Customer Service and Human Resources

US

In specialty jewelry retailing, the level and quality of customer service is a key competitive factor as nearly every in-store transaction involves the sales associate taking a piece of jewelry or a watch out of a display case and presenting it to the potential customer. Therefore the ability to recruit, train and retain suitably qualified sales associates is important in determining sales, profitability and the rate of net store space growth. Consequently the US division has in place comprehensive recruitment, training and incentive programs and uses employee and customer satisfaction surveys to monitor and improve performance. A continual priority of the US division is to improve the quality of customer experiences in its existing stores, while providing sufficient well trained sales associates with suitable experience to assist in any new stores being opened and raising standards of execution in all other areas of the business.

UK 

Management regards customer service as an essential element in the success of its business, and the division’s scale enables it to invest in industry-leading training. The Signet Jewellery Academy, a multi-year program and framework for training and developing standards of capability, is operated for all sales associates. It utilizes a training system developed by the division called the “Amazing Customer Experience” (“ACE”). An ACE Index customer feedback survey gives a reflection of customers’ experiences and forms part of the monthly performance statistics that are monitored on a store by store basis. In Fiscal 2011, the UK division implemented an improved coaching methodology and was recognized as one of the top ten large UK companies to work for by the annual Sunday Times survey.