Supermarket chain rolls out consumer happiness centres

The officials also cut a cake and ribbon to inaugurate the happiness centres.

In line with the country's happiness drive, supermarket chain Choithrams launched its first Consumer Happiness Centre at its Marina outlet in Dubai on Wednesday. In association with the Dubai Economy, Choithrams plans to roll out one happiness centre in each of its 22 stores in Dubai soon.
From the store representatives and Dubai Economy officials to the CEO of Choithrams, each member could be seen wearing broad smiles as well as bright yellow smiley badges on the happy occasion. The officials also cut a cake and ribbon to inaugurate the happiness centres.
"These happiness centres are launched as part of the Dubai Economy's drive towards enhancing happiness and promoting cordial relations between traders and consumers. By introducing such counters, we are trying to strengthen the bond of trust between the traders and customers," Manal bin Ismail, principal inspector at the Dubai Economy, told Khaleej Times.
Talking about the role of the store's customer happiness centres, Rajiv Warrier, CEO Choithrams, said: "The basic role of the happiness counters in Choithrams is to resolve customer complaints. If there is any problem with the product they buy from us, then the customer can come to these counters and seek help to resolve their issue. The first stop to resolve the clients' issue and make them happy are these counters at the Choithrams store itself. If they cannot resolve the issue, then the customer can approach the Dubai Economy, wherein our representative will visit their office and will try to sit together and resolve the customer's issue."
The announcement was made in the presence of L.T. Pagrani, director, Choithrams, and a delegation from the Dubai Economy led by Ahmad Al Awadi, director, corporate commercial compliance and consumer sector, and Abdullatif Marzouqi, senior manager, corporate commercial compliance and consumer sector. "We have already trained our store managers and personnel on how to handle customer complaints," he added.
Elaborating the idea behind the launch of the customer happiness centres, Warrier added: "It is the government of Dubai that inspired, supported and motivated us to take up this initiative to keep our customers happy and ensure Dubai becomes the happiest city in the world. We feel happy to be part of this exercise." 
The store representatives greeted customers wearing green shirts with the message "full of goodness" written on them. 
Commenting on the initiative, Ahmad Al Awadi said: "The Dubai Economy has always adopted the best practices in the field of consumer protection. The 'Consumer Happiness Centre' initiative was launched to create trust between consumers and traders and also to enhance the role of the trader to address consumer complaints through an integrated programme, which includes training and qualifying private sector representatives on laws and consumer protection systems." 
Choithrams chairman L.T. Pagarani said: "We are proud to partner with the Dubai Economy to make Dubai the happiest city in the world and reinforce it as a regional and international business hub. We have launched the Consumer Happiness Counter at our Marina store today and will soon have these counters across all our stores. Through this proactive measure, we hope to resolve consumer complaints more effectively and increase consumers' happiness."
saman@khaleejtimes.com