17 retailers honoured for good customer service

Dubai - The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is part of DED's compaign to promote competitiveness and quality of service. The winners are drawn from a variety of outlets, including opticals, fashion, call centres, money exchanges, restaurants, footwear, and others.

The Department of Economic Development in Dubai honoured 17 retail outlets under the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) for their commitment to performance excellence and customer service quality in 2015, as well as for their ethical business practices.

Marina Home Interiors (Abu Dhabi Mall Branch) receives the award under the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme. -Supplied photo
The winners were selected from 2,400 member outlets in DSES and received their mementos from Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of DED.
The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is part of DED's compaign to promote competitiveness and quality of service. The winners are drawn from a variety of outlets, including opticals, fashion, call centres, money exchanges, restaurants, footwear, and others.
Additionally, Al Qamzi honoured companies that participated in the second edition of DSES' Customer Service Week in August at Dubai Festival City. Nearly 30 DSES member firms showcased their products and services at a special bazaar organised as part of the Customer Service Week.
"The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme stems from our determination to continue the development journey and work in a spirit of partnership and creativity to be distinguished in all spheres," Al Qamzi said. "The Department of Economic Development is proud to be the first government entity in Dubai to set out to spread the culture of quality and excellence among organisations and companies, promoting Dubai and its work environment in front of the world in that process."
Al Qamzi added that DSES has seen an aggregate growth of 21 per cent in member registrations in 2015 with 91 companies and 436 outlets representing 179 brands in total being enrolled in the scheme.
"The addition of hypermarkets as a new category this year has expanded the scope of the excellence scheme and it enabled us to evaluate the feedback from a large consumer segment," he said, adding that DSES has attracted 2,400 members since its inception and 300 mystery shoppers have been involved in the process. "The numbers reflect the growing appeal of the programme among the business community and our efforts to advance the level of quality and excellence across various sectors. The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme has left a clear impact in promoting the concept of sustainable development and competitiveness in the provision of services."
MoU with Smart Dubai Office
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Aisha bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director-General of the Office of Smart Dubai Office, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with DED on enhancing customer happiness and the launch of a happiness meter for the private sector.
"Participating in the Happiness Meter will give business owners invaluable access to customer experience data, and help increase the happiness of everyone who visits a store, dines in a cafe, or uses a service in Dubai," she said. "The private sector's participation in the Happiness Meter programme is an important step bringing us closer to our goal of achieving 95% happiness for the whole city by 2021, in line with the Smart Dubai Happiness Agenda."
"The Business Excellence Department in the Department of Economic Development will coordinate with interested DSES members in applying the Happiness Meter at their outlets, and in enabling them to communicate directly with the Smart Dubai Office. The office on its part will provide the necessary technical support to DSES members and monitor the application of the Happiness Meter across DSES member outlets. We will then look at the scores achieved by each DSES member in the Happiness Meter, and announce the winners during the annual Business Excellence Awards ceremony of the Department of Economic Development."
The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is an initiative aimed at promoting and recognising customer service standards, towards making shopping in Dubai a pleasure. The scheme binds all participating businesses to a common code of business ethics and customer-centric culture to be visible across staff behaviour, product value and integrity as well as customer support.
This year, DED introduced new standards for DSES members, and includes disabled-friendliness on the evaluation criteria in line with the 'My Community..a City for Everyone" initiative launched by Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, which hopes to transform Dubai into a disabled-friendly city by 2020. DSES mystery shoppers are trained to evaluate the member outlets based on the extent of space allocated to people with disabilities, the readiness of the cashier to serve the disabled, and facilities for the disabled.
What is DSES?
> Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is part of DED's compaign to promote competitiveness and quality of service.
> Its members include a variety of outlets including opticals, fashion, call centres, money exchanges, restaurants and footwear.
> It binds participating businesses to a common code of business ethics and customer-centric culture visible across staff behaviour, product value and integrity, as well as customer support.
 The Happiness Meter
> Participation in Happiness Meter gives outlets access to customer experience data
> It will help increase the happiness of everyone who visits a store, dine in a cafe, or uses a service in Dubai
> DSES members can apply for the Happiness Meter at their outlets
> Dubai Smart Office will monitor the application of the Happiness Meter across DSES member outlets
 Who are mystery shoppers?
Mystery shoppers are trained to evaluate member outlets based on the extent of space allocated to people with disabilities, the readiness of the cashier to serve the disabled, and facilities for the disabled.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com