All retailers use vast amounts of data to make decisions – whom to target, how to target, when to target, what to sell, how to sell, where to sell, etc.  But the retailing “moment of truth”, for better or worse, often falls into the hands of a salesperson.

We’ve all become frustrated with incompetent salespeople – and we might define “incompetence” as one’s inability to help us determine what we need, find what we want, and/or make us feel like our shopping trip was worth wile.    That’s why salespeople are the “front line” for any retailer.  And, any store personnel should feel that servicing the customer is their most important job – whether they are salespeople, stock room personnel, or floor managers.

Product, pricing, place, and people.  These are the “4 P’s” of successful retailing. 

A recent trip to Home Depot exemplifies this point.  Having decided to buy an electrical appliance, my husband and I searched out options online.  We compared factors such as price, color, size, brand name, retailer, and nearby store locations.    

Driving to Home Depot, we knew we were making a good decision.  The intended purchase was priced lower at Home Depot vs. competitors.  The color available at Home Depot was preferred to the colors available at Lowe’s/Target.  The place – Home Depot’s no-nonsense warehouse environment – served our desire to make this trip as quick and painless as possible. 

Alas, despite the website note that this product was “sold at your local store,” at the “moment of truth,” this Home Depot was out of stock! 

As I alluded to in the earlier paragraph, my story has a happy ending.  The 4^th  P (people) was a pleasant surprise in-store.  As we walked up the aisle empty-handed, a Home Depot associate asked how he could help and, after learning of the purpose of our shopping trip, he shockingly knew the inventory situation “cold.”  In fact, without yet consulting the computer, he told us when the store sold its last appliance, the quantity of that particular appliance originally received by the store, and the date when the store would receive their next replenishment… furthermore, he sensed our need to “make this shopping trip a success” and offered to look into the inventory of nearby Home Depot locations.  About 30 seconds later, he told us good news – we could find the appliance (in fact, we could find 3 of them!) in-stock at a Home Depot just 5-10 minutes away…

Of course, Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvements retailer so we expect it (like Wal-mart) to benefit from intricately designed inventories, cost-controlled supply chains, and efficient processes.  But, it was a pleasant surprise to find that Home Depot can also deliver on personal, customer-focused service-with-a-smile.  Let’s just hope that Home Depot makes their in-store inventories slightly more transparent (online) to their customers in the future so all critical information is available before we even set foot in the store!

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