With Christmas only days away, the stress has risen for shoppers trying to finish buying all of their gifts. And with stress, comes anger. Lauren Villagran’s article, “Merchants Try to Deal with Mad Shoppers,” touches on the crazy life of retail workers during the holidays.
Villagran notes that “merchants from toy sellers to electronics chains have buckled down to deal with irate shoppers. Their strategies vary but the goal is generally the same: to keep customers happy (and from wrestling each other in the aisles) and employees safe.”
How do you “keep customers happy” with so much stress and anger in the air? In her article, Villagran talks of some of the different strategies retail stores are doing to deal with customers.
To keep customers under control -- lest a stressed-out shopper become a violent shopper -- Boire [president of Toys “R” Us in the U.S.] said the chain beefs up security during the holidays, including hiring plainclothes officers to police its aisles and checkout lines.
Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. preps its employees for the holiday rush with preseason rehearsals. Best Buy stores do a "dry run" of the frenzy... Seasonal employees are made to wait in their respective departments when, at once, the other employees bully their way toward the department with a flood of questions. Employees are "armed with a strategy" for organization and inventory.
It looks like some stores have found a way to work with the anger, but are they keeping customers happy? Is there anything the stores can do, or is this one up to the customers? Honestly, it seems like the customers (including myself) have forgotten … Tis the Season to be Jolly.
Happy Holidays!
I love Toys R Us' strategy of dealing with stressed customers by adding more security. I'm sure that's easier than training their employees to answer questions and help people find things.
Posted by: Mike | December 21, 2006 at 03:06 PM