Shopping Experiences This Weekend

I am fortunate to have a twelve year old son. He loves to look good, and a lot of that comes down to footwear. As happens to every young man, he has reached that time in his life when he is transitioning from boy’s sizes to men’s sizes. This past weekend we went to local stores in search of dress shoes to accompany his elegant suit. The experience was extraordinary and instructive.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that we entered each and every store with money (okay, credit cards) and the intent to spend it. And no one succeeded in taking our money.

The best experience we had was at the first store we went to. The shoe fit, but didn’t match my son’s parameters for comfort, fit, or appearance. But the help was excellent – the sales person was interested in my son, desirous of meeting his vision, and super helpful with trying the shoes on. I was truly sorry it didn’t work out there.

At the second store, it got weird. The boys’ selection was good, and we tried on a shoe. It was the largest boy’s dress shoe, and it didn’t fit. When asked, the young lady milling around the shoes mentioned that men’s sizes started at 6.5 and pointed out the shoes. We were not able to find anything in a 6.5, and the 7 was too large in a couple of shoes. We asked where the 6.5 sizes were. “Oh, we don’t have any. You have to order those online” Waaah? Why point me to the 6.5s you don’t have. And why not facilitate my online order right there? My son’s harsh judgement walking out- “Well, she was useless.”

At the final store, same situation – no 6.5’s, no offer to help place the order or really any other help.

Amazon got the sale.

My conclusions:

1. Training training training. Pay for it and make sure your staff have situational awareness.

2. Push omnichannel. Don’t let a customer with obvious intent to spend money to spend out the door without taking their money.

3. Drip marketing sign up. Worst case sign the customer up for email and get them in your drip marketing program. Don’t have drip marketing? Call us.

4. Conversion rates. They are a core vital when it comes to the health of your sales team. A People Counting system is the best tool to diagnose these issues.

Let our team help you provide the best shopping experience.