In recent years, I’ve done a majority of my Christmas shopping online. This year was different. I went to the mall two days before Christmas. Was I out of my mind?
With my experience in customer satisfaction and the challenges of the retail shopping experience, I decided to put mall shopping to the test.
Plus, it didn’t hurt that my wife kept dropping hints about Macy’s @ Glenbrook Mall, Fort Wayne. But there were very few hints about what she really wanted.
First to Macys.com to check for online coupons. Scored four – 2 for $15 off with $50 purchase, a $25 off with $100 purchase and a $50 off with $200 purchase. The good news: They were valid on sale merchandise. The bad news: Lots of category exclusions like fragrances, electrics, etc. That could be a problem.
My first stop started with a challenge. Ysatis by Givenchy is one of my must gifts. Call it a husband’s responsibility to keep his love stocked in her favorite fragrance. I went straight to the Givenchy display and ….. it wasn’t there. A Macy’s associate apologized and told me that they didn’t carry it and offered to help me find a new scent. Good try, but nope, that won’t work. She understood she wasn’t going to get a sale and told me that Perfumania carried the scent.
Because she helped me find the fragrance, she ensured Macy’s would be given another chance for the rest of of the purchases for the day. Otherwise, I would not have returned. I always try to reward a store when an associate provides good service.
When I returned to Macy’s after buying the perfume, I had three other good experiences:
1) Brigitte in the Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics space greeted me promptly, answered my questions and made good suggestions.
2) Upstairs, the associate offered to hold merchandise while I was on my hunt. She also was always available for questions without hovering.
3) Shoe department. Saw a pair, asked about the sizing and the associate had it to me in less than two minutes. He was also very accommodating while I sorted the gifts to take the best advantage of the coupon savings.
Overall Thoughts:
1) Good service means helping the customer even when you can’t fill the need. I respected that she didn’t just say that she couldn’t help and leave me to flounder. It paid off for Macy’s. I returned to buy gifts. If she had just let me go, I would have shopped at their competitors for my other gifts.
2) My experience with the other associates indicate that there is a good service culture at the store.
3) They may want to start stocking Ysatis. When I went to Perfumania, the lady in front of me was buying Ysatis.
What lessons did you learn from your holiday shopping experience?
– Don Kincaid
A Desk is a Dangerous Place 
I shopped Monday evening before Christmas, mostly at Kohl’s since my wife loves Kohl’s. I found everything I was looking for and was in and out in less than 30 minutes. The checkout line was a queue leading to six registers. When I got there, I was fourth in line and waited only about three minutes in line. I don’t think it gets much better than that.
Rick, It’s good to hear when a store performs well. When times are rough, it’s key to double down on service to the customer.
It’s funny Don that you had a great experience with Macys. I also had the pleasure of doing last minute shopping on Christmas Eve and needed a gift wrap at the same location. Macys had a little gift wrapping table in front of the shoe dept, that stated call this extension number for assistance with wrapping. The gift wrapping table was for a charity event organization that hadn’t arrived yet at 11:00 am on Christmas Eve. I ask for assistance from the shoe department manager, who was unable to get a hold of the charity. One of the sales representatives asked her manager, is it okay if I wrap her gifts? The manager said yes, that would be a good idea. I asked, are you sure? Lord behold to my surprise I walked out with three wrapped presents. I ask the sales representative are you taking donations as the sign says, she looked at her manager with a sigh. I said well here is $20.00 because you didn’t have to do what you did. I greatly appreciate it! Due to wrapping 15 gifts the night before. I was not trying to go through additional tape sticking and paper cutting.
Latrice, good to hear from you. It goes a long way when someone steps up and does the right thing. I know that you appreciate good service because you provide it daily. Let’s hope that good customer service moments continue to multiply and get recognized.