At the Central Plaza shopping mall in a large Thai provincial capital city, there is a customer information desk just inside the main entrance that is normally staffed by a couple of sharply dressed and coiffed employees.Needing to find a specific store quickly one recent afternoon, and having been repeatedly bamboozled by the flaky in-mall wi-fi, I asked one of the personnel at the desk. Not only did she tell me where the store was (down one level, an 80-metre walk and a sharp left turn): she actually took me there herself.That’s the extreme positive end of the Thai customer service continuum. But it is not necessarily typical. Generally, retail service falls into three main buckets: the extremely helpful (like the woman in Central Plaza), the extremely overbearing and unhelpful (the follower-hoverers), and the totally neglectful (associated with phone addiction and indifference to the product). If Thailand wants to take the next step forward as a retail destination – it already has world-class shopping malls and stores – it needs to come to grips with those second and third buckets.Follow and hoverAt many stores, the customer experience can be downright creepy. The creepiness is typical of particular retail categories such as appliances, home improvement and technology. Labour in Thailand is cheap, so retailers hire a lot of them: many more than are really required for the jobs. A retail employee often earns as little as 350 baht (US$10) a day. Moreover, on any given day in a large store a lot of people call in sick or are absent for family or other reasons, so retailers over-hire to provide cover for absenteeism.The result is that there is a cadre of highly visible, idle employees who are obviously just whiling away the hours. At many stores, there will be a rugby line of them waiting for a customer. Upon entering the store looking for, say, a fridge or a computer, the unfortunate visitor is immediately swooped upon by an employee, who skids to a stop adjacent to or behind the shopper, and simply watches in silence. As the customer moves from item to item, the employee will follow in lockstep. When the customer moves to the next department, a second employee takes over from the first. This kind of tag-team, or relay, continues until the besieged visitor heads for the exit. In a way it is comical, but for the retailer’s top-line, it isn’t funny at all.All of this, of course, wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the employee could handle questions or provide some useful assistance. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. The problem isn’t limited to retailers of expensive durable goods. Recently, I visited the new flagship of a high-profile international clothing brand that opened in Bangkok’s Central World, which, like Central Plaza, is owned by Central Pattana, Thailand’s largest mall operator. The store was beautiful and the merchandise engaging. However, browsing was rendered impossible by an overzealous employee who followed me everywhere and persisted in giving me unsolicited information that I didn’t need.As I attempted to pick up and finger the fabrics to get a sense of how they would feel being worn in the harsh tropical heat outside, the employee actually got physically in my way. This was not a deliberate block, rather the employee simply seemed not to be aware of where her own body was and was desperate to make the sale. Eventually, I simply left the store and the retailer lost a sale that it certainly would have made if I had been left alone to decide for myself.This is also true in other categories of merchandise, from footwear to food processors. The store employee in Thailand always wants to be the one who is nearest the customer when the purchasing decision is made, because irrespective of whether any assistance has been provided, the employee wants to be the one to carry the item to the register. This is how (s)he gets a commission, or points towards a bonus or some other reward, depending on the retailer. It is rare for genuinely useful assistance to be rendered.Product knowledge: what’s that?Actual product knowledge, or lack thereof, is a massive problem in Thailand and the developing ASEAN countries, for two reasons: first, it prevents the staff person from providing the kind of technical assistance that makes the purchasing process enjoyable. The journey should be joyful, not a pitched battle against the employee’s own ignorance of the products. Second, it prevents the retailer from guiding the customer to the optimal purchasing decision. For example, Lululemon hires people who are experienced in yoga. The better athletic footwear retailers in the world are renowned for hiring only staff who themselves practise and love the sport. Thus, running shoes are sold in-store by people who themselves run. They know everything about the technical performance of different brands. They know about the different characteristics of feet. In this way, the employee can walk the shopper through the whole process of product selection, trying on, and decision-making, leading to the optimal purchase and repeat visits.Can’t be botheredThe final type of customer service is, unfortunately, all too common. This is the store where the customer enters and no one looks up from their phones. Phone addiction is arguably the most depressing commercial and social problem in all of Asia. Incredibly, retail managers often don’t enforce phone bans on the shop floor. Perhaps this is because the managers themselves have the same addiction.The cures are simple1. Staff selection and training processes are the frontline cures for the Thai customer service disease. Retailers need to be hiring people who can do more than just play games on the phone and interact with their friends on social media. Hiring should focus on marrying the passions and technical knowledge of the candidate with the products themselves. Love of the product sells because the enthusiasm is infectious. The employee should want the customer to buy because (s)he wants the customer to enjoy the product as much as (s)he does.2. Enforce bans on all private use of phones by staff on the shop floor. Recognise it and treat it for what it is: an addiction that kills productivity.3.Train staff to have a lighter touch when it comes to customer contact. Most customers want to know that an employee is available in the vicinity if there is a question to be answered. So instead of following and hovering, employees would do better to convey easy accessibility but from a distance. It doesn’t prevent the employee from being the intermediary between customer and checkout counter if there is a commission or bonus points to be had.4.Ensure staff know things that the customer might find useful, as opposed to doing things that the customer can do quite easily without assistance, such as reading a label. These four relatively simple things that would make the shopping experience more enjoyable and efficient, and drive sales and repeat visits.