Checkout Aisle Impulse Buys

  We are all familiar with waiting in line at the store and being surrounded by products. They are normally the things that you did not come to buy but as you wait in line you start to think, maybe I should get a drink, I think I will get a candy bar, or I'll just look through this magazine until I checkout. All of these items can easily become impulse buys. According to a study sponsored by Mars, Time-Warner, Wrigley, Coca-Cola and others; 1% of all supermarket sales happen at the checkout counter. The top items include; candy, gum, magazines, and drinks. Other popular items that are seen at the checkout are chap-sticks, trail size products, small toys, and nail clippers. I know that Kmart tends to have candy and drinks as well as a variety of products ranging from cards to bobby pins. We are all accustomed to seeing candy and drinks at supermarkets and grocery stores but now we are seeing these items at stores such as; Ace Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, and even Old Navy.
  Does the self-checkout system reduce impulse buys? Self-checkout is becoming more popular and are in several stores; but if you have ever used this service you will recall that there is not a lot of items around the checkout counter. These items are placed as you are going into the self-checkout zone and can easily be ignored by customers. Speaking from my experience, I am more likely to pick up items like drinks or snacks while in line at a regular checkout rather than self-checkout. They make it more convenient.

Is the customer always right?

     We have all heard the saying, 'The customer is always right,' but is that true? If we observe customer and employee interactions we can come to the conclusion that this is not. Earlier this week I was in a customer service line waiting to get a gift wrapped. As I was waiting I overheard the lady next to me talking to the employee about a problem she had with one of her purchases. She had bought a pair of shoes and after wearing them once she noticed that the front strap on the right shoe was starting to become unattached. She had returned those shoes at a previous time and was now on her second pair. She was having the same problem with the second pair of shoes and that is what brought her back to the store. She explained all this to the employee and asked to see the manager. The manager came out and listened to her story, apologized for the problem she was having with her shoe and offered to exchange the shoes, refund her money, or send the shoes off to the company to see if they could be repaired. The store no longer had that certain style of shoe so if she exchanged the shoe it would have to be for a different shoe style. The customer was not happy with any of the options. She wanted the shoe to be fixed in-store so that it could be taken home that day. The manger explained that the store could make no shoe repairs and that they would have to be sent to the shoe company but the customer argued that since the shoe was sold in their store they should be able to fix it.
     In this situation, the employees tried to satisfy the customer the best they could, but the customer still thought that they should have done more. I think that in this certain situation the employees were right in how they handled it, they offered her several options trying to resolve the issue. In the end the customer left the store with the broken shoe since she refused to let the employees help.

Recent shopping experience

  On Thursday, I went to Belk to pick out a gift. While still in the parking lot, I seen two ladies carrying their dogs into the store. My first thought was why are they taking a dog into the store and my second thought is that they are not going to get far before one of the employees tells them that they can not have pets in the store. I am a dog lover but I do not feel that a shopping store such as Belk is a place for a pet. Please note these dogs where not service dogs. I went in and found my way to the home department which was located upstairs and toward the back of the store, passing several employees who all greeted me. When I made it to the home department I noticed the two ladies with the dogs had also made it to the home department. This had me thinking that they had to have passed the same numerous employees as I had. So I was wondering why they were still able to be in the store with their pets. I went on and started doing my shopping temporarily forgetting about the dogs. I had probably been shopping for 15 minutes when I passed by them again, this time they were talking to an employee. As I went by I could somewhat hear the conversation and the group was talking about how they were doing and how the dogs were. Clearly they knew each other and from the looks of the situation the two dog owners had just come to talk to the employee. My concern is why these two dog owners were allowed to bring their pets into the store. Was it only because they knew an employee? Does Belk not have any regulations on pets? Next time I'm in Belk, could I bring my dog? Having dogs in a store can cause serious issues, from damaging products to hurting customers. I just do not think a company such as Belk would risk that to accommodate pet owners.