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Business News Retail
HMV marketing boss defends appearance policy
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 31 October 2012
HMV’s Marketing & E-Commerce Director has defended the flagging entertainment retailer’s previously reported new ‘appearance policy’, which, amongst other things, asked staff to cover up ‘extensive’ tattoos and piercings.
An internal memo outlining the new policy was widely covered in the press, and much criticised on the social networks, and word has it some HMV employees have been vocal on the issue internally too. The retail firm insists that its new policy has been misrepresented in the papers, and the company’s marketing man Mark Hodgkinson has told Marketing Week that, while he stands by what the policy is trying to achieve, he concedes it could possibly have been communicated better.
Hodkingson: “It’s been taken out of context and sensationalised and we’ve given a wrong impression of what we want to do. The [appearance policy] is part of something bigger within HMV about being really welcoming and inclusive to customers and encouraging more diversity of customers and making them feel comfortable, welcomed and embraced by our stores. We will continue to embrace diversity in our colleagues – we have one of the least stringent codes in retail and we’ll continue to – we’re just saying where it is too extreme, bear in mind we’re trying to attract broader customers and it could be something that would deter some customers”.
The marketing magazine also spoke to retail analyst Neil Saunders about the new HMV policy, who noted that, while part of a move to widen HMV’s potential customer base as the chain’s product range expands, if such new policies alienate core staff the retailer could lose its most valuable asset on the high street, employees who are knowledgeable and passionate about the entertainment products being sold.
Says Saunders: “HMV is a brand where people don’t care much about appearance of staff. They’ve got to be careful not to end up creating something too sterile and taking away from the differentiation the brand has. Most people aren’t that judgmental and would prefer friendly knowledgeable service from someone with tattoos and long hair than a neatly presented person who is offhand. If you look at the Apple store, you wouldn’t say their staff are neat, they’re ‘hip and cool’ and as a tech brand that works quite well”.
