Almost 3 weeks ago, my family and I finally found the time to check out this shop as part of my upcoming product reviews (coming soon!)
You have no idea how excited we all were to be able to review the shoes from Skechers! Woohooo! This is like one of the pinnacles of my blogging journey! Read on to know more on our shopping experience there!
About the company/brand:
"SKECHERS originated from a south California slang, which means "energetic youngsters". SKECHERS designs, develops and markets a diverse range of footwear for men, women and children. Born in a small beachside California community in 1992, SKECHERS has grown from a one-style, one-building company to be one of the world famous footwear brands. SKECHERS is now the No.2 footwear brand in the United States (according to Sporting Goods Intelligence) and was named Company of the Year by Footwear Plus for the 5th time in 6 years (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010).
The Skechers Fitness Group have also hit the market by storm in the rapid growing toning footwear market and has captured 60% market share of the U.S. toning market in 2010. Shape-ups was named "Launch of the Year 2009" by Footwear News. Skechers has also partnered with renowned celebrities including Britney Spears, Ashlee Simpson, Christina Aguilera, David Cook. In 2011, Kim Kardashian, Brooke Burke, American Football legend Joe Montana, Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone & Hockey Legend Wayne Gretzky represented different collections. In Hong Kong, young singer G.E.M. was the spokesperson followed by superstar Sammi Cheng.
There are now over 500 SKECHERS company owned and franchised or licensed stores in some of the most attractive locations in over 40 countries across 6 continents."
This is the first part of my reviews (I'm starting off with my shopping experience there, followed by each of the shoes we received for our reviews) and I will share my feedback based on the following:
* LOCATION
That's me standing in front of the outlet like a chirpy schoolgirl right after our shopping completed!
The outlet in 1 Utama shopping mall is easy to locate (located at LG330A / Lower Ground Floor in the new wing) and you can't miss the shop with its big bright signage. You can look for their other outlets from this website: http://skechers.com.my/store-locator.php
* PRODUCT (DISPLAYS & RANGE)
The shoes are displayed neatly and easy to see. I like the cute little toy dispenser machine right in the middle of the children's shoes display. While one of the staff checked through our records to verify that we have the approval to review the shoes, another staff promptly passed 2 small coins (special for the machine) to my 3 years old boy. My hubby guided Ben to slot in the coins and drew out 2 round containers. Both contains stickers and Ben was thrilled at seeing the stickers and the awesome machine!
I think it is a creative gesture by the company to entertain the little ones! I like the size chart provided and there is also another size chart floor mat for the children's section as well though I think the mat needs a little bit of cleaning due to being used and stepped on a lot of times.
Another feedback that I'd like to add is for the outlet to provide more brochures or leaflets about the shoes (especially latest models). When we were there, only a couple of the latest models have brochures stand next to the displays. The shoes that I got for myself does not have brochures or leaflets at all.
* CUSTOMER SERVICE
I stepped into the outlet and kept quiet as I browsed around, waiting to see how will the staff approach me, you know to test whether they are doing their work or laze around.
Immediately one of the staff approached me and asked whether I need any help. I then explained to him the reason we were at the outlet. While waiting for them to check and verified our IDs to prove that we are the legitimate people to review the shoes, the same staff passed 2 coins to my boy to slot into the toy dispenser machine.
I think it is a thoughtful gesture by the staff as I was already panicking in my mind on how to control my active toddler running around the outlet! Luckily my boy is well-trained not to simply touch things around!
After a few minutes, we were then assisted by another male staff (I remember his name is Amar). Amar explained to us that based on instructions from his management, we were only allowed to select shoes which are not on sale or with discount.
At first we thought 'OK, totally understand, I mean, we are already lucky and blessed enough to be given the chance to select and review Skechers for FREE, must be grateful!' and as I stepped forward to look at one of the shoes on sales, Amar repeated again clearly this time saying that we cannot select shoes on sales or with discounts, meaning, we can only select normal price shoes.
I was GOBSMACKED.
Normal price shoes means newer and even latest models of shoes.
Where on earth can we find awesome company that not only let commoners bloggers like me review their shoes, they even let my family review their shoes as well and on top of that we can only select normal priced items?!
Skechers, you guys totally rock!
You guys have no idea how hard I tried to control my excitement and happiness at hearing that! I told my hubby I felt like those rich people we see on TV that walked into a shop or boutique and just select everything nice and buy it without thinking further! Only difference is we are not paying anything at all! Thank you Skechers! Muakssssss!!
Left pic showing Amar explaining to my hubby about the shoes... Right pics showing another staff noting down the shoes we got...
Now back to my feedback on our customer service experience, I am happy to share that the staff are helpful and knowledgeable in their products.
I like that the staff hurried over to get the shoes in the sizes we wanted to try and waited for us patiently while we try and stroll around to test the shoes.
Now, I don't have experience selling shoes but I do have some experience being a sales promoter during my college break days long ago, so one thing I'd like to recommend to the staff and outlet to adopt is to give added touch to their service in the sense that they take the effort to bring other shoe sizes as well to save the extra trips back to the storeroom. Example: If a customer asked for shoe size 6, perhaps the staff can bring along size 5 and size 7 (one smaller and one bigger) as well rather than just bringing the size mentioned by the customer.
I think this will be a value added touch which saves time and help in speeding up the decision making from the customer point. I mean, I would totally be pleasantly touched if I see a staff bringing other shoe sizes as well so that I don't have to feel bad if the sizes I asked for does not fit resulting me in asking the staff to take another size and then wait for the shoes. Instead with the other sizes available right in front of me, I can immediately try them out and decide straight whether I want it or not. This is just my personal opinion.
* ANYTHING PECULIAR OR INTERESTING?
There are a couple of things in the outlet which caught our attention:
1. The giant shoe model at the top of the latest shoes design display area. Ben goes 'Wahhh.. giant shoes!' and told me he wants to try it -_-
2. Shoes with pig skin lining wrapped tightly in clear plastic wrappers. I totally understand the reason for wrapping up the shoes as being a Muslim country, Muslim people are forbidden to touch anything with pigs, dogs and so on.
Stay tuned for my review posts on each of the shoes we got for our review. And here's a sneak peak of the shoes we got! Awesome right?!! Thank you Skechers again for your generosity and awesomeness! You guys totally rock!
