Give Me Dignity & the Product, or Give These Retailers Death!

I’ve got a unique concept that retailers should try to keep in mind: The customer is always right. Okay, so maybe it’s not so unique. However, it seems nowadays nobody follows this line of reasoning. Take for instance my experiences on Black Friday. Nobody cared that by alienating the customers who arrived early—that these retailers might not get these customers to buy. They were in it for the instant profit. I’ve got an idea, I know it’s crazy, but what if retailers made the customer happy from the moment they walked in the store. For instance, they could serve cold drinks and coffee to every patron. Believe it or not, this is what they do in Greece. At least when I was there. Then the retailers could make the shopping experience a good one. Instead of rushing you through the store, only to find out what they advertised didn’t exist, or was in such limited quantities that it was sold out five minutes before opened, perhaps they could actually have what they advertised in the store. Or, maybe they would even have other items that were unadvertised specials that patrons could purchase. Plus, they would stock these items in such a quantity that they could fulfill the desire for them. In the rare instance where they might be out of stock, they would give and honor rain checks and then have the product in the store at the patron’s convenience (at the very same low price). Hmmm, sounds like a place I’d frequent. But maybe it’s too utopian for our current retailers.

They want a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach. They want people to rush in, not find what they want (because they only had three of the advertised product) then buy something 3x as expensive, thus making the retailer rich. Is this living in reality? Are people who expected to purchase a low cost item really going to spend 3x what they expected to pay for the same/similar item? I think not. Buyers are way to savvy for this. They’d rather buy it someplace else—or wait until the next big sale—because they know there will be a next big sale.

And at a utopian retail operation, these big sales would happen all the time. And the customer would surely be a king and a queen. If someone, anyone, were to open such a retail operation, I’m sure it would be a huge success (if the prices were reasonable). They already spend mega dollars advertising their specials; why not spend the money on getting the sales in the store. The word of mouth would be phenomenal. People would frequent this type of store just to be treated reasonably (and to have sales people who didn’t have acne and couldn’t count to ten). What a concept. I think I could make a million dollars opening a store like this.

Who am I kidding? Nobody wants respect or decent treatment. They want the best prices. They don’t mind if they’re trampled in a Wal-Mart (what better way to sue the store?)—they don’t mind if they get into fistfights over a great deal (what better way to sue the store?).

All this for a few dollar savings. I say, give me dignity, give me the product, or give these stores death! But I’m only one person.