Friday 26 April 2019
And people ask why the high street is dying?
Hardly a day passes without another cry of pain from the world of high street retail - whether it's another story of a retailer falling over, the latest is Debenhams, a report into the drop in retail jobs or a sorry description of empty shops, the tales of woe continue.
Today I went shopping. In Bradford. And it was a disaster with the only moderately successful part being the purchase of English fizz at Tesco. Shops had goods on display but they turned out not to be in stock. The choices were limited and there is a frightening sameness about such simple things as greetings cards and notebooks.
The worst thing about the experience, however, wasn't the lack of stock or the limited choice but the attitude and approach of staff. I appreciate that we don't want sales people hovering over us all the time while we're browsing a store but it would be good if one of them popped his or her head round the end of the aisle and asked if I needed any assistance. In every store (in order mostly to discover that, no, they didn't have it in stock even though it was displayed) I had to go looking for someone to ask. In one I got as far as the exit door and only remained because I exclaimed something like "it's absolutely useless, does nobody work here?" within earshot of the technical help desk. These folk went in search of a sales assistant (there were three of them chatting at the back of the store) and one eventually arrived - I pointed out the product I wanted and he went away to see if it was in stock. It wasn't but, to my surprise the sales person didn't say "we can get one for you by Monday" or anything helpful, he decided - maybe because I'd made a fuss and he'd been dragged away from his chat - not to offer any assistance.
Nobody in the shops I went into seemed to want to serve me, help me - it all seemed such a chore. I got a cheery hello from the woman on the checkout at Tesco but that's about the extent of the customer service I received on my shopping trip.
In the end, back home, I switched on the computer, clicked on the Amazon app and hey presto within five minutes I'd found the items I needed - the ones that were on display but not in stock at the proper high street shops - ordered them to be delivered tomorrow and have a nice friendly email confirming this arrangement. I'm pretty confident they'll turn up tomorrow.
And people ask why the high street is dying?
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3 comments:
High Street shops have always been notorious for poor customer service - Dixons used to be a byword for it. However, back in the day people had no alternative. And I suppose if people are working in a business that they sense is going down the pan they become even less inclined to care.
Realistically, the only businesses that really have a future in bricks-and-mortar retail are those where you need to browse or make comparisons, or where physical contact is essential. If you want a specific item and are prepared to wait a day for it there really is little point in going looking for it on the High Street.
The direction is pretty clear to most people now I suspect. I don’t like Amazon but what can you do?
"Dixons used to be a byword for it"
I immediately thought of Dixons when I read the main article!
As you say, there was no alternative at the time and I always thought that if my career didn't take off I'd get a job at my local Dixons on a commission-only basis and clean up!
Customer service was terrible and even if you could get an assistant to take an interest they were invariably clueless about their products.
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