Bah Humbug in Baldwin

It is no secret that I have been more than disappointed by my local grocer—Waldbaums, a division of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P). From holes on the shelves to one less than enthusiastic manager, Waldbaums’ Sunrise Highway, Baldwin, N.Y., location has been falling short of my expectations for a while. But its most recent move may have killed my patronage with the brand for good.

More than a year ago, I ran into a friend in the dairy section (he works for a direct-store-delivery vendor). Here, he gave me the low-down that my store was closing.

I wasn’t surprised by the news. At the time, Waldbaums was retrofitting a larger location on the other side of town. (Today, that store touts expanded sections, savvy services, and even attractive, customer-facing technologies, including self-checkout. It was obvious where the company was investing its capital.)

Two weeks ago, my husband ran to our store (which is less than one mile from our home) to pick up a couple of staples. When he came home, he told me my friend’s prediction was finally coming true—and the effects were obvious.

All gift cards (both Waldbaums’ cards and other retailer cards) were gone and many shelves were almost bare. The only warning he had was a sign on the door that said the store would close by the end of the month. Worse, it was not honoring sales advertised in the weekly circular.

I have no problem with the company’s overall decision to close the location. I understand it takes money, energy and labor to run a retail location. However, this has Scrooge written all over it.

There is not one retailer that does not rely on the loyalty of its shoppers during the holiday season. However I find it completely selfish that this retail location certainly didn’t take our loyalty into consideration when planning the best time to close.

Clearly, the store thought it was doing local residents a favor by staying open until after the holidays. But if some store shelves were already bare two weeks before Christmas how helpful will staying open really be?

While it may have been a sacrifice to stock shelves and service customers until the end of January, it also would have been a smart move in regard to customer service.

As I prepare my holiday feast this weekend, I will be making my shopping list and checking it twice to ensure that I have all ingredients we need. Then I will remember how Waldbaums’ decision to inconvenience shoppers during the holiday season wasn’t just selfish. This was a bad business decision that could cost the whole brand dearly.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

In-store Toys

For the January 2007 issue of Chain Store Age, just about two weeks away from publication, senior editor Connie Gentry has authored an article about handheld devices and how the technology is increasing operational efficiencies. What I found recently is that handhelds have employee entertainment value as well.

On a December shopping adventure to New York City from points Nebraska and Louisiana, my sister and I visited the Coach store at Time Warner Center. While Kim shopped the purses, I was drawn to a display of key fobs. As I eyeballed the offerings, I detected eyeballs trained on me.

A sales associate, with this—I swear—hopeful look on his face stood just behind me. Once I acknowledged that I knew I was being watched, he confessed. “I was just given this new toy this morning, and I’m dying to play with it.” That “toy” was a handheld device, strapped securely to the employee’s wrist.

Well, far be it from me to deny someone a little fun, so I assured the young man that I was ready to check out and would love his help. No question that was my good deed for the day. He happily scanned my purchases and, by the time I walked the four steps to the empty cashwrap, those little fobs had already made it to the back room for gift wrapping! (Yes, that was tongue-in-cheek, but all in fun.)

While handhelds don’t appear to have much operational impact during non-peak shopping hours in a smallish specialty store, this particular wrist model is likely providing hours of playtime for one eager, and charming, Coach sales associate.

—Katherine Field

Dubious About Going Contactless this Christmas

With less than three weeks left in the 2006 holiday shopping season, consumers are making their way to their favorite retailers—many with credit cards in hand.

Unsurprisingly, some card associations and issuing banks are using promotions to boost the volume of plastic transactions this holiday season. More specifically, some are pushing to increase the usage of their contactless products.

For example, I recently received a promotion from Chase and MasterCard International promising me a 15% credit on my next credit-card statement. All I have to do is make three or more purchases using the “Blink” feature on my card.

For those not familiar with the term, “Blink” is MasterCard’s contactless payment program. By housing a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip inside its credit cards, MasterCard enables cardholders to pay for purchases simply by waving the card over a dedicated payment terminal.

Shoppers never let go of their card, and transactions under $25 don’t even require a signature—two very appealing attributes during the hectic holiday shopping season.

Visa USA, American Express and Discover also have similar products enabling them to cashing in on “swipeless” transactions. And all four card associations promise that these RF-enabled products foster speedier, secure transactions because the shopper never hands over her card to the cashier.

While I hate to be a Grinch, I am just not convinced that this payment method is delivering on its security promise.
In a recent blog, I warned retailers to consider what could happen if these contactless vehicles end up in the wrong hands. Now it seems N.Y. Sen. Charles Schumer is also worried.

“These cards may be convenient, but they’re a double-edged sword,” he said in article that appeared in Monday’s edition of the New York City newspaper, AM New York.

The article described how scam artists are using digital eavesdropping devices to electronically steal unsuspecting cardholders’ names, account numbers and other personal data. “Thieves use the technology to steal your identity and credit number and go on a shopping spree at your expense,” he reported in the article.

While we all welcome the chance to speed up the checkout experience, just remain cautious. Here is my holiday wish: don’t sacrifice security for speed during checkout. Savvy thieves are proving that nothing is foolproof this holiday season.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Merry Customer Service

We can spend hours every week talking with retail executives and reporting new trends and technologies in the industry, but there’s nothing like a holiday shopping binge to open your eyes to retail reality. My top 10 take-away messages from a weekend spent shopping with my family:

Biggest customer-service shock: On the first Saturday in December, J. Crew and Victoria’s Secret did not have gift boxes at the stores we visited.

Best overall in-store experience: No surprise here. Crate & Barrel excels at everything—merchandising, employee assistance, superior customer service and efficient checkout despite the longest lines of any store visited.

Most hospitable customer-service: Friendly and efficient cashiers at Dollar Tree and Target proved retail doesn’t have to be high dollar to be high quality.

Most knowledgeable service: We visited two recently converted Macy’s stores, and the associates at both stores did an outstanding job of locating inventory in back rooms or other stores. Kudos to Federated for transitioning stores to the Macy’s protocol in time for superior holiday shopping experiences.

Least knowledgeable service: Unfortunately the ladies in pink are making the list again—although the Victoria’s Secret associate was very nice and wanted to be helpful, she was at a total loss when it came to finding sizes and inventory. That would be a training, not a personnel, issue.

Multichannel myth-busting: My assumption that merchandise in catalogs would be available on line proved false. J. Crew does not include all its merchandise on its Web site—but a call-center operator provided outstanding service and located the item I was seeking with hardly any info at all.

Mutlichannel excellence: Since I had discarded the catalog, assuming I’d find the product at a store or on line, this same J. Crew call-center operator provided me with SKU item numbers and talked me through an Internet visit so, although the product was not available at jcrew.com, she and I could see that we were talking about the right merchandise.

Warning signs: I always feel a twinge of fear for retailers on my “personal favorite’s” list when the store is empty but the mall (and competitor stores) are packed. Here’s hoping J. Jill was vacant because all those husbands wait until the last minute to shop, and perhaps Smith & Hawken was just having an off moment.

Generation gap: A 14-year-old girl will turn standing in line at Starbucks into a social event; a 79-year-old grandfather will never understand why anyone (much less a crowd) would stand in line for 15 minutes to spend $4.00 on a cup of coffee.

Opportunity begging attention: If retailers want to take customer service to the next level, you’ve got to think outside the box—literally! Parking-lot congestion is a mess during the holidays, and poor access to shopping centers is a huge deterrent for shoppers, who don’t want to spend 20 minutes sitting in traffic waiting to enter a mall parking lot. Valet-parking services address only a small percentage of the problem. Tenants should flex some negotiating muscle to have a portion of CAM charges dedicated to addressing this problem—possibly with shuttle service from remote lots or hiring off-duty officers to direct traffic so it flows more smoothly.

— Connie Gentry