Shopping Tips Online

Okay, okay, everybody…I give up. WHERE can I find the Wii game!! My kids are going crazy saying they want this game for Christmas and I cannot find it anywhere. I repeat ANYWHERE!! My name is on several lists all over town and I haven’t gotten one phone call yet. Every time I hear it’s somewhere, I race over there only to find that it’s gone or they “just sold their last one. Sorry.”

I’m beginning to think that the Wii powers don’t want us to get this game. So, while I’m supposed to be giving out advice at this blog, I greatly need your help so that I can help the other readers. Where is the Wii game!!!

On Black Friday, a friend of mine and I went shopping for all the latest and greatest deals. We started out, of course, on the hunt for the Wii. We stood in three lines for a total of five hours and turned up nothing. Not a thing. Na-da.  What gives? We had money in hand, a desperate look on our faces and still nothing. There was one man that stood in line…oh my gosh…he stood in line with us for some of that three hours and guess what? He did not need nor did he even want a WII. He was standing in line to get a Wii, an X-box and a PlayStation 3 all to sell to desperate folks like myself, on eBay. Now while I’m all for making a deal, turning a profit and being a savvy business person, I do not like manipulation of any kind. Now everyone knows the Wii is selling for $250 or so. This guy was going to sell it to us for $350! All because he knew we wanted it, badly, and he knew he didn’t need it.  What do you do with mean people like that?

Do you have a favorite online store? Hit comment and tell me about your favorite stores! I always enjoy checking out new stores. Tell me where you spend the most time browsing and buying. I think my favorite online store is Sephora. What’s yours?

Macy’s recently announced that their associates will be required to wear basic black, and will be able to take advantage of additional discounts on black clothing. There will be opportunity to personalize the outfit with bits of color. Women can wear a colorful blouse or accessories, and men can wear a colored tie. Most articles I have read always follow that news with stories of employees of other companies who sued because they were “pressured” into buying and wearing the house brand. Most were settled, with employers giving employees a set amount of money to purchase clothing to wear to work.

Here’s my take on this.

Call me old fashioned, but I think a dress code is a good idea for a few reasons.

1. I have wandered around department stores searching for an associate and, except in the dead of winter, it’s tough to tell the shopppers from the workers. This makes it easier for me to find someone to help me, which could improve my shopping experience.

2. Professionally-dressed associates reflect well on the company as a whole. Think about the staff in an elegant restaurant – if they were wearing jeans and concert tees, would the atmosphere be reflective of the menu?

3. Some people need a little help. I am sure Macy’s staff are more aware of fashion and what looks good than some stores’ associates, but even then some people just need a bit of guidance. A dress code brings the not-so-fashionable up to the same level as the oh-so-fashionables.

Dress Code, Macy’s

Day to day frustrations are a common experience. I don’t know many people that don’t get fed up with hitting that particular red light or winding up trapped in the fast food drive through chute with no way out and only five minutes left to get back to the office. It’s normal. Shopping, of course, has its own set of frustrations. Here is one that I experienced just yesterday that I need to share.

An employee at a popular clothing retailer (Old Navy) rang up my sale and then literally WADDED my things up and SHOVED them in a bag. Hangers and all. Didn’t even TRY to fold them in any way, shape or form. This meant that everything in the bag was a rumpled mess by the time I got home. I don’t expect her to put on a show of folding the clothes and gently placing them in tissue or anything, but I guess I do expect her to realize that I have just spent my money on these items and I’m excited about them. In my mind that deserves a little respect.

So why am I bringing this up?

Retailers are all on a “customer experience” bandwagon. Creating positive relationship between the brand and the consumer at every touchpoint. That means everywhere I come into contact with their brand – TV, online, in-store, catalog, phone – they want me to walk away with a warm fuzzy feeling about them. If at any of those touchpoints the experience is not good, the relationship breaks down and they risk losing my dollars.

Once you start paying attention to the touchpoints, you can see for yourself where retailers are breaking down. And in my experience it is at the store level. For whatever reason, the lofty goals and initiatives of the corporate headquarters rarely trickle down to the employees standing at the registers making the sale.

Disappointing Interenet shopping experiences are usually overlooked (unless they are really bad) because there is no human interaction. It might be frustrating, but it’s not personal. When I am standing across a counter from an employee who clearly doesn’t give a damn, I walk away feeling like they don’t give a damn about me or my business. And it’s just a small step to believing that if she doesn’t care, then neither does the brand. It’s as simple as that.

Shopping Experience, Customer Experience, Old Navy