A DAY AT
THE SHOPS
The
other day I went shopping for a new video player to replace one that
is on its last legs. After all, it is the season of Stanley Cup play
offs (that’s
ice-hockey for those of you who still think Cricket is a sport) and
I didn’t
want to miss any of the action. My strategy was simple: Go to the strip
mall where several appliance stores are clustered together, visit
three stores
telling each what I wanted and then buy a video player from the store
offering the best value. I didn’t want to waste a lot of time shopping.
After all, it is Stanley Cup time.
My visits to the first two stores went well. Then I struck the third store,
a nationwide retailer that has been part of New Zealand shopping for many years. “Good
afternoon,” I told the clerk after my wife had spent considerable time and
effort finding a shop assistant. “I would like to buy a video player that is
easy to programme and ...”
“None of them are easy to programme,” said the assistant interrupting me. “I
can tell you that right now.” He then explained the shortcomings of all video
players.
“Okay, but I need to make a choice. I can buy only one machine. So which of these
is best?”, I asked waving at the twenty or so machines lined up on the shelf.
Eventually we narrowed it down to three machines. No matter how hard I tried,
I could not get the man to recommend one of the three. Eventually I just pointed
to one at random. “Supposing I take this one,” I asked. “Will it be difficult
to tune to the TV?” I was told that all that was explained in the manual. “I
do have Sky. Will that make it more difficult?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have Sky at home.”
Unimpressed, we left the shop and returned to the first store we had visited.
There, in response to my questions, the salesman had immediately walked over
to a machine and told me this was the one we wanted. He had then explained
how it would do everything we required and convinced us it represented the
best value. Back in this first store, my wife and I stood in front of the machine
he had shown us and discussed whether we wanted to buy it. Within two minutes
a sales assistant approached us and asked if we needed any help.
“We are thinking of buying this machine,” I told him. “Is it going to be difficult
setting it up? We have Sky, you see.”
“You could do it yourself but for $35 I can get someone to deliver the set and
set it up for you.” That sounded good to me so we said we would buy it. He took
us over to his computer so he could process the sale. “This machine comes with
a 12 month warranty,” he said. “You could get a five year warranty. It usually
costs $79 but we could do it today for $40.” We took it.
As we walked out of the store, empty-handed but $600 poorer, I reflected on
how one store had blown the sale and another had persuaded me to pay $75 more
than I had planned to. The difference was not just the availability, attitude
and competency of the staff (the blame for unavailable, unmotivated or incompetent
staff rests with management, of course), but with the value propositions management
had developed. The store that won my business, and the extra $75, had anticipated
the problems their customers would have or could have. They had then developed
solutions to these problems, packaged them attractively, priced them profitably
and taught their staff how to sell them.
Anyway, I have to go now. There is a hockey game on my video that I want to
watch.
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