SAVING MAJOR RETAIL

Brick and mortar or on line? Retail, resale? Gifting, regifting? Cash, gift cards?

What does omnichannel really mean?

The world is changing as it always has for the last million or so years, it’s just at the fastest pace yet fueled by a purported to be instantaneous/seamless thing called the internet.

 Last week I was attracted to an item in the window of the Levi’s store on West 34 th Street in NYC. Upon entering I approached a messy looking kid who resembled the closest creature to an employee. I asked if he could help me and after he removed his earplugs he said “what’s up?” to which I said, “I am not your mother!” I asked the price of the item in the window, he told me they were sold out and I left. He had several options none of which he chose. He could have said, let me look, it’s $X but we are sold out, it’s sold out but let me get you the price and see if we can order it for you. Brick and mortar is not dead! Employees need more education.

I received an online ad from Desigual for a fun colorful scarf in 2 great color ways. Since I don’t like shopping online, I walked over to the store in my neighborhood which didn’t carry this particular item. I don’t buy a lot there because I “feel” they are geared toward a younger customer, but I manage to buy a few items over the course of a year: their product is unique, service is excellent and truly I don’t buy a lot anywhere, anymore. 

 I decided I had to, had to have the scarf so I called the number listed which got me to Wendy in Barcelona who was terrific but told me they could not process as they are not set up to accept a direct order from customers and this particular scarf was not shipped to the US market. I asked 2 friends to process the order, only one was able to. Lo and behold there was “a buy one get the second 1/2 price” offer!” solving the what color? dilemma. Success! I received 6 email notices from the company. One that the purchase was successfully completed, the second the anticipated date of arrival, the third that the item had been shipped from a NJ location, the 4th that the order was cancelled as it was not processed on a US enabled screen (my word) and the fifth and sixth that UPS expected a signature upon arrival! No problem (as the kids say) as I have a doorman.

The scarves arrived today 8 days after the online order was placed and I do LOVE them! Were they worth the time and trouble? Not really!

Brick and mortar is not dead, but standards are in the dark ages.