FOX 5 NY's Teresa Priolo reports from Clifton, New Jersey to recount Target's new customer service policy, encouraging workers to smile at and make eye contact with customers.

Clifton

Target has launched a new customer service policy, known as the '10-4' policy, which instructs employees to greet customers with a wave or acknowledgment at 10 feet and initiate a friendly conversation at 4 feet. The company hopes this approach will improve customer experience and help boost sales, particularly as recent figures show a decline ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Despite the rollout, shoppers at a Target store in Clifton, New Jersey, reported little to no noticeable difference in employee behavior, with most stating they prefer efficient shopping over increased interaction. Marketing experts have cautioned that such scripted friendliness could feel forced, potentially leading to awkward customer experiences in the short term.

Target trying out new customer service policy

target is rolling out a brand new policy for their employees. All right, it's going to require them to be more friendly towards customers and do things like wave, make eye contact, even smile. Fox A3 Suprielo joins us live from a target in Clifton, New Jersey. Teresa, what do the shoppers have to say tonight? You know, you'd be interested to hear what some people here in New Jersey have to say about this and whether or not they like it. Let me explain the policy and then you'll get all the information from them. So this is basically the 10-4 policy from target. It's effectively a happiness policy. Here's how it's going to work. I am 10 feet away from the camera. If I was a store employee and I saw you coming in, I would wave, I would say hi, I would kind of make eye contact with you, make sure we're seeing each other, not really interrupt you. If I am now four feet away, which would bring me right here, quite up close, I am to interact with you and start a warm and friendly conversation. 10 feet to four feet, 10-4. Now, according to target, they say they know that they are in a race for your dollars ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. And the latest sales figures show that sales have dropped. So they're trying to figure out a way to boost those numbers. They're hoping that a healthy dose of Midwest nice pushes them over the line. But you have to wonder if this new 10-4 policy may backfire, at least from a PR perspective. I think when you release your rules for how your disgruntled employees should treat their guests, you're preparing the guests for some really awkward and false forced interactions. And so I think it's going to, at least in the short run, increase the discomfort that people feel when they walk into the store, because things will feel off. And that was Mark DeMasimo. He is a marketing expert. So meantime, shoppers here at the CliftonTarget say they haven't noticed a difference. And while it's nice to be nice, they would actually just prefer to get on their way. I didn't notice much. Would it bother you if they were doing that? How would you kind of approach that? I mean, I think it's a good thing. I mean, I would always try to be nice to people, especially if I'm running a business. What does it say to you that a company needs to tell their employees to be nicer? I guess they got to get new people. I mean, you got to tell somebody to be nice. I mean, that's not how it works then, right? Were they nicer? No. Did anybody make eye contact with you? We didn't talk to anybody today. It's early. Just kind of got in and got out. So the reason I ask is because they implemented this new policy where they're supposed to make eye contact with you. They're supposed to smile at you and make sure you notice it. They're supposed to be nicer to you. I know we didn't notice anything different. To be clear, no one said that anybody was mean inside the store. It's not like, you know, employees are throwing things at them or anything. That wasn't the case. It's just that they didn't notice more kindness than they normally would. I also went inside. I roamed those aisles, Steve and Natasha. I tried to make eye contact with target employees to see if maybe I could, like, spur the interaction. Didn't happen. I smiled. I said hello. They, again, were kind back. But this wasn't an employee-first conversation or interaction. That's the latest from Clifton tonight. Back to you guys in the studio. Yeah, it's tough. Everybody's in a hurry. The workers, they've got lives outside of the place too. I get it. What's that upside-down frown she's making at me?

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