"Retailer Therapy"
Sarah Duchow
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
"Tis the season to act crazy," chimes my mother as she attempts to poke fun at my aunt's holiday shopping mentality. "The woman goes into the stores at the beginning of September to pick out clothes she likes and then nags at the employees about sizes and colors, just so she can come back at the crack of dawn in November when they've gone on sale to finally purchase it. Personally, I think she is crazy. I hope the stores are preparing for her. Who cares about the sales."
While money conscious families, like my own, have found themselves preparing for Black Friday sales months in advance, retailers have beaten them to the punch. From new sales strategies to tag lines, stores find themselves armed and ready to take on the stormy front of holiday shoppers and sneaky shoplifters this season will bring.
For some stores, money isn't as much of an issue. Sales have remained steady through the economic downtime, so expectations for holiday spending remain high. But for retailers that have felt the cut, they have been forced to plan even further in advance for what is projected to be a tough season. The National Retail Federation, NRF, projects industry sales to decline by 1percent this year to $437.6 billion. However, this is not news to retailers, who are well aware of the decline after last year's 3.4 percent drop.
For a certain highly successful national chain store, preparations for the season go beyond hiring extra seasonal help and the store's impeccable upkeep. The store is broken up into sections, men's and women's, and each room is given a number. Individual employees are assigned specific duties and/or rooms where they will remain for their shift. Sectioning off the store this way not only helps to ensure that the quality of each room is maintained, but allows for the best customer service. Tag lines, such as "What's going on," are seen as essential in creating a connection between an employee and a shopper. They are used at the entrance of the store and at the register. An employee is stationed at the front table of the store at all times to ensure that each customer is greeted this way. Managers feel that the use of this tag line will not only create a better shopping environment, but also encourage a shoplifter to acknowledge the impeccable customer service they will be confronted with, and leave.
While money conscious families, like my own, have found themselves preparing for Black Friday sales months in advance, retailers have beaten them to the punch. From new sales strategies to tag lines, stores find themselves armed and ready to take on the stormy front of holiday shoppers and sneaky shoplifters this season will bring.
For some stores, money isn't as much of an issue. Sales have remained steady through the economic downtime, so expectations for holiday spending remain high. But for retailers that have felt the cut, they have been forced to plan even further in advance for what is projected to be a tough season. The National Retail Federation, NRF, projects industry sales to decline by 1percent this year to $437.6 billion. However, this is not news to retailers, who are well aware of the decline after last year's 3.4 percent drop.
For a certain highly successful national chain store, preparations for the season go beyond hiring extra seasonal help and the store's impeccable upkeep. The store is broken up into sections, men's and women's, and each room is given a number. Individual employees are assigned specific duties and/or rooms where they will remain for their shift. Sectioning off the store this way not only helps to ensure that the quality of each room is maintained, but allows for the best customer service. Tag lines, such as "What's going on," are seen as essential in creating a connection between an employee and a shopper. They are used at the entrance of the store and at the register. An employee is stationed at the front table of the store at all times to ensure that each customer is greeted this way. Managers feel that the use of this tag line will not only create a better shopping environment, but also encourage a shoplifter to acknowledge the impeccable customer service they will be confronted with, and leave.
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posted 12/30/09 @ 8:50 AM CST
I agree that for a certain highly successful national chain store, preparations for the season go beyond hiring extra seasonal help and the store's impeccable upkeep. (Continued…)
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