December 21, 2006
Retailing Becoming Dangerous Profession
This is the time of year when shoppers in stores begin to tell retail associates and other customers where they can put their holiday cheer.
With just a few days to go to Christmas and so many still needing to complete their shopping, people inevitably begin to show their stress by verbally and sometimes physically acting out.
“We’ve all done it: I know I’ve lost my temper, and everyone else has probably done it,” Ernest Speranza, chief marketing officer of KB Toys, told The Associated Press. “At this time of year, people start out with all the best intentions. They’re busy buying toys for a young child. They’re happy about doing that. Then they get caught up in the frenzy … and a nice experience now starts to spiral out of control.”
And get out of control they do. Just ask the grocery store manager who earlier this month had a 59-year-old female customer hit him in the head with a 10-pound sack of potatoes because she was angry about having to wait in line.
A study by ComPsych Corp. found that customers are angrier than in the past. The employee assistance provider said the numbers of acute-stress counseling sessions it has had to provide to retailers is way up over the past couple of years.
“During the holiday season, (retailers) bring on people who are less familiar with where products are, how stores operate,” said Richard Chaifetz, chairman and chief executive of ComPsych. “Shoppers are agitated. Put those together and you create a combustible environment.”
Adding to the agitation is the decision by many businesses to reduce staffing levels from past holidays. Having fewer people around to offer assistance at a time when shoppers are less patient to begin with is a recipe for creating stressful situations.
On the plus side, retailers have a variety of ways to deal with the conflict that invariably happens this time of year. Many add security staff, while others rehearse stressful situations to prepare store employees on how to deal with irate shoppers.
KB Toys has decided to reduce the stress on customers by keeping really hot items off the shelves so that shoppers won’t be wrestling over them in the aisles. For example, T.M.X. Elmo has only gone on store shelves this week. Prior to this, the company created a waiting list and called customers to pickup the toy as shipments were received.
Discussion Questions: Are shoppers (and store associates in some cases) more unpleasant this year than in the past? What do you see as the key factors
leading to conflicts in stores? What are the most effective ways to reduce stress and keep shoppers and workers happy during the holidays?
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If you don’t think retail is dangerous, you have never worked in a convenience store.
I think these kinds of things spiral. It’s amazing to notice how people who always complain attract complainers and negative, irritable people around them. “People are so grumpy,” or “Everybody is always in such a rush.” Statements like this attract more of the same. We’ve all seen the cheerful retail person. He or she cruises along, shrugging off the occasional grumpy shopper. And it’s amazing to watch the effect he/she has on the middle-of-the-road shopper. They find themselves smiling and in the holiday spirit.
Best ways to reduce holiday retailing stress: improve staff training, bonus the staff for short-term top performance, and carefully examine the holiday temp strategy for the future. Training reinforcement and testing can be done throughout the year, but it’s extra-critical right before peak sales periods. If there’s a time of year to rev up the mystery shopping, this is it. Some chains, like Pret a Manger (owned by McDonald’s) bonus everyone in the store based on weekly mystery shopping. And how many stores hire holiday temps who are just thrown on the sales floor with no preparation or testing? A few days ago it took 4 separate people at Circuit City to ring up the sale of an inexpensive TV and antenna. One of the 4 was a manager and he couldn’t help.
One thing that doesn’t help stress levels is the constant pushing to extend shopping hours and days, such as in the Macy’s 83 hour experiment today. It seems retailers keep opening earlier, closing later, and opening on days when they used to be closed. In a way it’s helpful to shoppers, but it certainly puts a strain on store associates who have to work crazy hours. And, I’m not sure in the end that retailers might not do better with a “less is more” strategy instead of seemingly being open 24/7.
The problem is customer service. No one in the store (except possibly the top manager) knows where anything is; no one knows how to check to see if there is any additional stock; and unfortunately a great many clerks and workers could care less if you have a quick, cordial, and pleasant experience.
The retailer is not delivering on their side of the equation. Half the checkouts are closed, merchandise is jammed together on racetracks and aisles. It is the most painful thing a time pressed adult can do. Parents want to get the shopping done and spend time with their families, not stand in line to buy the few things the store had in stock.
Everyone would love a leisurely relaxed shopping experience – Add more full time associates who know what they carry and where it is (and have time to help), make the check out experience take less time instead of being an endurance/torture test.
It is really simple. Don’t do the things that push people to the edge — treat them like you are happy they came to your store to shop.
I believe sales associates are the front line soldiers for ‘enhancing the customer experience’ — a phrase we’ve heard countless times. Yet the generals of commerce all to often forget this and create policies and procedures that seem to make sense when drafted in the luxury of the executive suites but place the sales associates in harm’s way. Mr. McClain makes a great point on the trend for extending store hours. This simple operational decision places additional stress on the employees and will certainly manifest itself in an outburst with a customer that will adversely affect the retail brand equity. As stated many times here within RW, brand equity that has established a trusted relationship with loyal customers takes years to establish and but one moment to erase. This price (and risk) may not be worth paying because of a stress related outburst at 11:30 pm over the checkout waiting time!
The way we act in public rarely has to do with the situation we find ourselves in “right now.” Rather, behavior like road rage and shopping rage are outgrowths of what’s happening in our private lives. When I see a jerk in a store or on the road, I remind myself that there’s probably something hurtful or damaging going on in their personal lives. Retail clerks, too, allow their personal lives to affect their behavior while on the job. Combined with shoppers with home-honed bad attitudes, truly combustible conditions exist.
Recognition of this simple concept is paramount. Empathy, hopefully, will then help clerks work with shoppers more productively and with less disappointment and volatility. It’s important that clerks recognize that they can’t “manage” or “handle” customers. That implies a certain personal superiority that rarely exists. Instead, they must relate. The “Feel, Felt, Found” concept is a relevant today as when it was codified: “I know how you feel; I’ve felt the same way; Let me tell you what I’ve found.”
All good discussion.
I think overall, the threshold for acceptable behavior has been lowered so much that there is little social pressure for proper behavior and language. For many, there’s no shame and few consequences for shameful behavior.
Yesterday’s outrage becomes today’s norm.
Our (beeping) media machines pump out (beeping beep) 24/7, then we (beeping) wonder why (beeping) retail rage, (beeping) road rage and the (beeping) like are so (beeping) prevalent. Family viewing is now filled with outrageous behavior and beeps with every other word.
Consumer expectations are now higher for perfect, immediate, flawless service with no room for inconvenience of any sort. Intolerance for anything less is even greater.
It’s tough on our people who really have the urge to beep back.
Since retail jobs are low wage, they tend to attract people who probably have a lot of stress issues like how they will pay for groceries or the gas just to get to work. Or the unfortunate circumstances in their life that resulted in them working in retail. Imagine working at Wal-Mart and watching wealthy people coming in all day long and spending thousands of dollars for the holidays? Christmas is probably not a very pleasant time for retail workers, both at work and home. The guy at my local Wal-Mart who brings in the shopping carts has to ride his bike three miles to work. And for what, like $8 or $9 and hour? Sometimes when I head out to Wal-Mart in the morning, I see him slowly making his way up the hill, into a cold gusty headwind. Then I see him pull into the parking lot as I’m leaving for home. For a couple of years now, he has been doing this. If I had to do that I’d probably have difficulty in being pleasant. Keep in mind this is winter in Wisconsin. We should all offer words of encouragement to these people. I tipped out the paper boy pretty good this year. I got to thinking how he comes everyday at 4 am in this awful cold and snowy weather, comes all the way up to the house and puts the paper on the door step. People like that need to know they are appreciated.
There may be something to what Ron says. Here in Detroit we pioneered the concept of retail rage but this year there seems to be a bit less of it. Of course this year there also seems to be a bit less spending which in turn reduces the frenzy level which in turn reduces the rage meter. I don’t know if it’s the war; the fact that so many people here have lost their jobs; or if we’ve finally realized that the holidays ought to be about something more than punching out total strangers to get this year’s incarnation of Tickle Me Elmo.
As stress levels increase generally in the population, the retail environment, like any other environment where people interact, shows some of the unpleasant by-products of that stress. Retailers all have their horror stories of things done by customers. Customers also have their horror stories of things done by retailers. Some of the retailers who are most successful at defusing the stress are those who empower their store employees to make decisions and act on those decisions to satisfy the customer. When the store employee feels they have little or no ability to handle the situation because it must escalate to a store manager, district manager, regional VP, etc., then the situation can become toxic.
In times of war and in the aftermath of disaster, the consumer tends to be a little less aggressive. The best way to maintain order in theses times is to remind the customer that there are troops overseas and people still suffering from the effects of last year’s hurricanes in the Gulf Coast. Little things like collecting presents for children of service people overseas and placing a bowl to place change to be sent to agencies helping flood victims go a long way to helping customers remember the real meaning of the holidays.
Hopefully, we have noticed the more attentive sales associate, and smiling, too. Especially at Macy’s and the
many specialty retail products shops, whether chain or
individually owned.
Now, these retailers aren’t even 20% of the markets’ business, but the Baby Boomers and college students out of school for the Holidays are treating the consumers to the unusual and surprising courtesy and sales factors in a delightful shopping experience.
Some retailers are incorporating better education programs
and associate’s skill sets in order to better serve the shoppers during this hectic-but crucial retail period of the year…….
And most importantly, a mind set for all sales associates
and retail management that speaks to the consumer being the focus for increased sales and loyalty.
All these retailer/consumer efforts might lead to an impressive January and periods thereafter, til the next Holiday Season!
Makes sense for growth and the bottom line…Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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If you don’t think retail is dangerous, you have never worked in a convenience store.
I think these kinds of things spiral. It’s amazing to notice how people who always complain attract complainers and negative, irritable people around them. “People are so grumpy,” or “Everybody is always in such a rush.” Statements like this attract more of the same. We’ve all seen the cheerful retail person. He or she cruises along, shrugging off the occasional grumpy shopper. And it’s amazing to watch the effect he/she has on the middle-of-the-road shopper. They find themselves smiling and in the holiday spirit.
Best ways to reduce holiday retailing stress: improve staff training, bonus the staff for short-term top performance, and carefully examine the holiday temp strategy for the future. Training reinforcement and testing can be done throughout the year, but it’s extra-critical right before peak sales periods. If there’s a time of year to rev up the mystery shopping, this is it. Some chains, like Pret a Manger (owned by McDonald’s) bonus everyone in the store based on weekly mystery shopping. And how many stores hire holiday temps who are just thrown on the sales floor with no preparation or testing? A few days ago it took 4 separate people at Circuit City to ring up the sale of an inexpensive TV and antenna. One of the 4 was a manager and he couldn’t help.
One thing that doesn’t help stress levels is the constant pushing to extend shopping hours and days, such as in the Macy’s 83 hour experiment today. It seems retailers keep opening earlier, closing later, and opening on days when they used to be closed. In a way it’s helpful to shoppers, but it certainly puts a strain on store associates who have to work crazy hours. And, I’m not sure in the end that retailers might not do better with a “less is more” strategy instead of seemingly being open 24/7.
The problem is customer service. No one in the store (except possibly the top manager) knows where anything is; no one knows how to check to see if there is any additional stock; and unfortunately a great many clerks and workers could care less if you have a quick, cordial, and pleasant experience.
The retailer is not delivering on their side of the equation. Half the checkouts are closed, merchandise is jammed together on racetracks and aisles. It is the most painful thing a time pressed adult can do. Parents want to get the shopping done and spend time with their families, not stand in line to buy the few things the store had in stock.
Everyone would love a leisurely relaxed shopping experience – Add more full time associates who know what they carry and where it is (and have time to help), make the check out experience take less time instead of being an endurance/torture test.
It is really simple. Don’t do the things that push people to the edge — treat them like you are happy they came to your store to shop.
I believe sales associates are the front line soldiers for ‘enhancing the customer experience’ — a phrase we’ve heard countless times. Yet the generals of commerce all to often forget this and create policies and procedures that seem to make sense when drafted in the luxury of the executive suites but place the sales associates in harm’s way. Mr. McClain makes a great point on the trend for extending store hours. This simple operational decision places additional stress on the employees and will certainly manifest itself in an outburst with a customer that will adversely affect the retail brand equity. As stated many times here within RW, brand equity that has established a trusted relationship with loyal customers takes years to establish and but one moment to erase. This price (and risk) may not be worth paying because of a stress related outburst at 11:30 pm over the checkout waiting time!
The way we act in public rarely has to do with the situation we find ourselves in “right now.” Rather, behavior like road rage and shopping rage are outgrowths of what’s happening in our private lives. When I see a jerk in a store or on the road, I remind myself that there’s probably something hurtful or damaging going on in their personal lives. Retail clerks, too, allow their personal lives to affect their behavior while on the job. Combined with shoppers with home-honed bad attitudes, truly combustible conditions exist.
Recognition of this simple concept is paramount. Empathy, hopefully, will then help clerks work with shoppers more productively and with less disappointment and volatility. It’s important that clerks recognize that they can’t “manage” or “handle” customers. That implies a certain personal superiority that rarely exists. Instead, they must relate. The “Feel, Felt, Found” concept is a relevant today as when it was codified: “I know how you feel; I’ve felt the same way; Let me tell you what I’ve found.”
All good discussion.
I think overall, the threshold for acceptable behavior has been lowered so much that there is little social pressure for proper behavior and language. For many, there’s no shame and few consequences for shameful behavior.
Yesterday’s outrage becomes today’s norm.
Our (beeping) media machines pump out (beeping beep) 24/7, then we (beeping) wonder why (beeping) retail rage, (beeping) road rage and the (beeping) like are so (beeping) prevalent. Family viewing is now filled with outrageous behavior and beeps with every other word.
Consumer expectations are now higher for perfect, immediate, flawless service with no room for inconvenience of any sort. Intolerance for anything less is even greater.
It’s tough on our people who really have the urge to beep back.
Since retail jobs are low wage, they tend to attract people who probably have a lot of stress issues like how they will pay for groceries or the gas just to get to work. Or the unfortunate circumstances in their life that resulted in them working in retail. Imagine working at Wal-Mart and watching wealthy people coming in all day long and spending thousands of dollars for the holidays? Christmas is probably not a very pleasant time for retail workers, both at work and home. The guy at my local Wal-Mart who brings in the shopping carts has to ride his bike three miles to work. And for what, like $8 or $9 and hour? Sometimes when I head out to Wal-Mart in the morning, I see him slowly making his way up the hill, into a cold gusty headwind. Then I see him pull into the parking lot as I’m leaving for home. For a couple of years now, he has been doing this. If I had to do that I’d probably have difficulty in being pleasant. Keep in mind this is winter in Wisconsin. We should all offer words of encouragement to these people. I tipped out the paper boy pretty good this year. I got to thinking how he comes everyday at 4 am in this awful cold and snowy weather, comes all the way up to the house and puts the paper on the door step. People like that need to know they are appreciated.
There may be something to what Ron says. Here in Detroit we pioneered the concept of retail rage but this year there seems to be a bit less of it. Of course this year there also seems to be a bit less spending which in turn reduces the frenzy level which in turn reduces the rage meter. I don’t know if it’s the war; the fact that so many people here have lost their jobs; or if we’ve finally realized that the holidays ought to be about something more than punching out total strangers to get this year’s incarnation of Tickle Me Elmo.
As stress levels increase generally in the population, the retail environment, like any other environment where people interact, shows some of the unpleasant by-products of that stress. Retailers all have their horror stories of things done by customers. Customers also have their horror stories of things done by retailers. Some of the retailers who are most successful at defusing the stress are those who empower their store employees to make decisions and act on those decisions to satisfy the customer. When the store employee feels they have little or no ability to handle the situation because it must escalate to a store manager, district manager, regional VP, etc., then the situation can become toxic.
In times of war and in the aftermath of disaster, the consumer tends to be a little less aggressive. The best way to maintain order in theses times is to remind the customer that there are troops overseas and people still suffering from the effects of last year’s hurricanes in the Gulf Coast. Little things like collecting presents for children of service people overseas and placing a bowl to place change to be sent to agencies helping flood victims go a long way to helping customers remember the real meaning of the holidays.
Hopefully, we have noticed the more attentive sales associate, and smiling, too. Especially at Macy’s and the
many specialty retail products shops, whether chain or
individually owned.
Now, these retailers aren’t even 20% of the markets’ business, but the Baby Boomers and college students out of school for the Holidays are treating the consumers to the unusual and surprising courtesy and sales factors in a delightful shopping experience.
Some retailers are incorporating better education programs
and associate’s skill sets in order to better serve the shoppers during this hectic-but crucial retail period of the year…….
And most importantly, a mind set for all sales associates
and retail management that speaks to the consumer being the focus for increased sales and loyalty.
All these retailer/consumer efforts might lead to an impressive January and periods thereafter, til the next Holiday Season!
Makes sense for growth and the bottom line…Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm