Reflection Paper

Mary Portas Secret Shopper: Cranleigh Bride

The Mary Portas Secret Shopper is a series on Netflix that helps more brands
and high-street chains improve the quality of service offered to their customers. In the
episode that we watch in the class, it is about a married couple that owns two businesses,
a dressmaking and alternation business and a bridal gown business, who are fighting for
survival with mounting debts and piles of unsold stocks. Mary Portas built a secret
footage of what goes on in the bridal boutique and its other store and she is almost
hysterical with laughter to what she has seen. But it is no joke how badly the business is
doing. However, Mary is in for a big surprise when she meets the team, and faces a
difficult challenge of bringing enough brides to turn their failing business. Also, husband
and wife Graham and Janet are, shall we say, an unusual couple. Certainly their taste in
woman’s dress is uncertain, their shops are cluttered and chaotic, their accounts are a
muddle and their self-awareness is non-existent. After a shaky start, Mary eventually
knocks the business into shape.

On TV and the internet, we can see a lot of successful business that has their
own strategies to make their business prosper. In this episode of Mary Portas Secret
Shopper, I have learned a lot of lessons and from my what I have seen, I think that
company’s reputation and good customer service are the two most important factors that
contributes to the success of a business. In reality, a company’s reputation and a good
customer service are tightly related to customers’ interest in their products, and there are
many instances from this episode the we can relate of how these two factors affect the
company’s growth.

Company’s reputation is what people know about the business, and it can
directly affect peoples’ interest in that business. It is easy to see how it works; of course,
no one would like to go to a store that have bad services. For a bridal shop, is all about
the experience because it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a woman to be a bride
and you should not take that experience away from them and even stresses the bride. As
what Mary Portas said, it is all about romance, glamour, and buying into the future. It is
about having the best customer service. Even though the business was in a good
location it is not operating well because of how the things are done inside the store. You
would not want to spend thousands of money for a gown, but they could not even serve
you a glass of water. Also, there two businesses are separated from each other and it is
more appropriate that the conversation within staffs are kept private so using the
telephone in their business is a must. But then it is the first time for me to see an
employee using a walkie-talkie to talk to its staff on the other side of the store. It is like
they are running a backstage at some massive event, when it is just between the two
shops. As a customer, I would be embarrassed because you can hear what they are
saying and be annoyed at the same time because it is loud and irritating when it
supposedly the ambiance of the store when you are choosing a gown should be
peaceful, calm and welcoming.

A good customer service is about listening to, and understanding

of what your customers need. Whether the customer is right or wrong, there are ways to
defuse situations if things go wrong. You should never get to the stage where the
customer is crying in your shop and you are arguing with them and calling them mental
is totally unacceptable and unprofessional. In this type of business to last long, it is
about how you handle your customers, what your service is like. Janet’s talent in
on-the-spot dress alteration is one of the business unique selling points. It is just that
she lacks self confidence. And as an owner of a business, you should always have
confidence within yourself, that you can do it and you're proud that you have this talent
because this what differentiates you from your competitors. Also, in our modern world,
everyone is free to be who they want to be and express themselves. The husband
Graham has an alter-ego, which is Becky. I know how it means for a person to be
accepted for who he or she is. It is a great thing to be able to show yourself, that being a
transvestite is part of Graham’s life. But the truth is that he cannot be Becky in the shop.
I learned that one has to conform in what type of business they have. For example,
when you are a salesperson in a car industry, you should look formal and neat so that
your customers would trust you in their buying decisions. For a bridal shop, the bride
should be the center of attention. And if he would cross-dressed in their business, it
would not feel right.

The environment inside the business is another factor of the company’s

reputation. In their main shop which is the dressmaking and alteration business, a lot of
unsold dresses and gowns are displayed, even though it is put into sale no one would
want to buy it and the place itself is chaotic. As a customer, you would be unsure to buy
a dress if the environment is a mess and their dresses are very out of trends. The world
is changing. Customers are more empowered and more knowledgeable. Bridal wear is
like a mainstream fashion, it changes every season. As a business person, you should
be able to adapt to these changes because you cannot afford to buy stocks that would
not sell. That is why as a retailer, you really need to look around at any type of
successful business and ask yourself, why are they successful? What can you take from
these businesses and adapt in your own enterprise. Take some time to really study
other businesses and competitors.

For a business to flourish, a company’s reputation is important because it

establishes customer’s trust on the business. That is why in their business, to be a really
prestige, professional wedding-gown business, it is about the best service, special
service for the customers, making them feel special, that is why in everything they do it
has been professional. And at the end of the episode, Mary Portas has been able to
help the couple to rebrand their business. Making a bigger risk, they change the way
how it looks. From Love Brides at Maureen, now their shop is reborn as Cranleigh Bridal,
a glamorous destination boutique. The shop now has twice the floor space to house a
bigger range of dresses. And as for their other business which is the dressmaking and
alterations it is moved into their smaller shop and has been reborn as Janet Kent
Dressmaking. But it is not just about the shop being transform but the whole team as
well. They have worries that they would not make this shop successful, but as a retailer,
you need to understand the you have to work for it. Business is proactive, you have to
get out of your comfort zone and be confident to explore things. So in there relaunching,
they have made it an event that would draw attention and create excitement that would
attract new customers.