Tales from the Trenches: Part 1

As we enter into the holiday shopping season, even one like this year’s, retailers around the country are busy gearing up for the rush.

At least I hope they are. In this most challenging of times, one might even expect those in the retail sphere to impress upon their in-store legions that now, more than ever, would be a good time to work just that little bit harder. To put a smidgen more effort into spreading some season’s cheer. To go perhaps the extra mile to elicit a sale from shoppers that seem jittery at best, and downright freaked at worst.

Alas, I recently got a stark reminder of how such intentions may be getting lost in mix.

You see, this past Thanksgiving my mum ventured to these shores for a little holiday. And good European tourist that she is, she arrived armed with a modest mound of moolah and a list from the folks back home of American desirables on which to spend it.

Should be simple right? Cash in pocket, list in hand, all that remains is to locate the stuff she needs. And doesn’t that oldest of promises that we make as retailers go something like this--if you’ve got the dough, we’ve got the goods and nothing would make us happier than to provide them to you? There, it seems, is where the proverbial wheel came off the wagon.

For a big percentage of her planned purchases she visited a retailer with so great a reputation it has attracted the attention of my sister across the pond. Not an insignificant achievement let me tell you. For the purposes of this tale the retailer shall remain nameless, but there’s a clue or two in here so you can probably figure it out.

Upon her visit to said store, my mum--being an old fashioned sort when it comes to her shopping needs--approached the first sales person she saw, showed him the list and waited to pay for her goods. He offered a cheery “Sure, I’ll be right back,” and promptly disappeared.

When this peppy (and preppy) youth did not re-engage with her for a tedious 10 minutes, she approached another associate, this one of the fairer sex, and tried once more. This one also promised a speedy return, but then disappeared as well and was only located when my mum elected to venture into the bowels of the establishment, where she located both of them chatting away and ironing product.

That she actually still bought something sort of amazes me, but she was loyal to the list and keen not to disappoint. She’s like that my mum. She keeps her promises.

I hope for all our sakes that there are plenty of retailers out there this season that are planning to do the same. The tales I heard a few days later from Black Friday didn’t inspire much confidence, ranging from understaffed to underwhelming. 

Did the boom years do nothing more than make us lazy? And wouldn’t it truly be a shame if we compounded the problems out there by forgetting the basics of what it is that we do? 

--Christian Davies, Guest Blogger

Comments

[Janis Berglas]

What a stark contrast to yesterday's posting.