Survival of the Highest Rated

Before I arrived in Hoi An I was told one thing; I must buy hand-tailored clothing and shoes before I left. As an avid shopper I would never say no to custom clothing, so I started looking for tailors as soon as we left our hotel for our first biking tour of the city. Little did I know, tailors and custom shoe stores were everywhere. On a street of 6 stores, a minimum of 4 belonged to spaces filled to the brim with every color, pattern, and material I could ever want or need when designing an outfit. Everywhere I looked I could find men and women willing to make whatever I wanted, even if all I had was a picture of a similar style or an idea in my head. Needless to say, I was thrilled!

Once the fog of excitement began to dissipate, I realized that there was a fatal flaw to the textile-focused city. With the same exact tailors showing the same exact sample dresses, suits, and shoes, how were all of the stores able to receive business? There was simply too much competition to ensure work for every single store. In America, business owners are hesitant to place their shops within walking distance of another similar store, but in Hoi An identical stores line every street and are constantly fighting for the same customers.

My biggest curiosity was how each store was able to attract customers when the store sharing the same wall had the same goods. The answer: online ratings. As soon as I purchased my beautiful dress, the tailor was giving me cards, making me promise to write a review on TripAdvisor, and making sure I was willing to write a 5 star rating. Stores with higher ratings would even place signs in the windows or hanging near the products advertising their online scores! The method to beat competition was not to have the better product, but simply to have the best possible rating that could show tourists that they were the store to chose. The online score was a mark of pride for each store, and every tailor we visited was determined to get a good review out of each visitor.

Never had I been requested to write reviews so often, and I honestly felt guilty not providing a good score for the tailors that worked so hard to make the perfect item for me. Maybe my happy reviews will help attract more customers and beat the competition, but I can only imagine what a poor review could do to a business. Until next time Hoi An, and may the reviews be ever in your favor.

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