Retail Market Quality – Customer Service Wins, AGAIN

Since beginning to post on this blog, I’ve realized that I tend to do more complaining about lack of quality in my world than congratulating of those accountable for situations where I DO find great quality… and there is certainly lots of great quality around that people deserve congratulations for. Perhaps that is why quality practitioners get such a bad rap. We do tend to focus on what needs fixing as opposed to what ain’t broken. I think that wanting to fix things that are broken is human but, in this regard, perhaps quality practitioners skew the normal curve. Well, here’s another attempt by me to somewhat turn that tide.

The best way for me to let you know how much quality impacts each of our lives is to look for examples in my own. I’m talking about everyday examples, things that you might also encounter but take for granted. Because this tends to be in public places, and many people are in public places to attend to needed purchases, you are probably going to hear a lot about retail institutions and my experiences with them.

Today is not an exception to that, but what I’m going to describe to you is. I suppose that just about all of us need to shop for groceries pretty regularly. Last night, after the temperatures in Southern California cooled down a bit, I finally roused myself from the comfort of my home to make a milk and egg run. I headed for my favorite grocer, Trader Joe’s, at about 8:30 PM (TJ’s closes at 9:00 PM on Sundays). As I dashed into the store, one of the first things that always comes into view is the fresh produce section. One of the employees was busily re-stocking the tomatoes and some Romas caught my eye… but… when I looked for a price, the tag was missing. I pointed at the tomatoes I was interested in, because there were at least a half dozen varieties there, and asked the employee if he could tell me how much they were. With a lopsided smile he said “Sure!” and from his position straddled bow-legged over a crate of tomatoes, he swiveled around to read the price off of the…. missing…. shelf tag. He swiveled back around to meet my eyes and said…. “Well, I’m not going to get the price off of the tag, am I?” I smiled with amusement and waggled my eyebrows. He enthusiastically (despite it being the end of the work day) hopped off of the crate, snatched a carton of the Romas and said: “Be right back!”…. while he dashed to the nearest open register to scan the bar code and get my price for me. That was halfway across the rather large store. When he returned, still smiling (albeit a bit out of breath), the first words out of his mouth were the price. I thanked him, almost as enthusiastically (ah, the energy of youth). As I reached for one of the cartons on the shelf, the employee stopped me and said… “Here, take this, it’s fresher.” and handed me a carton from his flat.

Congratulations to Trader Joe’s for this superior customer service.

Now, I sometimes find it necessary to shop at another large supermarket, which is actually closer to my home, but I’ll tell you what… when the union employees start stocking the shelves THERE in the evening, you’d better stay out of their way… or you’ll get run over. I’ve had my ankle nipped by their flying pallet jacks more than once. They either glare at or ignore the patrons who their attitude conveys are “interfering” with their ability to do their jobs. Unlike the neatly groomed and cheerful TJ’s employee, the “other” grocer’s employees look and smell like they either just got out of their favorite bar or are headed there as soon as they can get their unpleasant job completed. I’ve actually had union shelf stockers pull pallets of product directly into my path and tell me: “You’ll have to go around.” If I were to ask one of them for a price on something that there was no tag for on the shelf, I’d fear for my subsequent safety and that of my family.

Fortunately, during a strike by these same filthy nasty union employees that lasted several months, and during which anybody crossing their picket line was, at least, verbally harrassed and, on occasion, physically assaulted, Trader Joe’s doors were open. The TJ’s employees (non-union) remained cheerful despite the sudden mass of unexpected patrons and stepped up to the formidable challenge of providing food for the community during the strike, including stocking items they would not normally want to carry (Trader Joes leans toward healthier foods). I know for a fact that the large supermarkets lost more than the revenue and union concessions they may have suffered during the strike. They lost a BUNCH of customers, permanently, to Trader Joe’s. I am one of them… and I know there are others, because I used to see them at the big supermarket before the strike… and now I see them at Trader Joe’s.

But the story doesn’t end there. While it is true that Trader Joe’s experienced a windfall of business due to the strike, many people DID return to the other supermarket. Trader Joe’s has never let it’s guard down in communicating value to those who visit. One of the things that has always impressed me is a wall display in which a typical grocery order is mounted from each of the two competing stores (milk, bread, butter, eggs, pasta, cereal, soup, etc.)… almost identical in content. The Trader Joe’s cost is magnificently lower than that of the competitor. And you can verify it by looking at the grocery receipts printed out and posted by the display… with recent dates…. or by simply visiting both stores and checking the prices of the items… if you don’t mind risking life and limb to interface with the possibly dangerous union shelf stockers at the supermarket. Personally, I’d rather let the TJ’s “mystery shoppers” do that for me. I trust the posted receipts.

Anyway, I’m sure you can see the difference in quality between the two stores. I’m going to have to apologize for letting a little bit of quality grousing slip in… and hope that you recognize my praise for where quality actually is (i.e. at Trader Joe’s), despite it.

Now, again, a summary for what to do versus what not to do regarding retail grocery customer service:

1. DO: Make sure you are open for business in every respect as long as your doors are posted to be open… and a little longer (if a customer needs you to be and is already in the store). Do NOT: Allow a store environment in which the customers are deterred from shopping in some parts of your establishment as much as two hours before the posted “close of business”.

2. DO: Provide a “safe” shopping environment. Do NOT: Allow behavior by your personnel that says they view customers as physically “expendable”. For goodness sake… do NOT cause injury to or allow harm to come to your customers. Some might eventually be inclined to sue you. If you think a union strike was expensive, wait until you get THAT bill.

3. DO: Make sure your employees present an image that people trust with regard to who is handling their food. Be clean, be neat, be organized, be respectful. Do NOT: Think that long dirty hair, dirt encrusted fingernails, three days worth of beard growth, a t-shirt that says something across the front you wouldn’t want your kids to read and a body odor that reminds people of what wafts out of corner bars conveys this message: “I really care about health.”

4. DO: Be courteous toward, respectful of and accommodate for customers. Smile, acknowledge, protect and even go a little out of your way for customers. Do NOT: neglect, demean or inconvenience customers. Glaring at a customer will alienate one. Make a customer feel like they are a problem and you’ll become theirs. You might also want to consider explaining to your employees that they get a paycheck because of your customers and that they should make some room for them, as opposed to telling them to get out of the way.

5. DO: Pay attention to what the competition is doing, both in practice and in price. If you are better than they are, make sure your customers know about it. Be obvious. Do NOT: ever assume that you can disregard your competition, no matter how bad you may think they are. If you cannot demonstrate why people should shop at your store over another, they may decide not to shop at your store anymore. Either address the issue of competitive advantage or plan your “exit strategy”…. because you’ll need one pretty soon.

Have you had good or bad experiences worthy of acknowledging from a quality perspective with regard to grocers? Share it here. Are you a grocer that would like to point out a few “inside” tidbits about quality management in your unique industry? Have a say. Let us know how you handle quality, from an insider’s perspective. Even if you aren’t a grocer or a grocery buyer… did this article relate to another retail experience for you? Do tell.

All the best,

Diane Kulisek

President, CAPAtrak LLC