Committing Retail Suicide: Don’t Blame Amazon!

Look in The Mirror

Tons of brick & mortar stores as well as huge chains of stores are closing.

The competition of online shopping option is not the problem with these stores going out of business.

I’ll tell you what is killing the
Shopping experience!

I’m sure most people can honestly say they have had horrible non-attentive in-store experiences that have driven even the old people to shop online..
These stores say they want to change & offer innovative experiences.. there is Zero need for an innovative experience.
Why are you having so much trouble hiring, training & having enough people working on the floor in these stores when the demand is there.

I don’t want to bash Dicks Sporting Goods because I really love the store & they carry tons of things. I’m not crazy about their online store so I don’t use it.

However, I went into Dicks this past Saturday afternoon because I needed baseball cleats & I needed them fast as my Mom received an email from my baseball coach saying we were having a scrimmage game instead of practice.

Well, my cleats from last season don’t fit & we already knew this, but my real season games don’t start for another week so we were going to get my cleats this week while I’m on Spring Break.
But now things have changed & I need them this minute..
My mom drives us to Dicks.
We find the cleats on the wall but there is only one guy working in the entire shoe area, on a Saturday early afternoon!!
There are 5 dads & 6 moms standing there waiting to be taken care of.

I’m only 13 & even I know this is probably their busiest day of the week, plus it’s Baseball season & every parent is in there looking for clothes/equipment & the list goes on!!
My mother finally hollers for the shoe guy to get us the cleats after my standing & being overlooked & ignored.

We get to the cash registers & there are ONLY 2 open!!

Are You Kidding Me??!!

The 2 lines literally have 11 people each waiting to pay.

WHY??

Why do they Not have a fully staffed Store on a Saturday afternoon??
Are they waiting for people to get pissed & stop shopping there & start Only shopping online?

What is the problem with these brick & mortar stores?

There are tons of articles out there begging for answers as to how to keep them alive & keep people shopping..

There is a very simple answer to most of these stores problems…
Hire More STAFF to wait on us!!!!
If you continue to Not wait on us & make us wait in 2 long lines while you have 6 empty cash registers with no one working.
I can promise you, we will NOT be coming back again!!

My mother was pissed but I was even more angry because we were in a rush & I was late for my scrimmage game but it wasn’t because I found out about my game to late..
It was because Dicks Sporting Goods had almost Zero staff running their store on a crazy busy Saturday afternoon!!

As my mother would say,
“They are making their own beds”!
Which means, they are ruining their own business!
When they loose all their customers They deserve what they get!
They did it to themselves!

Why are these brick & mortar stores ruining their chances at having a thriving store?

What has changed?

Why are You not staffing your stores correctly??

Is it because you are not paying enough money for good management to know how to run your stores?

If that is the case, then you should just close your doors now as they are being ruined buy this negligence.

Do you retailers Not see how you are killing your own in store shopping experiences.
Macy’s is horribly guilty of this & we just witnessed it first hand again today with literally lines of women standing with a shoe in hand trying to get someone to get them their size.
Why is it sooo difficult to staff your stores enough to accommodate your customers?
This was a Sunday! Another one of the busiest days of the week. Every single woman was pissed off & texting friends about the horrific experience!
The shoe Dept was a mess! It Looked like it had been robbed!

My Mom told me something that blew my mind,
she said back in the day, the shoe sales people actually put your shoes on your feet for you & laced them up & told you to walk a bit to see how they felt.
Omg!! That is insane to hear how much the shopping experience attentiveness to customers has changed!
We would love to be treated with such attention.
I can’t even imagine this happening.

Today, the sales people have a device in hand & click to see if your size is available & then get the box & basically throw it at you & you are on your own! They never come back to check on you!

Retailers, it is You who have sadly neglected your customers !!
That is why they are slowly disappearing from your stores!
The Only thing that has changed is stores neglecting to treat their customers SPECIAL!
Do NOT place all the blame
on Amazon or online stores taking your business!

From what I see, there are plenty of people wanting to shop at your stores, it is sadly you who have No interest in welcoming them & taking care of them!

Oh & btw… if you quiz younger kids about stores they like going to & don’t like going to with their parents, that is how you get your true feedback.
Children are not conditioned to lie.
They know exactly which stores they dread being drug into with their parents because they know the shopping experience at Every store!
Make no mistake. Kids are paying attention.
Did you ever see a child throw a tantrum to not go into certain stores, it’s because they know it’s going to take way to long, but they are to young to verbally express it to their parents!

Their actions are speaking very clearly to me!!

Sadly, retailers aren’t listening to anyone & will be saying bye bye to their stores very soon.
They have killed the shopping experience.

No one else to blame.

Time to take ownership!