It never fails to amaze me when I hear these words of dread from the low price shopper. The Best Price, The Best Quality and The Best Service are three “Best” that logic dictates can rarely be encountered in the same customer experience.
The worlds largest retailer got to be the largest because many of the rest of us retailers focus more on price than we do on what the customer really wants, a pleasant experience, a relationship, a level of trust and a feeling that they’ve made the right decision. Buying is an emotion. It needs to be gratifying & satisfying, leaving one to believe that they have made the right decision.
To some the euphoria does come from the lowest price. These shoppers aren’t really concerned with the best services like available parking, reliable inventory, quick check-out, knowledgeable salespeople, accurate websites.
I for one do feel that most of us do want the best value: Convenient parking, friendly, knowledgeable problem solving salespeople, delivery, fair prices, available inventory, retailers that stand behind their products.
Walmart knows that much of this “Customer Excellence” is lacking in many brick and mortar stores. Although I have seen some improvement in the market place I fear that if more retailers don’t wake up and create better customer experiences they will have no choice but to surrender to the price game.
Worse yet is that if retailing fails we leave little choice for the shopper not getting these values, but to shop online or to shop price alone.
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Wasting Time with Walmart
I have to run an errand to Wal-mart today and I’m dreading it.
I’m dreading that the parking lot will be mobbed as usual. I’m dreading that the store will no longer carry the item I am looking for (despite having bought the item just a month ago). And, I’m dreading that the entire trip will be unproductive and a waste of time.
To address my anxiety, I went online to check the item’s availability in-store only to receive the news that I must “check the store for availability.”
Why is the world’s largest retailer not valuing my time as much as my pocketbook? Perhaps their new tagline should be modified to “Save Money. Live Better. Lose Time.”
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Latest posts by Annamaria Turano
Annamaria Turano
AnnaMaria Turano is a partner of MCAworks, a strategic marketing consulting firm based in Westport, CT. She develops insight-driven customer value propositions and strategic marketing plans for companies such as MasterCard, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Subway and Verizon. She is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Sterns School of Business, and is co-author of "StopWatch Marketing."
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