MNB user Chuck Burns had some thoughts about a study saying that what people really want from their retailers is a seamless shopping experience that cuts across bricks-and-mortar stores, online, and mobile:
Regarding consumers who want a more seamless shopping experience I would say the online Gold Standard is Amazon Prime with one click. That borders on making it too easy to spend money!
By far the most frustrating online shopping "feature" of many web sites, whether on computer, tablet or phone, is having to go through myriad steps before you can find out what the shipping charges are. I want to know what the charges are upfront before being forced to enter pages of information. We commonly leave shopping carts with items in them and do not complete the purchase when we see that the shipping charges are unreasonable.
In regards to a good shopping experience in store company's need to emphasis to their employees that they are paid to help customers and not talk to each other. I went in a store recently and was looking at several similar products by the front counter. Three employees were hanging around the counter gabbing with each other. I thought it was obvious that I needed assistance. Finally I turned and asked if they were going offer help or continue to talk to each other. One responded "we're helping each other". Thankfully one of them woke up and offered help. They were about 5 seconds from my walking out and sending an email to corporate. The worst habitual offender in this regard is Best Buy; they have a corporate culture that is not sufficiently customer focused.
There is a new store that opened in town called Tractor Supply; it is a farm and ranch store and has around 1300 locations. My wife walked in, past three people up front, and past several other employees. Not one greater her or asked if they could help her. She says she was the only customer in the store at the time. Is management stupid? Do any of them get out from behind their desks and computer spreadsheets and walk into random stores in grubby clothes and without an entourage?
I fear that our retailers own worst enemies are themselves. I think I am one of Amazon's best customers. If they get local delivery of groceries down and if the price is reasonable I could see 75% of our retail dollars going to Amazon.
Responding to Michael's column from yesterday about a supermarket exec who got some hard lessons on "Undercover Boss," MNB user Doug Campbell wrote:
No matter how big, or small, a company is, the top brass really need to understand what is going on with the frontline people and stop treating them as disposable pieces. They are often the first, and most important, impression a potential customer has of your company. Every CEO should be concerned that his employees are treated well, since happy employees reflect well on the company as a whole. The inverse is also true. Executives who fail to accept this should be allowed to take their talent elsewhere.
Agreed.
And from another reader:
"Undercover Boss" is one of my favorite shows. What attracts me most to the show is what the CEO learns when (s)he is on the front lines. They see how important these people are. They see that these employees contribute so much to the success or failure of the company and how much valuable input they can give. I hope what many CEOs learn from Mr. Davidson’s experience and that of the other undercover bosses, is to listen to what your underlings are telling you they need. You don’t have to experience it in order to believe it. Trust your employees that they have valuable input and that they are valuable to the company. And treat them that same way when it comes to paying them a fair wage and treating them with the respect they deserve. It takes a lot of people to make a company successful, just as it takes a complete team to win a game. And each and every one of them deserves respect and decent pay.
Also agreed.
Responding to yesterday's commentary about the tragic events in Boston, MNB user Mike Franklin wrote:
Mother nature can be both glorious and devastating…it is up to individuals, connecting with other individuals, to weave a cloth of civilized decency and morality, however defined, to cope with mother nature. Yesterday we saw both glory and devastation. Even through the horrific images, I kept reminding myself that evil still makes up only a small fraction of a small fraction of civilization…and that gave me comfort. As a marathoner that would have been finishing around the four hour mark, I understood each runners emotions, only 20 feet from the finish line, tired and exhausted, having left the thousand miles of training fitness on the course, with family and friends waiting at the finish line, when their world was turned into momentary chaos. You can’t train for that moment, but a civilized person knows how to react. And they did react with all the instincts of glorious civilized people. I don’t know the right words to thank them.
Finally, I got a bunch of emails yesterday regarding the following comment, which I made about a particularly cheeky and successful commercial from Kmart:
I feel like paraphrasing Lou Grant when I say to Kmart, "You got spunk. I like spunk."
I got a lot of email reminding me that in the pilot episode of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," Lou Grant (Ed Asner) actually said to Mary: "You got spunk. I hate spunk."
I know that. I knew it. Which is why I used the word "paraphrasing."
Hell, I figured I was pushing the envelope a bit because a sizable part of the MNB audience wouldn't even know who Lou Grant was.
Much less remember a line from a show first aired in September 1970.
But this is what makes the MNB community my kind of people.
Regarding consumers who want a more seamless shopping experience I would say the online Gold Standard is Amazon Prime with one click. That borders on making it too easy to spend money!
By far the most frustrating online shopping "feature" of many web sites, whether on computer, tablet or phone, is having to go through myriad steps before you can find out what the shipping charges are. I want to know what the charges are upfront before being forced to enter pages of information. We commonly leave shopping carts with items in them and do not complete the purchase when we see that the shipping charges are unreasonable.
In regards to a good shopping experience in store company's need to emphasis to their employees that they are paid to help customers and not talk to each other. I went in a store recently and was looking at several similar products by the front counter. Three employees were hanging around the counter gabbing with each other. I thought it was obvious that I needed assistance. Finally I turned and asked if they were going offer help or continue to talk to each other. One responded "we're helping each other". Thankfully one of them woke up and offered help. They were about 5 seconds from my walking out and sending an email to corporate. The worst habitual offender in this regard is Best Buy; they have a corporate culture that is not sufficiently customer focused.
There is a new store that opened in town called Tractor Supply; it is a farm and ranch store and has around 1300 locations. My wife walked in, past three people up front, and past several other employees. Not one greater her or asked if they could help her. She says she was the only customer in the store at the time. Is management stupid? Do any of them get out from behind their desks and computer spreadsheets and walk into random stores in grubby clothes and without an entourage?
I fear that our retailers own worst enemies are themselves. I think I am one of Amazon's best customers. If they get local delivery of groceries down and if the price is reasonable I could see 75% of our retail dollars going to Amazon.
Responding to Michael's column from yesterday about a supermarket exec who got some hard lessons on "Undercover Boss," MNB user Doug Campbell wrote:
No matter how big, or small, a company is, the top brass really need to understand what is going on with the frontline people and stop treating them as disposable pieces. They are often the first, and most important, impression a potential customer has of your company. Every CEO should be concerned that his employees are treated well, since happy employees reflect well on the company as a whole. The inverse is also true. Executives who fail to accept this should be allowed to take their talent elsewhere.
Agreed.
And from another reader:
"Undercover Boss" is one of my favorite shows. What attracts me most to the show is what the CEO learns when (s)he is on the front lines. They see how important these people are. They see that these employees contribute so much to the success or failure of the company and how much valuable input they can give. I hope what many CEOs learn from Mr. Davidson’s experience and that of the other undercover bosses, is to listen to what your underlings are telling you they need. You don’t have to experience it in order to believe it. Trust your employees that they have valuable input and that they are valuable to the company. And treat them that same way when it comes to paying them a fair wage and treating them with the respect they deserve. It takes a lot of people to make a company successful, just as it takes a complete team to win a game. And each and every one of them deserves respect and decent pay.
Also agreed.
Responding to yesterday's commentary about the tragic events in Boston, MNB user Mike Franklin wrote:
Mother nature can be both glorious and devastating…it is up to individuals, connecting with other individuals, to weave a cloth of civilized decency and morality, however defined, to cope with mother nature. Yesterday we saw both glory and devastation. Even through the horrific images, I kept reminding myself that evil still makes up only a small fraction of a small fraction of civilization…and that gave me comfort. As a marathoner that would have been finishing around the four hour mark, I understood each runners emotions, only 20 feet from the finish line, tired and exhausted, having left the thousand miles of training fitness on the course, with family and friends waiting at the finish line, when their world was turned into momentary chaos. You can’t train for that moment, but a civilized person knows how to react. And they did react with all the instincts of glorious civilized people. I don’t know the right words to thank them.
Finally, I got a bunch of emails yesterday regarding the following comment, which I made about a particularly cheeky and successful commercial from Kmart:
I feel like paraphrasing Lou Grant when I say to Kmart, "You got spunk. I like spunk."
I got a lot of email reminding me that in the pilot episode of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," Lou Grant (Ed Asner) actually said to Mary: "You got spunk. I hate spunk."
I know that. I knew it. Which is why I used the word "paraphrasing."
Hell, I figured I was pushing the envelope a bit because a sizable part of the MNB audience wouldn't even know who Lou Grant was.
Much less remember a line from a show first aired in September 1970.
But this is what makes the MNB community my kind of people.
- KC's View:
