As goods become more standardized - and mass production has that effect, standardizing product - the distinguishing factor between one store and another is going to be how skillful stores are in satisfying customers and making it a pleasant experience instead of a hostile experience.
My grandma had a kids' clothing store for over 30 years called Shannon and Company, and my sisters and I used to go and work there in the summers.
We rent one in three tuxedos in the U.S. and Canada, and if we make a mistake, our employees will deliver to the customer's home, office, or wedding. We get a couple hundred letters a week praising the service in our stores.
The thing is, I don't want to be sold to when I walk into a store. I want to be welcomed.
Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.
I am not a person who tries on in the stores. It drives me crazy. So I buy and take back if I don't like something. I really don't enjoy being in the dressing room. I rather just try it on in my house.
I went to the store and bought lady fingers, when I got home I noticed one of the fingers was missing so I went back to the store and the manager was nice enough to give me the finger.
The kind of contact that they make with the customer is what brings them back to shop. The experience, the feeling that you have in the store is what makes the difference.
Someone gives jewelry, and there's a bit of romance. If you buy it from a store, the store is trying to romance you. Even when I'm making the jewelry, I have to be romanced.
Customers want high-quality food, good service, and good store experience, and most retailers fail to deliver on those.
I love to go shopping at Target. They have so much stuff there, you can buy almost anything, it's really amazing.
You can't deny the experience of a store. It's fantastic if you're a global brand and you've got the power or the funds to support that bricks-and-mortar space, but we certainly weren't and aren't.
What's crucial in a High Street store is a compelling reason for people to shop there. Shops must offer excellent customer service - and 'theatre' is a must.
I babysat kids in a ShopRite, which is a grocery store. They had a babysitting center so that parents could bring their children while they shopped. It was awful. I also was not very good at keeping the kids calm.
More and more, more and more digital, in particular, I think you'll see in our stores next year, as we start combining these digital products and they interface with each other, you'll see that represented in Wal-Mart.
Remember that, in the end, the customer doesn't know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization - she or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.
If one of our customers comes into the store without a smile, I'll give them one of mine.
Spending time on the floor is really important. It's great to work out of an office, but working the store gives you contact with the customer.
I'll leave a store if I hate the music. If it's just, like, techno, I feel like my brain is going to explode.
