Anyone go to Department Stores for Service any more?

I haven’t been to a department store in ages it always seems to be hard to find what I’m looking for and it does take a long time to get there.
But today I was looking for just the right thing. A special gift for a special occasion.

So I took the time to go into David Jones at Marion, Adelaide first as my perception is if you’re looking for nice gifts then thats the place to go.

Anyway I couldn’t find what I was after and there wasn’t anyone around to ask so I went to the “Customer Service” section.
Now I know that they are really there to open up a charge account or organise layby etc but I felt like I needed Service at the time and it seemed like the best place to go.

I did talk to a lovely lady who tried to be helpful but admitted that she wasn’t sure if they sold that kind of thing and that I should probably go to ….. gift shop nearby.

So as I was walking out of the store to go to another retailer to purchase my special gift (not a good sales technique) I happened upon just the thing. Enclosed behind some glass looking very special indeed.

As you do I stood next to the glass then looked around but you guessed it – crickets. There was no one. Now I get it when its a supermarket or Kmart etc where its more of a self serve process but this item was enclosed behind glass hence I was unable to access it.

As I walked around I found someone in the handbags session who caught my eye and was instantly by my side helping me. She was wonderful – we had a chat about my occasion and she agreed that it was the perfect gift, showing excellent sales and customer service skills. She held it when I wanted to take a photo of it so I could confirm with my brother (who was sharing the gift) whether he agreed. As I walked away I saw her talk to another salesperson (who I think was from that dept) explaining to her that I would be back soon and the product I was after.

As I waited for my brother to return my call I walked outside the store and did mosey on down to the gift shop the previous lady had recommended to see what they had – just in case. Even in that store the Salesperson was too busy putting boxes away in a back room , saying “excuse me” every time she walked past me – rather than try to make a sale.

Then my brother calls me back, of course he agrees with the gift so back I go to David Jones. I return to the glassed area passing a few workers along the way moving items and going in and out of the “back” but once again no one came over to serve me. Of course I looked for my handbag lady again – found her – she was wonderful again and told the person from the area to serve me and what I wanted. Now why can’t they all be like her?

It’s not that Hard!

I see it time and time again – Retailers your focus should be on the customer, not the product.

There’s no point being concerned about packing and unpacking if you’re not encouraging people to buy it!

Anyone that walks in a store is a potential buyer. I wouldn’t even have walked into David Jones if the first Jewelry store I went into wasn’t too busy to serve me. They would have got my sale and I would have walked out 45 minutes sooner and $100 cheaper.

Is it just me or does anyone else experience this?