I spent Saturday morning this weekend doing some much needed clothes shopping for my 3 kids (with 2 of my children (both under 4) with me). Brave I know but it had to be done!

I had decided to cash in some of my Credit Card Rewards points on David Jones vouchers for this purpose. So my choice was limited to shopping in David Jones.

David Jones have built their reputation on quality, service and choice..."Theres no other Store like David Jones...". Unfortunately for David Jones, whilst there may not be a store exactly like David Jones there are actually a lot of other stores that sell the same stuff.

If it wasn't for the fact that I had David Jones vouchers I would have taken my cash and spent it at one of those others stores.

This got me thinking? I wonder how many retailers at the moment are compromising the integrity of their brand and losing sales because of the measures they are taking in response to the economic downturn?

One of the things I needed to buy was shoes. Something that you really need assistance with from a sales assistant, and when you have 2 small children with you, you need that assistance to be efficient. There was no sales assistant at the Children's Shoe section. Eventually a Sales Assistant from the Babywear section came to our rescue after we went searching.

She took the Children's shoe fittings, and then went hunting for the shoes we had selected. Because all the shoes were poorly marked (not marked with the range of sizes that particular shoe came in) it turned out that none of the shoes I wanted were available in the right size.

Eventually after about 30 minutes the shop assistant had dug the only 2 pairs of shoes in the store that came in the particular size that we needed. As these were our only option we bought both.

There were other things we wanted to buy as well (all available at David Jones) but because of the amount of time it took us to buy the shoes, the children's and my patience had well and truly run out!

The Sales Assistant worked really hard to help us despite the tough conditions. She shared with us how much staff cuts had affected the team's ability to serve customers well, and manage the stock so it was easy to find what they needed for customers. The assistant serving in the section directly across from the shoe section said she had seen several customers leave the store after not being able to find anyone to serve them.

It makes me wonder how much revenue David Jones gave up that day vs how much they saved? Not to mention the impact that the poor experience will have beyond those direct sales in negative word of mouth and a poor brand perception (this blog post is a case in point).

It is a reality that with lower consumer confidence and spending cuts will be made. Retailers need to ensure that despite the cuts they can still provide a quality customer experience.

I would have thought the shoe section was one area where staffing was essential, unless they changed the store format and had all the stock available on the floor for you to find the correct size yourself .

Constant monitoring of the customer experience through mystery shopping, exit surveys etc could help retailers understand the point at which responses to the changing economic downturn become self-fulfilling, negatively impacting their ability to make sales and drive loyalty.

No Comments Posted