With WH Smith growing their presence in Australia in the last year through their acquisition of Supanews, Wild and Kennys Cardiology, I found it interesting to compare their current UK retail offering with what we see in Australia.

I visited several WH Smith High Street stores last week plus several transit locations. While store sizes and product range differs, there is a consistency in look and feel.

Common among the stores is the focus on what mass retailers call value – 2 for, 3 for 2 and similar.

While the WH Smith stores are neat, consistent in layout and not bad looking, they feel out of date to me but I’m not the shopper.

Here are photos from the Manchester Arnddale Centre store:

I took my £75 worth of purchases to the counter of the specialty retail store in Manchester today. The person behind the counter was sloshed on a stool. I guessed they were doing something so I waited. After a minute or so they slapped their hand flat on the counter in front of them and said over here. I walked around the counter to face them. They rang up the sale while sitting. I only got a receipt and a bag when I asked. They put the bag on top of the purchases on the counter as they were distracted by a mate who called their name. They got off the stool and walked over to the mate and hugged.

I cannot recall a worse customer service experience in retail.

As they rang up the sale I figured they were unable to freely move on their legs. But the dash to their mate proved otherwise. I also thought they may not be a talker but the chat with their mate showed otherwise.

Retail is a people business. For almost everything available in retail shops there are alternative retailers. Customer service is a key differentiator.

If this was my shop there would be no stool behind the counter. I would make it my business to know the quality of service provided and I’d performance manage this person based on the experience today.

This business is relatively small but it is part of a national chain of 20 stores.

My experience tells me the manager of this store is not a good leader, not strong enough to combat laziness, not strong enough on basic retail principles to say no to a stool at the counter.

This experience as a customer reminded me of what bad customer service feels like. It have encouraged me to review leadership and processes back home to ensure our approach is best-practice.

I am currently on a flight from Melbourne to Manchester via Dubai for a quick business trip. Thanks to in-flight internet access, I will not land at the other end to emails and messages. While it is important to turn off occasionally, it is even more important to be connected so business can continue regardless of where in the world you are.