We constantly hear about retailers complaining about the new on-line\u00a0shopping and how they are missing out on huge transactions, but one\u00a0must also seriously wonder what the executives are doing in some of\u00a0these corporations, certainly they are not spending time on the floor to see how their staff treat potential customers. And therein lies the\u00a0problem.<\/p>\n
I have written before on this subject, and must admit to being totally amazed at how little attention is paid to this issue. Lots of\u00a0complaining, virtually no action.<\/p>\n
Statistically, the cost of replacing an established, good customer is\u00a0\u00a0extremely high, people are not loyal any more, and life is much more\u00a0\u00a0transient than ever before.<\/p>\n
Today is Sunday, it was a beautiful, bright sunny day following a\u00a0couple of days of horrid weather.<\/p>\n
I am in the office working as I have meetings back to back with Senior\u00a0Executives and this is the only chance I have to do paperwork and\u00a0\u00a0clean up the office before the week starts, as we have some VP’s\u00a0\u00a0coming to visit this week.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, I drove downtown in dreadful road conditions to meet a\u00a0girlfriend for coffee at a high end retailer. Service was lax,\u00a0although the restaurant was full, prices are high, and there was a\u00a0queue.<\/p>\n
From there we headed upstairs to shop, perhaps I should re-phrase,\u00a0she accompanied me, as i was in fact the potential client, outfitted\u00a0\u00a0in a silver knee length mink\u00a0\u00a0coat, black cashmere turtleneck, black\u00a0\u00a0Ralph Lauren Jeans, Hermes H Belt, Chanel Glasses, and expensive\u00a0\u00a0jewelry, no handbag.You get the picture, not wearing rags.<\/p>\n
We shopped the most expensive boutiques in the store. In at least 2\u00a0\u00a0boutiques, I was totally ignored. One young lady was totally focused\u00a0\u00a0on her social life, another was fawning over a 20 year old dripping\u00a0\u00a0with attitude, in another boutique, one staff member was chatting with\u00a0\u00a0her friend, and they were engrossed in a conversation about how\u00a0\u00a0difficult is is to find a good man.<\/p>\n
I was not even asked if there was something I needed. As a 5’10”\u00a0blond, I am hardly invisible, yet service was not forthcoming or\u00a0offered.<\/p>\n
End result, I spent NOTHING in the store, except for the coffee, and\u00a0not for lack of interest.<\/p>\n
I looked at 3 pairs of shoes, $650 each. NOPE. No assistance, no offer\u00a0\u00a0to see if they were in my size or whether I wanted to try them on.<\/p>\n
I looked at belts , $1000 each, in another boutique…….TWICE, and\u00a0\u00a0was never offered assistance.<\/p>\n
I looked at handbags, $1000 – 2190.00, you guessed it, no assistance,\u00a0no offer. no acknowledgement of my existence.<\/p>\n
In my jeans pocket was $700 in gift cards for the store left over from\u00a0Christmas, plus a great deal of cash.<\/p>\n
I spent less than $20 in the store in the 2 hours we were there,\u00a0because no staff member was interested in serving me.<\/p>\n
As someone who is visual, auditory, tactile, and extremely attentive,\u00a0my observations were people being served were for the most part pushy\u00a0\u00a0and arrogant, yet the important fact the staff missed was they had NO\u00a0\u00a0SHOPPING BAGS in their hands, which of course, is the litmus test. how\u00a0\u00a0many bags from which boutiques were in their hands. None. Nope. Nada.\u00a0\u00a0But they certainly received lots of attention.<\/p>\n
One extremely rude woman monopolized 2 sales staff while she fussed\u00a0over pricey silk scarves and chatted with her equally classless\u00a0\u00a0friend. They were loud, they were crass. yes, I have already said\u00a0that. I entered the boutique from 2 different doors on 2 occasions to\u00a0\u00a0look at belts…….yet they were served by 2 people for a long period\u00a0\u00a0of time. They exited empty handed.So, had they ever intended to make a purchase?\u00a0\u00a0They certainly \u00a0received a lot of attention while they discussed the merits of this\u00a0\u00a0scarf and that one. They exited empty handed. Had they been serious\u00a0shoppers, one of them would have made a purchase, but they were made\u00a0\u00a0to feel ‘special’ with all the attention they received, so they stood\u00a0there, played with the staff and the scarves, and had a chat.Judging by the quality of their clothes and jewelry, it is\u00a0\u00a0questionable whether they were ever serious, but they were certainly\u00a0made to feel important.<\/p>\n
As someone who travels, and has offices in 2 major cities, both in\u00a0\u00a0prime downtown locations, I am one of those who has many options, in\u00a0\u00a0fact, the world is open to me.<\/p>\n
Between major cities around the world and the explosion of high end on-line retailers, there is more choice than ever before for our fashion\u00a0\u00a0dollar. I receive mailings from New York, Toronto, Miami, London,\u00a0\u00a0Paris. and Hong Kong. Some of the things are substantially cheaper than here in Canada.<\/p>\n
Today, there are more and more business women like me, earning their own money, and spending it with retailers who make us feel appreciated.<\/p>\n
Every time your arrogant condescending staff offend us or ignore us and we walk out of your store empty handed, it is that much harder to\u00a0get us back in your store.<\/p>\n
If you are doing that to people like me, you are MOST CERTAINLY doing it to people who are clearly not well dressed, yet certainly in my\u00a0industry, high tech, few people are well dressed, and there are lots\u00a0who\u00a0\u00a0are multi-millionaires. The nerd in the torn t-shirt and sneakers\u00a0may be worth $50 million. You just offended his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
She won’t be back.<\/p>\n
The female law student you just offended won’t be back, in 3 years she will be earning well in excess of $100,000.\u00a0\u00a0She has shopping choices\u00a0too.<\/p>\n
Now, what was that complaint you made about the explosion of on-line shopping again????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We constantly hear about retailers complaining about the new on-line\u00a0shopping and how they are missing out on huge transactions, but one\u00a0must also seriously wonder what the executives are doing in some of\u00a0these corporations, certainly they are not spending time on the floor to see how their staff treat potential customers. And therein lies the\u00a0problem. I … Continue reading Another Missed Shopping Opportunity<\/span>