Thursday 21 January 2010

It's Nice to be Nice: A Customer Service Story

An honorable mention to See All Her Faces new favourite: Jigsaw.

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I have recently been involved in an epic struggle, the like of which I have never faced before, and one in which I wasn't sure I would make it out alive, let alone victorious.... Yes, I was looking for a Winter Coat... In January.... I found one in Jigsaw, and  an example of  how retailers can continue to delight their customers in what looks to be another uncertain year for the industry.

I found the coat of my dreams on their website, although neither it, nor my local store had my size. I left a message on  the website with the details of what I was looking for, and also with my local store..
I received an email from their Retail Operations Controller later that day, to confirm that the option I was after was at a branch who would be phoning me that day to arrange payment and delivery. Which they did. And subsequently my local store also phoned to say they had also found one and had it transferred to their store for me to collect- from famine to feast on the stock availability front.

So yes, I got my coat which was great, but that isn't why this story is important. It's important, because Jigsaw demonstrated that whatever channel you choose to shop using (store or online) they will go the extra mile to please. And that is going to make an even bigger difference in 2010.

It shows that Jigsaw have parity of shopping experience whatever channel you are shoping via, making them much closer to the true 'multi-channel' Holy Grail that all retailers aspire towards. Providing a good shopping experience whatever the method, builds the brand- it builds loyalty, confidence and credibility- in the same way that some of us will go to a Macdonalds on holiday because we know what we are getting (Yes I'm a philistine), we are more likely to repeat shop with a particular retailer, and potentially by another method as well, if we know what will expect, (and we like it)- we know we can trust them.
Many retailers are not so good at replicating their positive store experiences online (I will try not to name and shame today because there are just too many, but for goodness sake Selfridges haven't even got a transactional website yet- it's 2010!!), it's confusing, and disappointing... and once we lose faith in the retailer's credibility and/or service, we are less compelled to shop with them at all.... 

The other key part of this story was the positive difference the stores made to my customer experience. It was a store who phoned me promptly to arrange despatch of my coat, and another store who took my details and transferred the coat in for me to collect.
Today's crowded market includes a number of retailers who have no 'bricks and mortar' store locations- they are pure play online retailers- Asos being one of the most successful examples. Pure E-Commerce retailers cut rent and staff overheads hugely with no high street presence, savings which can be passed on in part to the customer, making the online retailer a seemingly more competitive and attractive proposition.
So those retailers who are lumbered with the high operational costs of managing an estate of stores, such as the Jigsaws of this world, should use those stores to add value to the business- not just in terms of the turnover that each brings, but the customer service experience the store can provide with it's knowledgeable and dedicated personnel, that means that customers will come back, loyalty is much easier to build with face to face interactions than online.

Customer Service is how bricks and mortar stores can prove invaluable in the next year, and how smart retailers will use their multi-channel shopping experience to differentiate themselves in a crowded and still precarious market place.

Your Mother's old saying 'being nice costs nothing', has an addendum...  it can cost a lot if you're not.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Clash of the Titans?: Why John Lewis beats M&S

John Lewis vs M&S..? No contest surely..

In light of recently published Christmas trading figures, Stuart Rose has apparently conceded M&S is losing the battle for Middle England to John Lewis, as Marks and Sparks endured a  LFL sales increase of only 0.8% on the year, against what was a record Christmas for the John Lewis Partnership.

Which makes him officially the last person to notice that JLP won the war for the hearts and minds of the sensible discerning shopper a long time ago. John Lewis have been one of the few retailers to enjoy consistent strong trading throughout the recession, a trend that continued with an unbelievable LFL increase of 12.7% on the year during Christmas Peak Trading.

Why? Well...yes, the clothing offer has been substantially improved and some well received advertising campaigns have helped. And yes, Waitrose is doing better than ever thanks to the strategic vision of the self professed 'chubby grocer' Mark Price, up 16.1% on the year over the full peak trading period....
But fundamentally, it's because we really, really trust John Lewis. And in times of uncertainty we cling desperately to what we know to be honest, reliable and trustworthy, and John Lewis fits the bill on every score.

Honesty: Their 'never knowingly undersold' policy is famous, and true- in fact they even gave me back the difference when the £40 gloves my husband bought me for Chrstimas that went half price two days later! What's not to love about a retailer who does not penalise you for being too impatient to wait for their Clearance Sale! JLP are also known for reccomending the most appropriate item for you rather than the most expensive- you can't put a price on that (well I guess you can- a 12.7% improvement in sales..)

Reliable: You know whenever you visit a John Lewis store, it will look tidy and easy to shop around- spacious and with good signage so you don't have to wander around in an increasing rage for ages. You know they will have a good range, and that they will probably have what you need. You  know their staff by and large will be informed and informative, and helpful. Not much to ask perhaps- but plenty of people are still getting this wrong...

Trustworthy: These things make me trust JL- they aren't the cheapest store out there, but they don't need to be, because that trust means we will actively seek out a store, and certainly shop with them above other retailers, every time.

And in these still grimly uncertain times, that, my dears, is gold dust.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

So How Was It For You?: The January Sales

The Jan Sale I mean!

The long held tradition of the 'January Sales', where we would all faithfully drag ourselves around the shops during the long weeks of January- to cheer ourselves up and get the bargains on the products we had been eyeing up before Christmas seems to officially be over....
I certainly remember the days, not so long ago, where the more committed amongst us would be there on the first day, picking up the early unmissable deals, whilst others of us would browse, and ride out the rest of the sale period until the dying days when the final clearance of goods would throw up some more cheap gems...

But there's no time for that now! With alot of the bargains available pre-Xmas as the high street start their sales ever earlier, Retail Week reports one 'fashion-led retailer' as stating that his business would be out of clearance and trading full price again by Thursday!!! And I think this phenomenon is evidenced to a degree on the high street and online. Sure there are still plenty of goods available at reduced prices, but it's only the 6th of January and those goods are moving quickly indeed with the best choices already gone- I tried to order a coat online late last night that was already out of stock by the time I got to payment!

And why? A key reason is that a lot of retailers have been caught out in the past, particularly last year when winter stock had been ordered many months before the full impact of the recession on consumer spending had been known or felt. This left them with a high stock holding of old/discontinued lines- the proverbial albatross around the retailer's neck, tying up cash that should be spent on new stock, and eroding margins as the stock needs to be ever deeply slashed in price to be cleared.
Nobody wants to make that mistake again, so tighter stock management has been required, with stock holding reduced, and stock turn increased, (smarter sourcing helps- reducing lead-times means stock can be bought in smaller, more regular quantities, reducing risk), with early sales and initial competitive price cuts to clear out that residual winter stock quickly and move on....

Finally and most importantly- Is this a good thing for consumers? Well, if you have been savvy and fairly aggressive about your sale shopping then perhaps you have still done well out of this years' sales; but the more laid-back shopper has probably missed out- as they say, You Snooze, You Lose!
It also presents more challenges for retailers as they now have to present us with a new reason to brave the shops at this somewhat grim time of year, and a reason to part with our cash at a time of the year when we were still expecting post-Christmas bargains...  So the new season of products will need to be in stores much earlier, and will need to include real 'Must-Haves' to acheive those objectives.

Lets see how that pans out....