.