Just Take the Money!

By BILL BAROL

A true story: not long ago, I walked into an electronics store in Manhattan Beach, Calif. It was the release day for a new computer system, and I had cash in my hand. The store didn't have the configuration I wanted, though, so I asked the salesman to call a sister store in nearby Woodland Hills and check its stock. The salesman blanched. "Are you crazy?" he said. "Have you ever tried to call our stores?"

This is more than just a cranky anecdote. It is a veritable Bruegel painting of inept retailing. It illustrates so many frustrating aspects of a bad shopping trip--lousy sales support, shallow inventory, poor use of technology--that it's almost thrilling to think of all the potential for improvement that it suggests. With many retailers struggling in this slack economy, you would think they would redouble their attention to the basics--and the best chains and local managers are doing just that. But industry experts share my amazement that so many stores don't execute well what ought to be the obvious rules of their business. To wit:

--DON'T LET YOUR ADS WRITE A CHECK YOUR STORES CANNOT CASH

The shopping experience starts before customers ever get to the store. Their expectations are created in television and print ads, and the best stores deliver on those expectations. The ones that don't deliver foster a vague sense of unease and resentment. Store designer Richard Russo of Virginia's Hybridia Design cites J.C. Penney's "girl stuff" TV spot in which a hip young mom and her teenage daughter head off for a day of fun at Penney's. While many parents like the value and convenience offered by Penney's, "kids don't feel good about going into that store," says Russo. "It isn't hip like American Eagle or Abercrombie's." Tim Lyons, a Penney's spokesman, counters that its business with teen girls is growing by double digits. "Teens are value conscious," he says. But Russo says the ads, which focus on fun, don't reflect that value message. Target's ads, on the other hand, "communicate a funky, contemporary approach, and people feel it's a hip place to shop for products at a great price." Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce, 93% of retail-sales revenues are collected in stores. If you're a retailer, the store is your medium, so it had better match your message.

--LET IT FLOW

An appealing inventory is only as good as the layout that allows customers to navigate through it and find what they want. Among department stores, which are not widely known for good flow, Kohl's, based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., gets high marks for its "racetrack" format. "It's based on the premise that most people want to navigate around the perimeter of the store," says Kate Delhagen, retail research director for Forrester Research. "Their design guides people that way. There's a wall of merchandise around the outside, and then they can see into the inside from there." At the Container Store, based in Dallas, with 28 outlets in 15 markets, "Our product selection is pretty wide: it's small, it's big, it's wire, it's solid, and it would be extraordinarily confusing if it weren't presented in an organized way," says chairman Garrett Boone. His solution: a U-shape layout that "allows people to pass all the departments in the store, both on the sides and in the center." Ikea, based in Helsingborg, Sweden, directs shoppers around its vast showrooms on preset paths but also allows them to circumvent the traffic pattern with strategically placed "cut-throughs." Customers like them because they provide not only increased mobility but also a clandestine, blows-against-the-empire kind of thrill.

--TELL ME A STORY

There are lives being lived in the meticulously designed room settings at Ikea, even if they're fictional lives. "The settings that we do are all written to a brief that describes who lives there and what function the space has to perform for them," says Clive Cashman, the chain's U.S. public-affairs manager. A space designed for a young woman in a small apartment might feature a gate-leg table and chairs that can be hung on the wall; for a single parent, the store will show toy storage that is accessible to kids but can be easily stowed when there are adult visitors. "You can see the light go on as people discover solutions that are relevant for them," Cashman says. The Container Store has a prop shop that does nothing but provide set dressing matched to customers' tastes--avoiding the cheapest pair of shoes, say, to dress up a closet display, in favor of a pair of shoes whose style and design customers can appreciate.

--SMILE, HELP OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

Is it too much to expect store employees to be able to answer questions about merchandise? In many cases, yes. "If you're shopping where you expect the rock-bottom price, they're just not going to be able to afford to put a bright, well-informed sales associate in front of you," says consultant Jim Dion of Dionco, based in Chicago. High-volume stores such as Kmart and Target hold prices down in part by keeping payroll expenses low, generally less than 5% of sales. Stores like the Gap or Abercrombie & Fitch may spend double that. But even at discount king Wal-Mart, "associates have always been taught that they should smile and make eye contact," Dion says. "So you can ask them a question, and they'll be polite when they tell you they don't know. Or they'll try to get you the answer."

--USE TECHNOLOGY FOR ME, NOT JUST FOR YOU

The retail industry has been agog in recent years over customer relationship management (CRM) software, which helps sellers mine data to learn what customers want, and which ones deserve the most attention. That's great, but why not also include technology that more directly helps shoppers? At Circuit City, based in Richmond, Va., receipts are stored electronically and can be accessed in any store coast to coast. This technology is widely available, but Circuit City has been shrewd enough to feature its version in TV ads, fostering its image as a place where it's easy to return merchandise and where shopping is hassle free. Outdoor equipment retailer REI, based in Kent, Wash., makes smart use of technology, according to Forrester's Delhagen, by placing computer kiosks on its sales floor that allow the customer to search its entire inventory. "The store can't carry every size and shape of tent stake," Delhagen says, "so an associate will walk you over and find you the one you need." The lesson for retailers: don't fall in love with new technology unless your customers get to play with it too.

--TAKE THE MONEY

Too many retailers undervalue the checkout, which is their last best chance to make a good impression. "If you're going to mess up the store experience, don't mess it up at the checkout," says Delhagen. A good checkout hinges on preventing a wait that can sour a shopper's whole day. Ikea, which doubled its number of checkout stands when it recently moved a store from King of Prussia, Pa., to bigger quarters in nearby Conshohocken, is looking even further ahead to a roving pre-checkout system, using wireless technology for mobile cashiers. Home Depot, based in Atlanta, recently invested heavily in self-checkout technology, which should be fully online by this summer. A cash outlay isn't the only answer or even the best one. Jim Dion notes that in the Midwest, Jewel grocery stores, a division of Albertson's, have their cashiers circle the preferred-customer savings on the register tape before handing it to the shopper. "Nice little touch," Dion says approvingly. "Maybe they could add to that a sincere 'thank you,' which would be nice. But they didn't when I was there." The way his voice falls before adding the afterthought says a lot about the frustrations of store shopping--and managing. It says the little things count for a lot. And it says don't take them for granted.