Just the other day something happened to me that I thought I must share…
Quick shop
I had an experience with a store that demonstrates the essence of creating a successful experience in convenience retailing. The watchwords are: “customer service”.
And isn’t convenience retailing all about service? Isn’t it about providing the consumer’s daily needs, longer opening hours, quick and easy access, multiple payment options?
I visited such a store yesterday. Why? Well, it was on my way home from the office, it sold what I needed to prepare for my dinner, it accepted payment by credit card and was still open in the evening.
Missing credit card
A little while later, after returning home, a colleague, working late, called from my office.
She asked if I had just shopped in the aforementioned convenience store.
I was taken by surprise but she revealed the shopkeeper had called the office to report that I had left my credit card in the store.
I checked my wallet and, yes, my credit card was missing.
Later, when I returned to the store to retrieve my card, I began wondering how the store knew to call my office when all they had was my credit card.
The shopkeeper handed me my card, in a sealed envelope, which had been carefully stored in the safe.
I asked him how he knew where to find me. The answer? He Googled me – Mark Wohltmann, Munich – and recognized my face, which connected me to a regular newsletter I write and this connected me to my employer. He visited our company website, found the right department and called the office. Wow – that is customer service!
I really believe this story highlights the one big thing that separates good business from remarkable business. Going the extra mile for the customer and surprising them with the one thing every customer in the world wants: service.
Becoming a regular
This store now surely got a new regular customer…