Enrich Salons received a round of applause from the retail and shopping centre industry captains at a glittering function at Renaissance, Powai Mumbai on April 11, 2018 where it was officially awarded the ‘Trusted Salon’ certificate for having successfully achieved the ‘Trusted Mark’ Certification that required undergoing rigorous process of standards implementation, compliance, audits, checks and gap corrections.
Vikram Bhatt, Founder & Director, Enrich Salons & Academy was joined by Bhupesh Dinger Director – Operations and Sachin Kamat, Director – Employee & Customer Engagement for this grand felicitation that saw Trusted Board Member Amitabh Taneja, and Committee members Ramesh Koregave of Bureau Veritas coming on stage with leading retailers like Avijit Mitra of Croma; N.P. Singh, of Samsonite, Vasanth Kumar of Lifestyle; Rahul Vira of Skechers and Sanjay Vakharia of Spykar and Ramesh Nair of JLL India to announce Enrich Salon’s outstanding achievement and present the certificate.
The first of its kind customer-centric certification mark in retail will be the seal of excellence in customer service and assurance of retailers adhering to the stringent retail practices. The Trusted scheme was launched for single brand retailers one year ago and out of the nine applicants – Levi’s, Max, V-Mart, Hidesign, Nike, Naturals, Arvind Unlimited, Enrich Salons and Sports Station – Enrich Salons successfully completed the entire audit process to become world’s first ‘Trusted Salon’.
“It has taken seven long years to plan this scheme with multi-stakeholder involvement – including the world’s top retailers, government authorities, regulators, NGOs, trade bodies and consumer organisations – to ensure that the Trusted Mark becomes ‘the’ symbol of customer trust. Retailers that adhere to the Scheme requirements obtain the Trusted Mark’. The ‘TRUSTED MARK’ will be allowed to be displayed on their outlet fronts/ e-page and all marketing and communication materials as an outward sign of their commitment to the ‘Trusted Mark’,” said Amitabh Taneja on the occasion.”
“It takes a lot to become the first certified retailer and we all must salute the will of the Enrich team to go through the rigorous process,” he added.
Filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment, Vikram Bhatt said that the outcomes offered by the Trusted Mark program seemed synergistic to the needs of Enrich. They were:
– Best practices in all customer-facing aspects of the business, or aspects of the business which had a direct impact on customer experience
– Identification of gaps, and solutions to close them
– Improvements or suggestions in current processes
Enrich applied for the Trusted Mark certification and underwent the audit and certification process.
From the outset, the detailed and meticulous nature of the criteria and process was apparent. Criteria had been applied across industries (wherever applicable), which made certain criterion severe to apply, but understandably in the best interests of the consumer. At times, it felt more like an investigation!
There were definitely some eye openers – being in a nascent industry with limited process and technology orientation from peers, Enrich saw certain areas which would benefit greatly by this process. Certain practices concerning training, communication with employees, were pinpointed as points of improvement.
Conversely, the auditors Enrich worked with were highly impressed with the processes already in place at Enrich, such as the use of technology, controls set up for compliance, and due diligence shown by all the staff. Even more impressive to them was the hospitality and courtesy shown by the staff through the duration of the certification process.
“Enrich is happy to have successfully received the certification. It stands firm in the belief that superior customer experience will be the make or break factor for companies in the foreseeable future. Thus, getting this certification is a step towards solidifying that same thought in the minds of the consumers as well’, he concluded.
Talking about Enrich Salon’s Certification, Ramesh Koregave, Director –Certification, Bureau Veritas (South Asia Region) said that Bureau Veritas was the chosen Certification Body to audit Enrich Salons.
“The ‘TRUSTED MARK’ Scheme has been formulated in a manner compliant to ISO/IEC: 17065, which has sections namely, technical standards, certification process, requirements for Certification Bodies (CB). CBs in operations for at least 5 years can conduct ‘Trusted Mark’ Certification audit with provisional approval from Trusted Mark Secretariat subject to they getting accredited by National Accreditation Board for Certifying Bodies (member International Accreditation Forum) within 1 year of accreditation launched by the accreditation body”, he added.
The ‘Trusted Mark’ scheme is owned by IRF Trusted Mark LLP, the international retail forum setting customer-centric standards in retail. IMAGES Group, promoter of the Trusted Mark, is a premier knowledge, networking and business platform for India’s burgeoning retail, consumer brands and Shopping Centre industries.
Aim Behind Trusted Mark
The Trusted Mark certification scheme has been launched for retailers and retail businesses spanning all retail operations including hypermarkets, supermarkets, department stores, specialty stores, e-retailers and service providers, restaurants, jewellers, pharmacies, salons, spas, wellness centres, FECs and cineplexes.
The scheme aims to serve two purposes: to inform the industry about the ‘Trusted Mark’ and encourage them to improve on their practices and systems; and to assure consumers that retailers will adhere to requirements of the scheme, which is becoming consumer-centric.
Under this Certification Scheme, retailers are audited as per the relevant technical standards. Retailers that adhere to the scheme requirements obtain the ‘Trusted Mark’ and will be allowed to be display it on their outlet fronts, webpages, and all marketing and communication materials as an outward sign of their commitment to the Certification Mark.
The Trusted Mark Secretariat is gearing up to undertake a nationwide campaign to establish the ‘Trusted Mark’ as the seal for consumer trust – generating consumer awareness and assurance needed to encourage consumers to confidently shop, eat and enjoy products and services of outlets with ‘Trusted Mark’ certification.
