Godrej , the furniture and security equipment company , has come up with a new initiative in its chain of (home and office furniture interior solution) stores,”Godrej Interio”
“The concept is called Mood Consulting ,whereby the store draws upon the emotional element within the shopper to help him ‘create the mood’, which translates into product selection.On entering the store, expert Lifespace Mood Consultants personally assist the shopper with several Moodspace tools to come closer to ‘sensing’ the eventual desired decor at the home”, quotes Mr Shyam Motwani, Vice-President and Business Head, Godrej Lifespace
One quick visit to the nearest Interio store dispels the myth behind the concept and to confirm my beliefs : the concept is only a dream and never a reality.
The aesthetically decorated Interio store is a classic example of Indian retailing , which portrays clearly how several premium lifestyle stores in the country are being ruined and run in such pathetic condition due to a poor customer service despite its classy interior,ambience and design
The 10000+ sq.ft Godrej Interio store was run by just 2 store employees on a Saturday evening and was quite interested in filling their accounts and rather seemed quite oblivious to any help sought from the customers present. Upon enquiring for a computer furniture ,the store executive , visibly displeased from being disturbed in his work, after much deliberation,protruded a “fancy ,colorful” Godrej catalogue . He further added that they didnt have stock of any computer furniture and should choose only from the catalogue.
Apparently he seemed to fail to understand that the concept of retailing and the reason to build the entire store in the first place is to provide the shopper the “touch and feel” experience , rather than just browse a catalogue ,which one can see online itself.
During my exit , I’d noticed a rather strange ,large certificate hung on the wall , which read
“This certificate is to prove that all store executives of Godrej have been professionally trained to become “mood consultants” ” .
When asked if that was true , the store executive with a smirk on his face replied “Yeah rite !”
Godrej might have taken the concept from the US / UK , but I presume they obviously didnt realize, “What works in the US doesnt necessarily work in India and vice versa”
Some people say , “certain things are much better if left in its original place” and it turns out to be very true in this case !
I rest my case !
by 
in this current recession scenario, i dunno think mood consulting is a idea. pple nowdays are spending less and want deals which extracts best value.
and i agree with u when u say evrything shoudnt be copied fr US. Dependencies should not created
Keep Blogging
AG
Even though I agree with you that what works outside doesn’t work in India but with the growing population of affluent people, the needs of Indian consumer is changing. This kind of concepts should definitely work. In my view, the concept is great but there is a slack in implementation..
Hi Karthik,
Your post about the mood consultant is too good and very info type.do blog more and would like to read more.
By the way do visit our new website contentxn.com, an adnetwork for bloggers. Do visit it if you would like to sign up as a blogger.
Thanx,
Madhav.
What were you doing there?
Did you finally buy something from that flashy colorful catalog?
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Al d best )
cosumer psychology beautifully taped…
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