Retail giant SM Group has hired over 800 personal shoppers nationwide in a strategic move to meet growing consumer demand for personalized service, a shift underscored by a recent global study from Qualtrics showing that 64 percent of shoppers prefer brands offering tailored experiences.
The new hires will assist customers across SM stores and offer same-day delivery services, reinforcing SM’s commitment to enhancing customer convenience and engagement. The move signals a broader pivot across the group’s retail and hospitality businesses to elevate service quality as a competitive differentiator.
“At SM Store, there’s always someone to help you,” said Jonathan Ng, executive vice president at SM Retail. “Customer service is our advantage—we’ve ingrained it in our culture.”
Beyond staffing, SM Home is also redesigning its store layouts and signages, while its flagship SM Makati outlet undergoes renovation to enhance customer navigation and in-store experience. Meanwhile, SM Hotels is leveraging digital platforms and guest experience software to personalize service and respond to guest needs more efficiently.
The scale of SM’s hiring underscores the commercial importance of customer-centric strategies as a response to evolving shopper expectations, aligning with global consumer behavior trends and reinforcing the group’s market position across sectors.
