This space typically is reserved for my views on the housewares business. But, this time, I’m giving someone else a voice.
A housewares supplier, in a recent letter to me, wrote the following:
“Give me a compelling reason to drive to your store rather than go online. Give me something that will add value to me that Amazon cannot do.
“Two recent experiences: I recently visited Bloomingdale’s to buy a kitchen product and was given completely inaccurate information on all questions I asked. I wasted my time, and it would have been more productive for me to do it online.
“I visited Nordstrom to buy jeans. Amazing service. They knew what brands would be good for me, took me on a polite and professional journey, tuned into me, their guest. Sold me more stuff than I planned on buying. And, when they did not have my size, said it would arrive by 10 a.m. to my house the following day (omnichannel at work). Awesome.
“Target is going through a revamping of their stores, but I see that it is not just a new lick of paint. They are attempting to answer the ‘why should I drive to your store?’ question.
“New surroundings are one thing, but are they going to upgrade their ‘people’ experience? Smart, sensitive, helpful assistants. Or just the same seemingly glum faces mooching around the store?
“You cannot chase Amazon. As a bricks-and-mortar retailer, you have to give people a reason to come to your store. There is no catching Amazon.”
Future Plea
It is an understandable plea from a supplier with so much at stake when it comes to the future of store-bound retailing. But, listen closer: It is also a plea from a consumer. And consumers are among the most influential voices dictating that future.
With all the clamor about desperately needing to reinvent the in-store experience with differentiated merchandise, state-of-the-art technology, new services and entertaining activities, people— yes, good old-fashioned people— are among the most important investments traditional retailers can make.
Personable, informed and engaged store associates are the original social media of shopping.
But don’t blame e-commerce for the demise of inviting, knowledgeable support on retail selling floors. That started long before Amazon and e-commerce gave anyone a legitimate alternative.
Informed Workforce
It is ironic that as diligently as mainstream retailing has marginalized face-to-face salesmanship and service for the sake of increased scale and lower prices, such basic people skills are needed more than ever by store operators across all channels to keep customers coming back.
Retailers can counter the inevitably higher minimum wage with a renewed emphasis on hiring and training enthusiastic, informed store workforces that can extract more value from higher payrolls.
Upgrading the “people experience,” as the supplier who wrote me acknowledged, will provide a big incentive for people to drive to the stores.
Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to every voice.
