Customer service in a digital age
Richard Warner
February 1, 2008
Well, we just came through a year when online shopping hit critical mass. More people than ever are
using Web sites like CNet and BizRate to read user reviews, comparison shop and click to order.
Online holiday sales were up about 20 percent. "The lowest price!" "In stock!" "Free
shipping!" Most shoppers are enthusiastic participants in this fundamental change in retailing.
So why is it I find myself wishing Rich's still was around? The venerable Atlanta department
store, privately held until 1975, eventually was sold and combined with Macy's. Many longtime
Atlantans remember Rich's for its often over-the-top customer service.
Stories are legendary about Rich's employees accepting merchandise for return years after
purchase. Ten years after we bought a living room rug that had been deconstructed by our dog, the
Rich's salesman gave us full credit for it when we returned to buy a new rug. Even better, Rich's
stores often were staffed with employees who knew about what they were selling.
Make no mistake: Rich's made money with that business model.
Retailers will deny it, but hiring people who specialize in what they're selling and focusing
on the long-term value of a customer aren't very practical anymore. But several things happened
this past holiday shopping season that convince me the market exists for another Rich's.
A year after lawyer-CEO Frank Blake took over Atlanta's Home Depot, it seems like they're
still recovering from the strategy of former CEO Robert Nardelli: replace salespeople who have a
passion for home improvement and hire executives whose disciplined military backgrounds qualify
them to execute the precision of Six Sigma. Just try to get helpful advice amid the rows of Home
Depot self-checkouts.
Then there's my personal vote for "worst retail experience." Just after Thanksgiving, I tried
to buy a hi-def TV package from one of the big box electronics stores (the yellow and blue one).
The arrogant floor manager, who wasn't on hand a few days earlier when his salesman and I agreed on
the package and I put down money, essentially accused me of lying when I returned to finish the
deal. He refused to honor it or refund any money, and his boss, the store manager who promised to
investigate, never did call me back.
And finally there was the Brooklyn-based online retailer that promised the lowest price on
cameras. A little research proved their claim was valid ... except the salesman refused to sell me
the camera unless I also bought an extended warranty or some other add-on.
Times are tough, you know. Competition is fierce and salespeople come and go, lured by higher
commissions elsewhere or burned out from the stress of dealing with all us savvy shoppers.
But I wonder how long it would take, in this digital age, for the buzz to get around about a
retailer that takes the time to train its people and places a genuine value on your future business
... even if theirs isn't "always the lowest price."
Richard Warner hosts "Georgia's Business" on GPTV and is CEO of What's Up Interactive.