Phuket Opinion: Teaching that it’s not rude, it’s just culture
Phuket Gazette -

Madunan Chehteek, 47, is a native of Yala who left school at age 15 and came to Phuket to work at age 19. He held various positions at Phuket resorts, working his way up to receptionist, then was a tour guide for five years. He opened his shop, the Madunan shirt and souvenir shop, on the bypass road in 1997.

Here, he explains how understanding customers’ cultural backgrounds is the most important element in providing them with quality service.

PHUKET: There are a lot of businesses on Phuket – restaurants, hotels and shops – that serve tourists. In order to succeed in this competitive environment, we have to offer good products, communicate well, be creative and deliver excellent service. To serve our customers well, the most important thing we have to do is understand their culture.

Phuket tourists come from all over the world, so we need to be able to understand diverse cultural preferences. Understanding our customers is key to creating a positive experience in our shop.

Every time a busload of tourists comes here, I give a short speech, and I tailor it to the nationality of our guests. With Malaysians and Chinese, it’s usually funny. With Europeans and Americans it tends to be more educational, with information about the tsunami and history of Phuket.

We also change our displays depending on which group is coming – for a Chinese group, we’ll put panda and elephant shirts on our mannequins.

Most importantly, we match our service style to our customers.

Malaysian and Indonesian tourists are usually boisterous and relaxed shoppers, but they are afraid of being cheated. Phuket prices are expensive for them, so our strategy is to assure them that our products are high quality and offered at good prices. They get bored if we are too formal, so we try to entertain them by making jokes as we talk about the products. They especially like to buy colorful shirts, and they buy for their families. Since their families are big, they usually buy a lot.

The Chinese tourists are the loudest. They’re very friendly, not shy or formal at all, but they are picky shoppers. They inspect things very carefully. They like to try on a lot of things and compare items. Once they decide they like something, they focus on getting the best price. The older shoppers value price over quality, but the younger ones go more for quality.

European and American tourists like to shop alone. They don’t feel comfortable if staff follow them around the shop. They will ask a staff member if they need help with something. They especially like to buy handicrafts or items which are symbols of Thailand, like handmade bags and elephant shirts.

When it comes time to pay, they line up politely at the cashier’s desk. I’d like to ask the Malaysian and Chinese shoppers to do the same thing, but I don’t think I can.

Thai shoppers, in contrast, like to have staff standing by to take care of them. And they always want a discount. They say, “We are Thai too!”

We easily make Arab shoppers feel happy and like they are with family when they come in and we say “Assalammulaikum”. Another way we help our Muslim shoppers feel comfortable is by requiring our staff to dress modestly. Female staff must wear a head scarf, long sleeve shirts and long pants.

In our weekly staff meetings we talk about cultural issues and teach our staff how to serve customers in each group. We make them understand that different behaviors are not bad or rude behaviors but the product of culture, habits and lifestyles that the staff have to learn about. Every year we take our staff on a field trip to a shop in a different province so they can get new ideas about how to serve and understand customers.

This understanding is key to the success of any business based on service.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Opinion-Teaching-that-it-s-not-rude-it-s-just-culture-23119.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-12-29

I was expecting a boring article, but this was actually good one.

Many could say "I knew the cultural differences before", but how many actually trim their business culture to the extend of dressing mannequins with culturally suitable t-shirts?

It's a savvy businessman who understands his market segmentation and how to best take care of each.

I agree with Oilinki, a nice read.

This person is very business savy , the tourism authority of Thailand could learn from tis person . And many other tourist venues

Really liked the post. Going to copy it for future reference for employes.

good stuff

Wow, I didn't think any Thai person understood this:

"European and American tourists like to shop alone. They don’t feel comfortable if staff follow them around the shop. They will ask a staff member if they need help with something."

Nice to see someone use critical thinking skills. Lots of good observations in the article.

Very interesting read. Conversely, I learned something about Thai culture too. Often I feel overwhelmed at shops by what I perceive as overzealous staff pushing a sale. Now I realize Thais expect that kind of service when they shop; they wish to feel served.

A good insight , may well call in to his shop and have a look around.

Wow - a Thai that understands basic marketing and niche segments

Basic international marketing I teach in my classes, but Khun Madunan has learned like I did-lots of personal experiences. Very insightful article that proves the value of paying attention to cultural differences and applying that knowledge to best advantage. To bad so many companies do not understand.

Madunan Chehteek is a smart businessman. Phuket needs more like him.

This is one of the best articles I've read on Thai Visa. Well written and very explanatory. Similar to aTomsLife, I learned why the Thai sales people seem to hover around you, which would never go over in the US, and would drive customers away. I assumed that it was cultural, but didn't know why...now I do. Pretty much any and all businesses in Thailand catering to foreigners would do would do well to study Khun Madunan's model. In fact, he should be a guest lecturer in the business courses at Thai universities.

"European and American tourists like to shop alone. They don’t feel comfortable if staff follow them around the shop. They will ask a staff member if they need help with something."

He nailed that on the head. If I can't get sales people to stop following me, I'll leave the store.

Hang on a minute......have they checked that is guy is really Thai ?

He deserves phenomenal success.

Edit Was going to say that he should be recruited to give lectures in tourist areas to business owners, but probably not a good idea most think they know it all anyway.

Great article well written.

Hope other businesses will follow his example. Who know maybe the it will spread throughout the country.

good article i agree , but making your staff dress differently for arabs/muslims ??? ,............how far have the rest of the universe got to go to please these people ? dress to please them in their countries and in our own , but are they willing to dress western style to in our countries ?,....i would prefer to loose the custom . fair play to this guy though, at least he understands cultural differences .

''Most importantly, we match our service style to our customers.''

I would wish that the various customers that you have would extend the same courtesy to people visiting their own countries...

In a previous article on TVF, somebody was asking "Why Thai shop owners are rude to their customers"

My answer was "Because they are Thais".

And I meant it, because I had bad experiences dealing with Thai shop owners and Thai people in General.

After reading the article about Khun Madunan Chehteek, I learned, that I shouldn't rationalise.

I am glad to see that you can find exceptional Thai people that can understand other cultures and people.

Very scarce, but I hope his example will be adopted by many in Thailand.

Let's wait and see.....but I am afraid it will not be in my lifetime!

" for a Chinese group, we’ll put panda and elephant shirts on our mannequins"

Are these shirts all "Made In China" anyway??

That's a smart man. Respect.

I don't often read long opening posts, but this one was captivating to read, i want that bloke to open a shop near me, he deserves all the success that comes his way. I wish other stores will learn about Westerners like to browse alone, 1 time in the mall, I had 5 assistants follow me around, and i only wanted to buy a quality frying pan.

I don't often read long opening posts, but this one was captivating to read, i want that bloke to open a shop near me, he deserves all the success that comes his way. I wish other stores will learn about Westerners like to browse alone, 1 time in the mall, I had 5 assistants follow me around, and i only wanted to buy a quality frying pan.

My grandson and granddaughter work at Big C, they also get commissions' for sales they record.. So the hovering is for this reason as well... Salary is low so commissions are important to them! Again a very good read...

Good information/article. The business model is a simple one and basic common sense. I see very little costs to implement this marketing strategy and the gains very substantial. Its refreshing to see this type of thinking in the LOS.

I was expecting a boring article, but this was actually good one.

Many could say "I knew the cultural differences before", but how many actually trim their business culture to the extend of dressing mannequins with culturally suitable t-shirts?

what is on the t-shirts when germans and brits visit the shop???? Singha and Chang LOL

Wouldn't be interested in the job as PM ??

Would it be a promotion or demotion from what he does now do you think?

What an inspiration this man is .... thank you for sharing.

Very interesting read. Conversely, I learned something about Thai culture too. Often I feel overwhelmed at shops by what I perceive as overzealous staff pushing a sale. Now I realize Thais expect that kind of service when they shop; they wish to feel served.

Agree,sure does bug me to have 4 staff follow me around until I move to another isle and then another 4 take up the 'chase'.

Good article. But I wonder, does this shop have dual pricing?

A very good post and only positive comments/replies - impressive stuff

A good article and best wishes to him.

He deserves to reap the rewards of his hard work and new approach to customer service.

This is the attitude those in charge of Phuket's administration should display, rather than just thinking about lining their own pockets, year after year.

""European and American tourists like to shop alone. They dont feel comfortable if staff follow them around the shop. They will ask a staff member if they need help with something."

The thais are nowhere near as bad as the filipinos. Its not unusual to have 3 Staff following you around and they often keep showing you things, whether you are interested or not. My GF tells them I don't like it and to please go away.