Service Ace

There are 14 good reasons why Neiman Marcus deserves to be anyone's Retailer of the Year. Say, the 14 percent increase in revenues for its last fiscal year – a tough year for most retailers, let alone one that sells a $10 million zeppelin in its Christmas Book.

In September, at the International Retail Design Conference in Miami Beach, Neiman's was anointed the latest winner of VM+SD's annual award in memory of our late, long-time columnist, Peter Glen. But, as anyone who enjoyed Peter's columns knows, he wasn't impressed by same-store sales results. He always said that if a retailer paid attention to its customer and what that customer expected of it, sales success would follow.

Well, even by Peter's criteria, Neiman Marcus is a slam-dunk choice for Retailer of the Year.

This is a retailer that knows who it is, knows who its customer is, and refuses to compromise. I spent a couple of days in Dallas this summer with these people, and saw first-hand that there IS a wizard behind the curtain and you'd better pay attention to him.

His name is Stanley Marcus, and his name is on more than just the door. He set the service standard Neiman Marcus has been committed to, from Burt Tansky, Wayne Hussey and Ignaz Gorischek, right to the people in the stores.

Neiman's trains its people. At its Willow Bend store north of Dallas, we had a shoe salesman running all over, department to department, gathering merchandise to test colors against the pair of shoes VM+SD's Debbie Douglass was trying on. Somewhere, Peter Glen was watching – and approving. So, as a matter of fact, was Mr. Stanley.

This Neiman Marcus attention to detail hasn't been lost on Saks Fifth Avenue, its main competitor. This summer, Saks announced a newly created program, brand filter implementation, “for the internal implementation of the company's brand strategy [to] facilitate a culture of superior customer service.”

Brand filter implementation? James Shavers, my man on the sales floor at Cincinnati's Saks store, boiled it down for me. They were all being retrained to upgrade customer service – a laser beam on making the customer feel important, catered to. You know, like Neiman's does.

Saks felt it needed something. Its sales associates – particularly in the Fifth Avenue enclave – were known for being fashionable, knowledgeable, groomed, model-gorgeous, impeccably dressed, but too often feeling way too haute for the shopper. That doesn't work these days, when shoppers have so many other options.

Well, I was in the Fifth Avenue flagship recently, and found my way to the seventh floor men's department. As I held a shirt up to the light, a woman sidled up. “Hi, I'm Dionne.”

This was New York, so my first thought was I was being hustled, panhandled or mugged.

“Steve, let me help you. Can I do anything for you? Find your size? Another color? Hold your packages while you shop?” I looked around. I was in Saks, wasn't I? And so she worked, for the next half-hour or so, to make my shopping experience pleasant, efficient and convenient.

That never was an everyday event at Saks Fifth Avenue. But they'll be happy to know their program is working – actually making the customer feel good about paying $200 for a cotton shirt. It's the bar that Stanley Marcus set.