A recent study by Carlson Marketing and the Peppers & Rogers Group provides insight into what consumers value from retailers. In the report, “Getting it Right at Retail,” respondents rated customer service and being “easy to do business with” as very important attributes in a retailer. These service issues, along with price and availability of merchandise, were of great importance to the consumers surveyed. Retailers should be concerned with another finding from the study: over 40% of respondents indicated they were as happy with other retailers as they were their primary retailer choices. In other words, many customers have little problem with switiching to other retailers when their primary retailers do not meet their expectations.
Results of the study are interesting, but are they really surprising? Consumers want to be treated fairly and and have their business valued by retailers. I doubt companies like Wal-Mart, Auto Zone, and Macy’s that scored low with consumers in this study have set out to create bad experiences for their customers. It’s all about execution, or lack thereof. For example, another finding from the study is that many times retailers that have well conceived loyalty programs do not effectively implement them as front-line service employees are too often ignorant of these important customer programs. This problem is not new for retailers; employee turnover in retail organizations has been high for years. A mixture of low salaries, being put in stressful situations dealing with difficult customers, and the saturation of retail outlets that necessitates filling more positions (that are low paying and stressful) has contributed to the customer service woes experienced in this country. Retailers willing to invest in employees in terms of training and compensation are poised to develop a competitive advantage, assuming other elements of their strategy are in place (e.g., merchandise mix, pricing, and presentation/experience). Link
