It has been a few years since I shopped at the Polo Outlet and it will probably be a few more years before I go back. As a former employee in the late ninties at a location that was closed a decade ago, I grade their store on how I was once trained to work there.
Walking in the store was generally well stocked. I understand that during the holiday season it can be hard to keep things folded and organized as one person can destroy an hours work in five minutes. At this visit the shelves and racks were a mess and based on my experience it seemed as if they were extremely understaffed. There is no way that five employees can assist customers, run registers, and maintain the store.
My customer service interaction was nonexistant. It seemed like several customers had employees monopolized as personal shoppers. Meaning the employee basically spent the entire ten minutes I was in the store with a single customer preventing them from working with anyone else. As an employee or a manager you need to train or understand how to work the room to keep everyone happy. More employees on the clock as well as better employee management would make every customers experience better.
I think Polo use to carry a lot of higher quality merchandise in their stores. In the old days you use to get a lot off season first runs instead of made for the outlet lower quality lines. I understand that the bottom line is very important to the health of the company, but so is customer service, value that is real or perceived, and quality merchandise are just as important.
I really wish I could rate this trip higher as I really like Polo, but unfortunately I think they failed to meet their own standards and as a result my own as well. read more