So, how can we minimise this situation's frequency?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently started work at an Electronics Store, and as of about four days ago I have been officially promoted to Assistant Manager- which has provided it’s own challenges besides just getting people to buy stuff.

We sell all sorts of electronic stuff- from TVs and DVD players, to in-care GPS systems, Fog Machines, and Clock Radios, and, of course, computers.

Our prices are low (not always the cheapest, but we price match), and the staff, by and large, know what we’re talking about.

The problem, however, is that customers are taking advantage of this to come and pick our brains on a particular item (mainly GPS units and Computers), find out what we know, then decide to “Have a bit of a think about it”- at which point they bugger off to one of our competitors, who promptly price match our (lower) price and get the sale, despite the fact we’re the ones who did all the work explaining the product to the customer in the first place.

The Manager and I have been pondering on this at length, and we’re no closer to a solution than we were three months ago, when I first started there.

Our store is consistently listed as the FIRST (or one of the first) place(s) people go for their Random Electrical Stuff needs. And since no-one with any consumer sense at all buys stuff from the first place they visit (unless it’s super-cheap), we end up losing sales to the second or third place people go, because by that stage they’ve got a good idea who has the best price, and everyone price matches everyone else anyway- which means that by the end of the day, they’re sick of trudging around the shops looking at TVs (or whatever), and just get the store they visit last to price match our price… giving the other store a sale, and wasting our time. :mad:

The thing is, we can’t tell tyre-kickers to get lost. “No, I’m sorry, I’m not going to explain this GPS unit to you, because I’m not convinced you’re actually going to buy it” is not going to endear us to anyone, least of all the legitimate customers who do come back to purchase the product from us.

We’ve tried taking a quasi-direct approach- “Are you looking to purchase today?”, for example- but we’re still getting a lot of people who nod their head, say “You’ve been very helpful”, and then walk out the door, never to return for the item we just spent 15 minutes explaining.

Anyway, I know there’s a lot of posters here who have run their own business or have worked in retail for many, many years… perhaps some of you would be kind enough to offer your thoughts or suggestions on how we can try and minimise people using us as a free Product Information Service and then going elsewhere to actually get the product?

2

My first question would be, Do you think this happens to you more than to other storees in your line of business? Because I’m sure that it happens to all, to a greater or less extent.

3

I wonder how it is you know that they purchase the item from a local competitor, and not an internet store; or even how it is you know they make a purchase at all.

4

The most obvious is the jargony-sounding “build a relationship, not a sale.” If a salesperson goes out of their way for me by giving me stellar service without seeming like they’re pushing for the sale, I will buy from them, because I’m not a fuckwit. I may go elsewhere and do a little price comparing to try and knock you down a few bucks via the price match, but I’ll be back, no doubt. So this method will retain you the sales of the Not-a-fuckwit demographic, which is a nice one to have.

What would keep me from leaving to price-match in the first place? Honesty. If you have the current flyers from the Big Boxes laying around, or a catalog or two, or an internet terminal, then you take me there and we look at the competitor’s prices right now. If you’ll match the lowest one we find, you’ve got my sale on the spot AND I’m coming back next time and the time after that. (This means your store really has to honor that price-match. If higher prices are how you manage to stay afloat, then obviously this won’t work for you.)

5

I don’t really see a debate, here. It looks like you might get a broader range of views and suggestions among the IMHO crowd.

[ /Moderating ]

6

We are in a similar situation, in that we manufacture and sell landscaping products to retail…there is a HD store down the street and a hardware store which sells some landscape products. We work on an educational program, where we take the time to educate our customers on what to look for in various products and, if I get the feeling they’re just looking around, I’ll say “even if you’re going to buy somewhere else, here are CSA standards which we adhere to, please make sure you’re comparing apples to apples; here are some questions to ask…”.

Most of the time, we see them back…because the other people can’t answer their questions, or don’t answer them as well as we do. Some we do based on price alone, which you are going to lose to people who look for price only; quality and service mean nothing to them.

7

Maybe it’s worth closing the tire-kicker conversations with a reminder that your business offers price-matching. If you’ve built some rapport with a (jerk of a) potential client, the reminder of price-matching may be what brings them back to you rather than a competitor.

8

Can you rig it so the customer still gets a better deal from you even if the competitor matches your “price”?

Rebates are one way to do this. Frequent shopper programs are another. How about a coupon for 15% off on accessories?

Or how about this: A coupon, good only for 3 days, that is $3 off (to pay for the gas to come back) if they buy the item (or similar) that they looked at.

Maybe you can build the cost of this into your pricing so that you are the same as your next lowest competitor.

9

Well, you’re selling commodities, so it’s hard to differentiate on anything but price. But you could try including decent pricing on the accessories. For example, the map packages that come with a GPS are usually very expensive and they probably have an enormous markup. You probably have room to manuver there.

But basically, all you can do is portray a helpful, non-sleazy, low pressure image and hope for the best. (By non-sleazy, I mean things like not pressuring customers to buy extended warrantees for everything and overcharging for accessories like ink cartridges and paper.)

10

If they’re going someplace else because they can get lower prices, set your prices lower. If you can’t afford to do that, post your competitors’ prices so the customers can see that they don’t gain anything by going to another store, and they’re spending more time and gas money if they do.

11

First of all–are you sure customers are taking info you give them and buying from someone else? Have sales decreased for you recently, or is it just that the number of visits you get from people who don’t buy then and there has gone up? Has the proportion of visits that don’t end in a purchase always been high? These are things you might want to look into.

Second–maybe you could earn some money for the store by giving classes or little sessions on how to choose things like computers, digital cameras, webcams, etc. This way, you could charge for the knowledge that you used to give out for free. In your informational sessions, you could give out more info than you usually would when you’re helping an individual customer with his or her gizmonic needs. Even if a customer takes the info you’ve given them and then buys from Tiger Direct, you still get something for helping the customer make an informed choice on what product to buy.

Do you offer warranties? How about guarantees on the performance of the product, even if the box has been opened? Either of those will help get my business, even if the initial price I pay is higher. So will the honesty that WhyNot mentions. Maybe it would help to remind your customers that, when they buy from you, they don’t pay for shipping, and you’re right around the block if they need help.

I like Canadiangirl’s approach as well.

12

Institute a policy that one must prove they are a regular customer before you will offer them any advice about a product.

13

If I were you, I wouldn’t change anything. You probably get more sales than you realize from repeat customers who come back because they remember that you guys know your shit and will give them good service.

You’re never going to be able to retain the kind of customer who will drive all over town and spend hours trying to save a couple of dollars on the purchase price. Don’t even bother worrying about them, because there’s nothing you can do.

What builds customer loyalty is the knowledge that you have the best people in town who are knowledgable and friendly. I know as a customer I would gladly pay a few more dollars if I knew I could get consistent service on that level. Your reputation is your strongest asset. Yes, people are going to waste your time, but you’re going to get compensated by the number of customers like me who will return automatically to your store because of your knowledge.

14

IME price matching at big box stores is a rather involved process. I.e. you have to provide the retailer with evidence that their competitor is priced lower, and they have to confirm that you have the stuff in stock, etc, which makes the whole thing a hassle unless there is a BIG difference in price. In any case I think you’re just going to have to accept that people have more access to information and choice than they did in the past, and compete in an area othger than price. Why not give low prices AND good service, give the customer no reason to buy anywhere else, and make money on volume of customers (with the understanding that individual margins may be lower in the short term)?

Also, hire more young, attractive women with large pendulous breasts, it may also help for them to be knowledgable about computers and home theatre systems, but nothing sells electronics like large pendulous breasts.

15

Do you also have a problem with people who buy large screen TV’s before a major sporting event weekend and then return the item afterwards? How do you stop this behavior?

16

Do you offer a price-match after the sale? Like if the customer finds a lower advertised price in the next 30 days (or whatever) you’ll refund the difference?

Hammer that home to the customer (well, don’t “hammer” them).

17

Let them know that if they buy from you, the free advice continues long after the purchase…

mm

18

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Some very useful stuff here…

We’re fairly sure people aren’t shopping online because it’s not A Big Thing here… most people (especially our customers, who tend to be techneanderthals- to coin a neologism- that really aren’t up with computers) around these parts still prefer to walk into a store and look at the item.

IME, the Internet Stores aren’t any cheaper than physical stores- by the time you factor in postage costs and the time taken to get the item, it’s works out the same- or even more expensive- than just buying the item from a retailer.

Price matching with us is basically a matter of telling us that you’ve seen the item cheaper somewhere else- if it’s only a small price difference, then we can just do it without any further hassles. However, if you come to us and say that the 32" Plasma Screen TV is $150 at a competitor, then we’re going to have to ring them and check- which takes time, unless you’ve got a catalogue from them with you.

We have a pretty good idea what our competitor’s prices are (we watch TV, listen to the radio, and get catalogues in the letterbox like everyone else!), which helps us with the negotiations.

We have all the warranties etc, and we can often negotiate on the price, but on the Big Ticket items we don’t actually have much wiggle room (You’d be surprised how little profit there is in Laptop computers, for example)

People buying Big Screen TVs before major sporting events and returning them afterwards aren’t a problem, oddly enough- even though company policy allows for no-questions-asked refunds within a certain period of time after purchase…

19

Increase the wavelength. :d&r:

20

Someone else mentioned this and it’s an excellent idea. Is your manager allowed to set policy?

If he is, after you’ve had the discussion with the customer and he gives you the old, “I’ll think about it”, you could give him your card or the stores card with the date and item number that states if they purchase within 10 days they get a 10% discount.

I worked in a place that did that and you’d be surprised at how many cards came back.

How do you know that other stores aren’t giving the same information that you are and they’re really just shopping price? I have to be honest, unless customer service and return policies are really horrible in a particular store I’m almost always going to purchase something from the cheapest store. There are exceptions of course. I wouldn’t buy anthing from Walmart if my life depended on it.